Exclusive: Sunita Mani Talks Blumhouse Thriller Evil Eye
Now playing on Amazon Prime Video is the supernatural thriller Evil Eye, which is one of first four of eight films in the Welcome to the Blumhouse series. Based off the award-winning, best-selling Audible Original production from writer Madhuri Shekar, Evil Eye (October 13 on Amazon Prime) is directed by Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani, and stars Sarita Choudhury (Mississippi Masala, Lady in the Water), Sunita Mani (GLOW), Omar Maskati (Unbelievable), and Bernard White (Silicon Valley).
A seemingly perfect romance turns into a nightmare when a mother (Sarita Choudhury) becomes convinced her daughter daughter Pallavi (Sunita Mani)’s new boyfriend has a dark connection to her own past.
For Mani, who is best known for her roles in the USA Network series Mr. Robot as well as the Netflix comedy series GLOW, this is the first of two leading roles she has coming out in recent months. She has the comedy film Save Yourselves! that will play in drive-in theaters.
Mani recently spoke with BlackFilmandTV.com about her role in Evil Eye.
What attracted you to the project?
Sunita Mani: It was a lot of things. I honestly had to think about it. It wasn't an immediate response to jump into it. I had to audition. So there's also that process of it. They think I'm right for the movie. But I never been presented with this opportunity report to play an Indian American lead in a film led by Indians. It was a super cool idea to explore. On first read, I loved the mother daughter relationship. I thought that was super cool. It was a centered storyline and the way we chose abuse is also centered and flushed out into the horror genre. By the end of the movie, it's like a very clever premise. It was a multitude of things and ultimately, getting on the phone with the directors. After a couple of auditions and getting closer to booking the part, they walked me through their vision and their idea of the tone and how authentic we were going to treat all these characters. I was super excited about that. It all came together.
How would you best describe your character?
Sunita Mani: I would say that Pallavi is an independent young, single woman just trying to carve out her own path in this world. She is a fun party girl who can also get to class on time. She is struggling with connecting to herself in the larger picture at this moment. In the film, she's struggling to connect with her mother, which she normally has like a rhythm with. At the same time, she's thrown this really unexpected romance that she’s really working to make possible. She really wants it to happen. So she's straddling the two opposing ideas in the movie and we see her struggle with that.
Have you seen a situation where a mother can be, or not just the mother, anybody can be overprotective of someone, especially when it comes to relationships?
Sunita Mani: Absolutely, especially when it comes to relationships. I can absolutely relate to being on both sides of the picture. Honestly, I've been the mother character, or an advocate of overprotecting my friends or my sister, o a family member being in a situation that I'm not quite sure it's good for them. It comes out of love, but it it is also just coming off as you're doing it wrong. I can see it on the other side of the picture. For Pallavi where if someone thinks you're doing it wrong, you want to do it even more. And make your own decision and make your own. You want it to work even more. That's part of what's interesting about Pallavi's character. That she's really just taking on this like seemingly impossible, perfect relationship, but she knows deep down it's not going to work and there’s something a little off about it. But the fact that her mother thinks it shouldn't happen makes her like want to do it even more. And unfortunately it has consequences and overprotection, and driving away the person that you mean to take care of.
How was working with the Dassani Brothers?
Sunita Mani: They were amazing. I love Elan and Rajeev. They were absolutely essential in guiding my character and the story. They had a lot of work cut out for them. We all did. We were juggling a lot of scenes in this film and also two movies. One is like a fairytale indie rom com and another that turns into the horror genre of the film. It was a lot of piecing together carefully and and intentionally so that we are hopefully making it work.
They were patient. They’s twins so you had two times the conversation you had two times the direction and all of this was very cared for was doubly as it was coming from both of them at different angles. But it was great. We would powwow every every night together. Most nights, the cast and the directors would about the scenes we were going to shoot. I really enjoyed that part of the process; to be so hands on with them. And they were super open to hearing us out into like happiness, influence and input where these characters are going.
How was working with Surita and Omar?
Sunita Mani: Surita was two steps ahead. I enjoyed watching her work and just witnessing and observing an osmosis, getting her ideas about the craft of acting. We were not on set together very much. So a lot of our bond was getting to know each other and decompressing together or going out for dinner and talking about the day. I really appreciated her wisdom. Omar is also so docile and, really smart and had a hard job to do balance the work that came with his character. So the discussions on set were some of my favorite part of the shooting..
You’ve done a good deal of ensemble films so how do you feel when you do a film and you’re at the center of the film with more pages to read?
Sunita Mani: I’m really grateful for all of the ensembles I've been a part of. I fit really well there. I love collaborating. It’s definitely in my DNA to be a part of a team. With Glow being canceled but also at the same time having two movies out that, it’s crazy how it all happens. I'm definitely interested in more leading roles and I hope that I can continue to play different characters.