Kriti Kharbanda: I’d love to do a Kannada film again

Kriti Kharbanda, who made her Kannada film debut with Chiru (2010), before branching out into Bollywood in 2016, says she owes her success to Sandalwood

Kriti Kharbanda, who made her Kannada film debut with Chiru (2010), before branching out into Bollywood in 2016, says she owes her success to Sandalwood. “When I started working in Kannada films, it was my first tryst with stardom. I owe it to Bengaluru and the fans here who have made me who I am. The films I did in my initial years and the way Kannada films helped me, I couldn’t have asked for a better start!” says Kriti.

Kriti Kharbanda

Talking about the first time, she got a taste of stardom, the Maashthi Gudi (2016) actor says, “I was in Garuda mall with my parents, and someone came up to me and asked me if I’m Kriti Kharbanda. I said yes, and they asked me for a selfie. The moment is etched in my memory and it’s not going away because I saw the shine in my parents’ eyes. We all took a minute to process it but one selfie became 50 and in the next 20 minutes, I was in the mall’s square with a huge crowd around me.”

Considering she’s Punjabi, was it difficult to learn the language? While Kannada isn’t an easy language, I’ve lived here all my life, so when I started working in the industry, it was a natural instinct for me to learn the language well and not just memorise it. While working on Kannada films, I told everyone on set to speak to me in Kannada so I could become fluent and understand it too. That helped a lot and now I speak Kannada well.”

Her last Kannada film was Dalapathy (2017) and she’s itching to come back. “I have always enjoyed working in Kannada films and I never plan to move out. The industry is growing and it’s become a global language now as films are releasing on OTT platforms where the beauty of Kannada films, that of strong storytelling, is being highlighted and I would love to do more Kannada films!” she says.