Exclusive: We get negative reactions from filmmakers after flops, says Kriti Sanon

Now awaiting the release of Bareilly Ki Barfi, Kriti Sanon chats about the ups and downs of Bollywood and how she’s a simple girl under the polish.

Why the title Bareilly Ki Barfi?
My father has a sweet meat shop in the small town of Bareilly in the film, and the character that I play has quite a sweet tooth. Though the director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari got the idea for the film from the French book Ingredients of Love, the story is actually quite different from the original.

People close to you say that you’re very down-to-earth for someone who’s in the glam world...
Yes. I think that I am very simple at heart. I come from a middle class family and I think that that makes me pretty grounded. It surprises a lot of people though. I remember the first time that I met Ashwiny. When she came out of her office to meet me, I was sitting on the ground reading the script with my hair up in a messy bun. She asked me, “Are you always like this?” She’d seen my modelling photos, so she thought I’d be more of a fashionable sort. But I told her that I’d just be exhausted if I had to dress up all the time (laughs).

Do you think that the way the industry treats you changes with every film?
There is a positive attitude overall from your filmy peers whenever your film does well or an actor or actress proves her acumen in a film. But it’s exactly the opposite with flops. Instead of offering support, there’s just a negative reaction from filmmakers. Directors need to judge an artiste by his or her talent and not the how their last film did. The attitude of “you’re only as good as your last film” needs to change.