Kriti Sanon is everything we would expect from a newcomer. Surprisingly chirpy and all excited to be back in Delhi. By Unnati Joshi
Kriti Sanon sparkles the way only someone in the flush of new-found success can. The Delhi girl was back home and we could see how excited she was this time, carrying a little bit of self-pride and her own clothing line. “I am so happy to be here, you have no idea. I am in Delhi after a long time but what has happened to the winters, no chill at all. I am very restless today, I want to stand,” she said as she waved to the crowd that had gathered to get a glimpse of her.
She had an unusually non-starry vibe, one that makes you feel that she’s just a girl next door. The engineering graduate decided to move to Mumbai and pursue modelling as a hobby. little did she knew that her life was about to change, and change for the best. Recalling her beginnings, she told us, “My journey I believe has been amazing, Sometimes I really feel whatever happens, happens for the best and sometimes you don’t know where you are going. You are just moving and you figure out where you really want to go. I was just moving and figuring out. While I was pursuing B.Tech I thought let’s try modelling, it will be a good experience. I have always been someone who loves dressing up and experimenting with style. I am like a typical girl who takes nothing less than one-and-a-half hour to figure out what she wants to wear. So that’s how I got into modelling. It was while doing ads that I found out my love for acting which I would have never been able to figure out otherwise. So I think destiny also played its role in putting things together. Nenokkadine, Mahesh Babu’s film, happened that time. I gave an audition and got selected. That was the first film I started shooting and it was while working on that project that I auditioned for Heropanti. So I was shooting for both the films almost together. My Tollywood and Bollywood journeys were kind of parallel that time.
“Also I don’t see any difference between Tollywood and Bollywood apart from the language of course. Both the industries are equally passionate about cinema and have equally talented technicians and artists. I personally didn’t find any difference.”
There has been no looking back for this long-legged beauty since. “When I was modelling, I was also doing TV commercials and that’s when I realised that I was not at all conscious of the moving camera. I could express really well. Then my director came and told me that you have that acting bug and you should polish it and try for movies. Once I got into the groove, I realised that this is something I want to do everyday in my life,” she added.
Is there someone in the industry that she looks up toIJ Kriti chose the safer side and said, “Each and every actor brings something different to the table and has a very different way of approaching the scenes. So as an actor I think it is important to study how other actors work and I am someone who watches a lot of films and admires a lot of actors in terms of how they do what they do. So I couldn’t name one, there are many of them.”
About being an outsider in the film industry, she told us, “It is difficult because there’s a huge number of young people who have that talent and a dream but the number of opportunities is unfortunately limited. It is very difficult, especially when you don’t come from the film background. You know nothing about the industry. You don’t know anybody, you don’t know how to walk your first step. It is very tricky but I would say I have done it, so it’s not impossible. I don’t think there is any mantra or pattern here. For me its more about how I feel about the script when I hear or read it. My approach is very instinctive and I ask myself would the audience really want to watch this kind of filmIJ I try not to repeat myself. As an actor, you need to vary, enact different characters and take your graph higher.”
As a young fashionista, Kriti explained it’s personal and she follows nobody. “I was always fashion conscious. I don’t follow anybody. I go with what I feel comfortable in and what I think looks good on me,” she told us.
So what is her take on the more assertive role of women actors on screenIJ “I think it has been there always though talked about more now. look at our classic heroines, each of their characters has been gritty. Since the time I have been watching films, there have been many strong, women-oriented films which have been appreciated. What has changed is the commercial viability and mass acceptance. In today’s time people are willing to put their money on a woman running or holding a film.”
The pace of the last year has left the actress breathless, both with exhaustion and exhilaration at having finally found her rhythm in Bollywood. Kriti has had a packed schedule this year and is looking forward to two releases next year. “I have just wrapped up Raabta and Bareilly Ki Barfi. I am just left with a little bit of patchwork and a few songs. I will have two releases next year, in June and July.”
Kriti said her colleague Kangana Ranaut is ‘very outspoken’ and she loves that about her. Praising the Queen star, she said, “Kangana is someone who has never followed rules and she has her own mind”. Asked whom she would like to style from the Ms. Taken collection, Kriti said: “Everybody I know. There are a lot of names, but probably to start of with I think Kangana.”