In 2020, actress Madhoo featured in a Tamil-Telugu film College Kumar in a leading role after almost 20 years, but unfortunately, it was a washout at the BO, as the film hit the theatres at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. This year again, the Jayalalithaa biopic Thalaivi, where she will be seen playing the role of V N Janki Ramachandran, was earlier slated to hit theatres on April 23, but was pushed ahead due to the second wave of the pandemic. But this time, the actress who is reuniting with her Roja co-star Arvind Swamy in Thalaivi after almost two decades, was relieved by the makers’ decision.

Talking about her film College Kumar getting affected badly last year, she said, “I was playing the lead role opposite Prabhu Ganesan. It was a full-fledged, subject-oriented role. I have been my own biggest critic, so when I saw the film, I was pleased with my work and all my hopes were pinned on it. When the film was ready for release in February 2020, initial talks of how COVID-19 had started infecting people and how cine-goers were not frequenting cinema halls, had started. The entire seriousness of Coronavirus came much later, but people had stopped going to cinema halls. In the midst of the pandemic, the film was released, and it was a huge flop from Day 1. I felt so disheartened. I was personally waiting for the release of the film, it had great performances, a good script and we had given it our best. I remember asking the producer if he was contemplating on re-releasing the film at a better time. But then we all realised that once a film releases, it loses its charm and we all saw the producer’s point.”

Madhoo is now looking forward to her next, Thailavi. She said, “It has shaped out so well and we were super excited about its release. Unfortunately, again in March, the second wave of the Coronavirus hit us, and we all felt the film shouldn’t be released. Thankfully, the makers postponed it. I feel that a film which has been shot so well, deserves a full chance for viewing. The destiny of a film is not in our hands, but a good film deserves to be watched by everyone.”