Kriti Sanon is the one to watch out for. Now that she’s added a few names to her filmography, the 27-year-old is looking to push the proverbial envelope. Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Bareilly Ki Barfi is a step in that direction. Set in small-town India, the film from the maker of Nil Battey Sannata allowed the actress an opportunity to delve deeper into her craft. t2 recently met Kriti in the ballroom of Novotel in Mumbai to talk to her about the Friday film, the Delhi connect she has with her Bareilly Ki Barfi co-stars, and the link-up rumours that refuse to go away.

You had to opt out of Farhan Akhtar’s Lucknow Central because of Bareilly Ki Barfi…

Unfortunately, I had no choice. For any actor, opting out of a project is the last resort. There were major scheduling conflicts. I am a huge believer in destiny. You hear of actors getting signed on at the last minute and sometimes you could spend months ironing out the details, but films get delayed and you can’t do them any more. I am happy with whatever destiny has sent my way. 

Tell us about Bitti in Bareilly...

She is very outspoken and free-spirited. She lives in Bareilly. You could call her a tomboy. She doesn’t care how she is dressed. She likes doing breakdance that she’s learnt from watching videos. She is the only girl in Bareilly who does the breakdance! She is famous in all the sangeets that happen in the city. She watches English films and sometimes she hides and smokes. Basically, she lives life on her own terms. She might live in a small town but she is very broadminded. She doesn’t subscribe to the concept of what good girls can and can’t do. Her reasoning is if a man can do something, why can’t she?

I heard you describe this character as one with ‘many firsts’. What did you mean by that?

There are many things that I have done for the first time in a film. My character’s look is very de-glam. There’s minimal make-up and hair. I am mostly dressed in loose sweaters with pyjamas and rolled-up jeans. This is the first time I am playing a small-town girl. She lives in Bareilly, so this is the first time I have had to pick up a dialect. Though my accent is not as thick as Rajkummar’s (Rao) character or even that of my parents in the film, there are certain words like zindagi as ‘jindagi’. 

Was it fun to not worry about your look?

Honestly, I am not vain about how I look on camera. The roles that I have played in the past have been urban, so they have all been very stylish and glamorous. For Bareilly, I would tie my hair in a pony or put it in a bun myself instead of getting a hairstylist to do it. I just needed to look more natural for this film. The clothes I wore were comfortable enough for me to sleep in them. For a change, I took less time to get ready compared to my co-actors! And I could sleep more because my call-time was just 30 minutes before my on-set time. 

Did you know Ayushmann and Rajkummar before you started this movie?

Not really. I had met Ayushmann at some award functions. We had had a very formal interaction. Raj I knew a little because of Raabta. But we barely interacted on set there and he didn’t look like himself (Rajkummar had a cameo in Raabta as a 324-year-old) so it didn’t feel like I knew him. 

How do you break the ice with them on set?

It has to be organic. You can’t force yourself. I take a little time to open up but it also depends on the other person. In this case, both Ayushmann and Raj are very simple and all three of us have a Delhi connection. We just gelled. 

Ashwiny is the first female director you have worked with. Does it make a difference to have a woman at the helm? 

Not really. To be a good director, you need to have the right vision and be able to understand emotions. A director’s gender doesn’t matter. Ashwiny as a person is very rooted and that reflects in her films. She is very desi at heart and so are her films. Oh wait… I can think of a difference (laughs)! I could sit on her lap at the monitor... obviously, I won’t do that with a male director! She was like an elder sister. I’d tease her and say that I was getting mummy-vibes from her. She treated me like a bachcha. 

Your last release Raabta didn’t work. How did you deal with that?

It is disheartening. You put in so much time and effort. You want people to watch it and love it. When you experiment, there are chances that it won’t resonate with the audience. I feel that the flashback parts of Raabta didn’t work for the audience. Personally, I believe that as long as you are trying to do something different, it’s not a complete failure. The experience of making Raabta, for me, was one of growth. I have no regrets. The best thing to do is to move on to the next film.

Your Raabta co-star Sushant Singh Rajput, told t2 how quickly he had moved on from the success of M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story... 

Absolutely! You have to treat success and failure the same way. Sushant, Dinoo (Dinesh Vijan, director of Raabta) and I have met post the film’s release. We’ve talked about what went wrong with the film. 

Talking about Sushant, the dating rumours just refuse to go away!

What can I do?! I really don’t care. I can’t let it affect how I live my life. As a public figure, I share a large part of my personal life with the audience but I am not answerable to everything I am doing with my time. What people may or may not think can’t dictate my equation with people or who I have a meal with. I should be allowed to do the normal things a girl my age would do. 

Karishma Upadhyay