Mrunal Thakur on Pooja Meri Jaan, Consent and Boundaries

Mrunal Thakur is opening up about the film that made her rethink two feelings people often blur together: love and obsession. In an exclusive interview, the actor said Pooja Meri Jaan left her with a sharper understanding of consent, personal boundaries and the distance between wanting someone and respecting their answer.

What changed for Mrunal

Mrunal said the role made her ‘more conscious of how nuanced these conversations could be.’ Consent and boundaries, she admitted, turned out to be far more complex than she had realised before the shoot. At the time, she described herself as ‘naive and vulnerable’; now, she can see what those boundaries mean in her own life.

The film gave her a framework she keeps returning to: communication is the first step, but respect is the point. Saying what you feel matters, and so does accepting what you hear back.

The line between love and obsession

One of the film’s central ideas is that obsession can wear love’s clothes. Mrunal said the story made her think more deeply about ‘how easily this obsession can be mistaken for love.’ That distinction, she explained, is what the audience should leave with.

Her takeaways are simple enough to use off screen:

• Consent is more layered than a yes or a no.
• A ‘no’ is a boundary, not an invitation to persuade.
• Obsession can feel like love unless we name the difference.

Making a courtroom drama feel truthful

Mrunal said she and director Navjot discussed the emotional intention behind every scene: what should be said, what should stay unsaid, and where the audience should be allowed to form its own judgment. With a subject like consent, she felt that responsibility sharply.

Her goal was to make Pooja Dogra’s situation feel truthful rather than manufactured. Even in a courtroom drama full of twists, the story only works when the audience believes the character in that moment and goes with her.

‘It really changed the way I looked at life,’ she said.

For the audience

If you watch Pooja Meri Jaan, one question keeps recurring: whose voice is being heard, and whose ‘no’ is being honoured? That lens turns a legal story into a much closer conversation about the boundaries we set every day. For fans who follow stars as closely as stories, it is a reminder that a performance can carry a personal lesson too.

The film, produced by Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik under Maddock Films, is currently streaming on ZEE5.

Source: Filmfare

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