Kochi : Sai Kiran, Assistant Editor at The Times of India (TOI), has shared a heartfelt and widely circulated post on Facebook detailing his experience interviewing Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. The editor described their interaction as one of those rare conversations that stays with you long after it’s over, noting the actor spoke “without performance, and with a trust that surprised me.”
The interview, published as a full-page feature in TOI titled “Bend it Like Mohanlal,” involved “hours of unhurried talk, moving between cinema, art, politics, and life.”
Sai Kiran was particularly struck by the superstar’s candidness. At one point, when he offered to switch off the recorder, Mohanlal simply replied, “That is ok, no prob even if it is on.” The editor mused that Mohanlal likely trusted him to know what to write and what not to, adding, “if I were in his place, I’d have definitely asked to stop recording.”
The privilege of the interaction was further highlighted when, after wrapping up the interview, the actor invited Sai Kiran to ride with him to Kochi to continue their chat before he left for Delhi the next morning to meet the army chief. “I had to decline, sadly,” the editor wrote, citing the ongoing Assembly session that required his presence in Trivandrum. He called the missed opportunity a chance he regrets but still feels was a privilege.
The resulting interview features 34 questions and offers “light-hearted, candid, non-pretentious, and filled with never-heard-before answers.” It covers a vast range of topics, “From Thiranottam to Hridayapoorvam, from Priyadarshan’s first film to his 100th, from temple crowds to the quiet work of his foundation,” showcasing “Lal, as he is.”
Concluding his post, Sai Kiran clarified his sentiment, stating that while the “fanboy in me will always remain, but this isn’t worship — it’s just a record of a man speaking plainly.”
