Malavika Mohanan is gearing up for the release of director PS Mithran's film Sardar 2, co-starring Karthi and SJ Suryah. With it, the actor comes back to Tamil cinema after 2024's Thangalan, where she starred opposite Vikram, although she played a cameo in this year's Idhayam Murali, opposite Atharvaa. Ahead of the film's scheduled September 10 release, Malavika has been speaking about her experience working in Tamil cinema.

In a question and answer session with fans on Tuesday, Malavika Mohanan was asked about her experience collaborating with Rajinikanth in the 2019 film Petta. Calling it "the best experience any newcomer can wish for," the actor said, "If there’s one superstar who supports newcomers, cheers for them and openly lauds them- it’s Rajni sir. He gave me so much confidence & support at the beginning of my career itself and that’s something I cherish immensely and hold close to my heart."

In Petta, Malavika played Singaaram's (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) sister, named Poongodi. It is one of the actor's most prominent characters in Tamil cinema, alongside her role as Charulatha in Master (2021) with Vijay and as Thara in Maaran (2022), co-starring Dhanush.

Coming back to Sardar 2, the actor revealed in another recent fan interaction that she has plenty of stunts in the upcoming film. "I have done a very very action-oriented role in Sardar 2. I have done some crazy stunt sequences and pushed myself to do a lot of things I was really scared to do, because I have never done it before," Malavika said at the time. She added, "But I love doing stunts. It's a skillset I have been working on for a few years as well."

A sequel to 2022's Sardar, the film is produced by S Lakshman Kumar and Ishan Saksena under the banners of Prince Pictures and Ivy Entertainment. It also stars Ashika Ranganath, Yogi Babu, and Rajisha Vijayan.