Ulajh actor Roshan Mathew satisfied with response to the film: I believe it’s very entertaining
Roshan Mathew says that he expects the love and appreciation for his first Hindi big-screen outing to grow even more once it lands on streaming.
Roshan Mathew’s stint in Hindi films has been quite fruitful so far. The actor who started with Tamil theatre got an opportunity to showcase his flair when Anurag Kashyap cast him in Choked (2020). The 32-year-old then went on to star in Darlings (2022) alongside Alia Bhatt. His performance went on to garner significant critical acclaim.
Ulajh, his latest film, in which he has been cast alongside Jahnvi Kapoor, is his first Hindi theatrical release.
Talking to us about the fate of the film, Mathew says he is satisfied with the response Ulajh has received. “In the times we are [in], we don’t have the luxury of a film just staying in theatres long enough so that people can trickle in and discover the film as word spreads,” the actor says.
He adds, “Luckily, today nobody has to wait years until it [the film] comes on a TV channel or you look for a pirated copy. I am hoping Ulajh finds more audience in the days to come as it stays in theatres and then when it comes later on OTT. It is definitely a film I still believe is entertaining.”
Ulajh is the story of a young Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who belongs to a family of patriots. The protagonist, played by Janhvi Kapoor, gets embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy. The film has opened to mixed reviews.
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When we ask Mathew, who plays one of the film’s lead characters, if the box office numbers matter to him, the actor says, “If I said it doesn’t affect me at all I would be lying. We do movies because we believe in them. Who wants to make a movie no one watches? We ideally want everybody to watch it and enjoy it. Obviously it does affect you.”
Mathews, however, does realise that “everything is not in your control in your area of work”.
“You have to do your work with all honesty and give it your best shot. Especially as an actor in front of the camera. The rest of it is going to be unpredictable. I have had enough experiences before Ulajh. Before this, there were movies I have been really excited about, films I strongly believed in, but [those films] did not find an audience in theatres,” he wraps up.