She made her acting debut in a Telugu film (‘Nenokkadine’) in 2014 and followed it up with the Hindi feature ‘Heropanti’ which endeared her to the masses. Since then, there has been no looking back for Kriti Sanon who has grown from strength to strength as an actress with time. While most of her films have hit the bull’s eye at the box-office, she left a strong mark even in a film like ‘Raabta’ which failed to warm up to the audience. In this interview, she talks about her new release ‘Arjun Patiala’, playing a media professional in three films, doing films that are set in small town India, working with Akshay Kumar and love for poetry.
Just like ‘Luka Chuppi’, you are playing a journalist in ‘Arjun Patiala’ too. Interestingly, in Rahul Dholakia’s next you are playing a media professional too.
Yes, I was an intern in ‘Luka Chuppi’. Now, I have finally got a job (laughs). Ritu is feisty and strong-headed like a lot of girls in Punjab are. She is a very ethical journalist and believes that any problem can be solved without resorting to violence. I am playing a media professional in Rahul (Dholakia) sir’s film but that is a thriller and hence, the graph of the character is very different from the ones I played in these two films.
‘Arjun Patiala’ was shot before ‘Luka Chuppi’. Do you think the delay worked in favour of the film as Maddock Films and you have now delivered a very successful film and it is arriving right after it?
There are various factors because of which a film sometimes gets a little delayed. At the end of the day, you want to release your film in the best possible way. I am happy ‘Luka Chuppi’ did so well but I personally do not think the success of a film is dependent on how another film fares. Even if ‘Arjun Patiala’ had released before ‘Luka Chuppi’, I still had a successful film like ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ behind me and Maddock Films had a huge success like ‘Stree’, so if one goes by that logic, the success of these films would have helped ‘Arjun Patiala’ too. But yes, ‘Luka Chuppi’ was a comedy and was set in a small town, so the two films belong to a similar world. People who liked me in ‘Luka Chuppi’ might look forward to my performance in this film as they have similar shades.
Your last two films (‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’, ‘Luka Chuppi’) were set in smaller towns and cities and ‘Arjun Patiala’ is in a similar setting.
More than where the film is based, what is important for me is that I should be able to connect to the stories. If these stories were set in an urban world, I would have loved to do them as well. But yes, a large section of the audience finds it easy to relate to small-town characters and perhaps, filmmakers have realised this of late and thus, a large number of films have stories revolving around small towns.
You were supposed to work with Akshay Kumar almost at the beginning of your career in ‘Singh Is Bling’. You could not do the film but both of you will finally be seen together in ‘Housefull 4’. How was the experience of working with him?
Akshay is a great co-star to work with. He has this amazing energy. He has been around in the industry for more than twenty-five years now but he has the kind of drive you would expect to see in a newcomer who wants to prove himself. He tries to achieve perfection in whatever he does. He is a restless soul and cannot sit idle on the sets even for a minute. He will probably pick up an orange and start juggling it. He makes the most of his life. He told me he has not missed a single sunrise in his life. He leads an extremely disciplined life and that is very inspiring.
You write poetry. Would you like to write a script someday?
No! Writing a script takes a lot of time. I think there are enough people doing this job really well. I would like to publish a book of poems someday though.
