Priyamani On 'Good Wife' and Why She'd Love To Play Tokyo In A 'Money Heist' Remake

Last week’s release, Good Wife, is the first time Priyamani has been directed by an actor. “Of course, Bharathiraja has directed me, but he became an actor after that period," she says. In the JioHotstar show, the actress has been directed by Tamil actress Revathi.

“She has the experience of working under rigid directors, so she doesn’t want us to work like that," recalls Priyamani, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India. "She is first an actor and then a director. On the sets, she first asks us to read our lines and enact the scene as we see it playing out. If she likes it, she sets up the shot and begins filming. And if she's happy with the take, we’ll hear a delighted “shot ok!” from her.” 

Good Wife also marks her first Tamil miniseries. The six-part series is based on the American legal drama The Good Wife (2009). “But I had not watched the American show. Two years earlier, I did The Trial (2023) because it was directed by Suparn Verma, who had also directed a few episodes of my show, The Family Man (2019). I also wanted to see Kajol maa'm perform in that show because I think it was her mini-screen debut. I thought she was fantastic in it. At the time, I had no idea that I would be playing her same character in its Tamil version a couple of years later.”

She explains her process of acting and how she has remained a spontaneous actor throughout her career. “I’ve always been the type of actor who bases a performance around reactions and instinct on the sets. Recently, I was a part of a project that didn't eventually work out for me. It is complete now, but I’m not a part of it. For that project, we were thrown into an acting workshop. A guy came into the project as a trainer and asked me, “What do you think your character’s backstory would be?”. That’s when I realised there were actors like that too. Ones who worked on the backstory and analysed their performance based on that. I’m not that kind of actor, and I need to work with spontaneity. I guess each person has their style.” 

Priyamani in a still from 'Good Wife'

The actress will also be seen soon in the third season of Family Man. “As a child, I too grew up watching quality television shows. My favourites include Remington Steele (1982), Friends (1994) and of course Knight Rider (2008). I’m obviously a fan of Money Heist too.” 

Asked if she’d be happy to be a part of another remake, she said, “I’d love to do a Tamil version of Money Heist. Some people joke about how my role in Jawaan was already like a remake of Money Heist. But in Tamil, I think I’d love to play the role of Tokyo (Silene Olivera) or even Raquel (Lisbon). Based on my character in Jawaan, my character would have been someone like Nairobi, because my character dies too. I’d love to play Tokyo, though.”