COMING INTO HER OWN

Used to sharing acting honours with the male leads of her films, Kriti Sanon is breaking out at last

Seven years after she made her debut, Kriti Sanon is finally getting what every actress craves—a titular part. Streaming on Netflix and Jio Cinema since July 26, Mimi, a surrogacy-centred dramedy, is an obvious departure from her earlier 10 films. Unlike mainstream entertainers such as Heropanti (2014), Dilwale (2015) and Housefull 4 (2019), and even unlike her other sliceof-life comedies like Bareilly ki Barfi! (2017) and Luka Chhupi (2019), Mimi is perched squarely on Sanon’s shoulders. The actress seems to know that the film might elevate her rank as an actress. “I have been most passionate about this film, to the point of obsession,” she says. “While I was shooting Mimi, I knew it was special. There was so much to do and I was really into it. I would end up talking to everyone about the film. At one point, I was like ‘if I tell people the story, who will watch it?’”

The enthusiasm also had something to do with the challenges she faced to get into the part. Sanon gained 15 kilos, changed her gait to match that of a pregnant woman and watched many delivery videos. “I am petrified to have a child now,” she says. Mimi and Sanon are poles apart but the actress identified with her character’s “big dreams”, with her “wanting to achieve it all, to take risks and believe that she can actually do it”.

The pandemic has not stopped Sanon from seemingly doing it all. She shot three films—Hum Do Hamare Do, Bachchan Pandey and

“I don’t want to be put in a box. Audiences shouldn’t say that this is a Kriti Sanon film so it will be like this. I want to surprise them”

Bhediya. She also has two big projects lined up—Adipurush, in which she plays Sita to Prabhas’s Ram, followed by Ganapath with Tiger Shroff. Sanon has a motto for what is “probably the best phase” of her professional life—“Apna time aayega (my time will come).” She adds, “In my head I always believed that I would slowly and steadily get there.” With no film school or stage experience, all her learning, she says, has happened on set: “I am a curious person. There is always a hunger to grow and learn. I maintain that if you are not evolving, you are not really living, you are just passing through life. I am never satisfied with where I am and I’m very critical of myself.” As she bags parts opposite some of the industry’s most popular actors, Sanon isn’t too preoccupied with concerns about limited screen time. “What is important is the impact my character leaves, if she moves the story forward,” she says, citing the example of Kareena Kapoor in 3 Idiots (2009). “Ultimately, the story is what has to work.” Sanon also wants to shun labels. “I don’t want to be put in a box,” she says. “Audiences shouldn’t say that this is a Kriti Sanon film, so it will be like this. I want to surprise them.” With Mimi, she may just do that.

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