Mind the Malhotras actor Mini Mathur: MTV was the first wave of self-expression

The nine-part sitcom, which streams on Amazon Prime, takes us into the life of the Malhotras, where the husband and wife have started therapy, as they are worried their marriage will fall apart, with everyone around them getting divorced. It also marks the acting debut for Mathur, who has otherwise been a regular face on Indian TV and has hosted shows like Indian Idol.

“I was not looking for acting work, I have consistently said no to projects, as whatever was offered to me never resonated — kitchen politics, saas-bahu, overdressed naagins and goddesses. The few stints, cameos I did were for friends. I met Sahil Sangha, the producer of MTM, at a lunch, and he kept looking at me, and I was like ‘weird guy’. He then approached me to play Shefali,” she adds.

“And then the whole quirky aspect of Shefali, she is so relatable. She is a woman of today, a millennial parent, part cool, part control freak. She’s kind of a doberman who is watching over and protecting her family,” says Mathur, a graduate from Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi.

Mini Mathur during her MTV days.

Her chemistry with Sahukar, who plays her husband, Rishabh, on the show is getting good reviews. The comfort shared by the two makes the unique premise of a couple seeking therapy voluntarily, believable. The shows attempts to normalise conversations around therapy and mental health, without making it heavy. “It’s high time, don’t you think? And we should not immediately jump to stigmatic responses like ‘oh she’s cuckoo’, or ‘oh their marriage is on the rocks’, whenever we hear that someone is in therapy. We have always needed therapy; earlier, it would be an aunt or friend who would hear you out,” she adds.

Mathur saw the advent of GECs and the rise of reality TV and now she is part of a global streaming service, which has an international audience. But MTV is something that has remained close to her. “Be it Cyrus Sahukar and Cyrus Broacha, Nikhil (Chinappa), Maria (Goretti) and Malaika (Arora), we have all stayed in touch. We had each others back. I spent five years there. MTV was the first wave of self-expression. And even within the veejays, me and Cyrus were very boy-and-girl-next-door. We made desi look cool, we were Indians and we didn’t have firang names,” shares Mathur, 43.

She is quite vocal on social media in airing her political and social views, and adept at shutting down trolls. Her recent takedown of a troll who commented that she should get botox has gone viral. “I have been at cusp of many new things. First MTV, then hosting Indian Idol, where for the first time we had the audience voting for the contestant. Today, sadly we are making content for TV with the mindset that one size fits all. A couple of years ago, we didn’t have a choice. So we shifted to watching international series, as we were not able to relate to these offerings. I think fiction and related content should reflect the times we are living in. As it’s not, the digital space is where the rebellion is taking place,” she adds.