Actor Malavika Mohanan has opened up about being part of Pocket Novel, director Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s long-awaited return to feature filmmaking, calling the opportunity one she never imagined would align at the right time.

Speaking to DT Next, Malavika reflected on collaborating with the filmmaker, whose previous works have earned cult and critical acclaim.

“Working with him was on my wishlist. He has returned to making a film after seven years, and I never thought that the odds of him making a film and me getting to be a part of it would align. It has worked out in the most beautiful manner,” she said.

Pocket Novel marks Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s third feature directorial after Aaranya Kaandam and Super Deluxe and brings him back together with Vijay Sethupathi, who won the National Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Super Deluxe.

The film stars Vijay Sethupathi in the lead, with Raj B Shetty making his Tamil debut alongside Malavika Mohanan and Kishore. Production on the project is underway. Ilaiyaraaja is composing music for the film, reuniting with Thiagarajan after their collaboration on the Ninaivo Oru Paravai segment in Modern Love: Chennai. Cinematography is by Nirav Shah, while Andrew Louis has written the story and screenplay.

Malavika also spoke about sharing screen space with Vijay Sethupathi and revealed that the two had crossed paths in films before without actually acting together. “This is actually the third film we are in together. However, the third time’s the charm as we are sharing the screen space. When I met him on sets and I told him this about how it took three films for us to have combination scenes, he blanked out that we were also part of Petta. But now he has gone on to become a family friend. He is such a sweet soul,” she said.

While both actors appeared in Petta, they did not share scenes. They were later part of Master as well, and Pocket Novel now marks the first time Malavika and Vijay Sethupathi are performing together on screen.

Malavika has had a busy run across industries with projects spanning Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema. She is currently awaiting the release of Sardar 2 opposite Karthi and was also recently seen in The RajaSaab, marking her Telugu debut opposite Prabhas.