Nostalgia with Kruttika Desai: “My family didn’t allow me to act in Hindi films back then!”

The actor talks about earning ₹100 as conveyance every shoot day, meeting her husband on set, and watching Amitabh Bachchan movies, when she was 22

How were you positioned career-wise?

Kruttika Desai at 22 (left) and at 54 (right)

I was doing my M.A. in clinical psychology at Mumbai University. I got admission to do my PhD at Kansas University in the United States the following year. But I got an offer to act in the TV serial Buniyaad. I was already doing theatre alongside my studies since I was 17. I would’ve been a psychologist in the US but that never happened as I had tasted blood, glamour, fame, money and realised I loved acting.

Kruttika in a still from the popular TV show Buniyaad

What was your bank balance?

We used to get ₹100 as conveyance every shoot day, which was 25 days a month. ₹2,500 a month in those days was enough to cover my petrol and shopping expenses. I remember checking my Dena Bank account balance and it was ₹60,000! That was a lot in those days; I could have bought a flat in Goregaon, Mumbai, then!

Your relationship status?

I was single, but while doing Buniyaad, I met my husband, Imtiaz.

With late husband Imtiaz Khan, whom she met on the sets of Buniyaad

Did you stay with your family then?

Yes, with my parents, Virbala and Giresh Desai, my grandparents, an aunt, younger brother Vedang and sister Niyati. We lived in a bungalow in Khar.

What was your fashion quotient?

I was extremely fashion conscious and Westernised. As l started earning at a young age, l could indulge in it.

Kruttika (extreme right in pink) with her family at her cousin’s wedding

Were you into fitness?

Jane Fonda’s aerobics was big at that time. I had the video cassette that my friends and I used to watch and follow.

Your prized possession?

My National cassette player.

During her first play, Baanshaiya, in which she played a girl using crutches

Your dream?

To travel and see the places which I had read about in magazines like Time, Span and National Geographic.

Were films an option?

I wasn’t allowed to do them. I did Vinod Khanna’s comeback film Insaaf thinking nobody will find out as my family didn’t watch many Hindi films. They learnt about it from a neighbour. It didn’t go down well!

Kruttika married her husband after they finished filming Buniyaad

Your favourite actor?

Most of the Hindi films I watched starred Amitabh Bachchan. He was and still is my favourite!

Looking back, do you have any regrets?

Maybe I should have concentrated more on my work, and convinced my parents to let me do films. But, in hindsight, everything seems easier. Fortunately, I don’t have major regrets.

With her sister Niyati in London, on her first trip abroad

Your frame of mind?

Usually, almost everyone at 22 feels great, unbeatable, unstoppable and has great dreams ... that was how I felt too!

From HT Brunch, January 14, 2023

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