From an engineering student to a National Award-winning actor, Kriti Sanon has come a long way since the Delhi girl made her debut in the showbiz industry. Being an outsider in Bollywood for more than 9 years now, the Crew actor shared what it was like making Mumbai her home while calling Shah Rukh Khan as the best settler of the insider-outsider debate. Speaking at the Times Now Summit on Thursday, Kriti said, “I always believe that everyone has their own journey and their own pressures. So, my first film was Heropanti, which was with a star kid, Tiger Shroff. We both were getting launched together but we both had different pressures, where he had the pressure of being compared to his father (Jackie Shroff). And I had the pressure of, I hope people notice me, I hope know my name, where people know his name before he was even launched.”
“I hope I get my second film and I hope I am here to stay. So there are different kind of pressures that everyone goes through. Eventually, I think talent is what sticks through.”
“Being an outsider, of course, it takes a while for people to register to know your name, to match your name to your face. For the longest time, they were like ‘woh Tiger Shroff ki film mein aaye thi‘ at the airport. They used to address me sometimes. The kids Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, director of Bareilly Ki Barfi, they used to call me ‘Tiger didi’ back then. Because they didn’t know my name. It takes a while to register who you are when you are not from acting background. If you keep at it, you will start feeling like an insider. But those initial years of struggle and frustrating moments of not having the kind of opportunity you want is what you have to go through. That’s why I am proud of the journey because it’s not been that easy,” she added.
Asked how it was working with stars like SRK, who she shared screen space with in Dilwale, Kriti said, “Shah Rukh Khan is an absolute outsider and the best example of insider-outsider debate that we keep having. It is a matter eventually.”
Kriti stars in Crew alongside Kareena Kapoor and Tabu. In the film, Tabu, Kareena, and Kriti are essaying the roles of air hostesses. From stealing peanut boxes meant for flights to planning to earn a lot of money and raising the glam quotient, the trio is out to grab eyeballs. The film, made under Balaji Telefilms and Anil Kapoor Film And Communications Network banners, had a theatrical release on March 29.
Crew is a story of three women and is touted as a laugh-riot, set against the backdrop of the struggling airline industry. However, their destinies lead to some unwarranted situations and they get caught in a web of lies.