Being an actor as well as a star

Debate has raged on since time immemorial about the difference being an ‘actor’ and a ‘star’. Ask Kriti Sanon — who has spent over three years in Bollywood — about it, and she says, “I am greedy, so I want to be both (laughs). I guess there are a few [people like that]. Of course, there might be a few ups and downs in terms of who is a better actor or a bigger star, but if there’s one zone that I would like to be in, it’s being an actor as well as a star.”

But isn’t it a very difficult balance to strike? Kriti says, “I don’t have philosophies on this, but I don’t choose films on a particular basis. You need to maintain some sort of balance in the kind of films that you take up, because you can’t get stuck in a genre,” says Kriti, adding that besides the ‘commercial’ films that most of the Indian audience connects with, an actor also needs to take up films where they can be just an ‘actor’ and perform. “Then, it doesn’t matter what kind of money that film makes at the box office,” she says.

The Bareilly Ki Barfi actor points out Ranbir Kapoor’s choices as an example. “He had a great combination of films such as Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) and Barfi (2012). But that balance is not easy to strike. It also depends on what kind of films come your way, and especially at the right time. It’s as much about destiny as it is about hard work. So there are many times when you land up with a film because another actor doesn’t take it up, and it works really well for you,” she says.

PHOTO: MUNNA SINGH