Star On The Block: Mapping Kriti Sanon's Unconventional Bollywood Journey

Crew (2024) has been sweeping the box office. It has garnered over $19 million in revenue and has moved on to become the fourth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2024. While Crew is making waves by being a first-of-its-kind movie about female heist comedy, Kriti Sanon is getting her moment to shine. While she has had several successes in past, Crew is a defining moment in Kriti's career, where she is making her stand as a powerful artist involved in genre-defying acting roles. What better time to take a look back at the most notable moments of Kriti's career? 

Childhood and Introduction To Cinema 

Born in 90s New Delhi to working-class parents, Kriti was first bit by the modelling bug when she saw a few of her pictures taken by her sister Nupur. While pursuing engineering in Noida, she started modelling for a few agencies and was featured in a few advertisements. After graduation, she let go of two job offers to go to Mumbai to chase her big-screen dreams. She soon caught the eye of the iconic Telugu producer Sukumar, and she was cast as the love interest of Mahesh Babu in the film '1: Nenokkadine'. The film did not manage to succeed at the box office, although it did manage to catapult Kriti into the glamourous world of Bollywood. 

Heropanti (2014)

While she was working on '1: Nenokkadine', she also got the offer to star opposite Tiger Shroff in a romantic action film, 'Heropanti'. The film grossed over 72.6 crores at the box office and was a commercial success. The film captured the forbidden romance between the characters of Shroff and Sanon and won Kriti several awards, including the 2015 Filmfare awards. 

Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) 

Bareilly Ki Barfi was a commercial and critical success and one of Kriti's career-defining films. The movie was simple in its plot - a comedy of errors surrounding a book, two lovesick men and a woman who didn't want to succumb to society's expectations. However, the simple narrative was effective in capturing the essence of Kriti's talent as well as telling a story that was easily consumable by the masses while being progressive. The film grossed around 59 crore at the box office and won Kriti critical and commercial acclaim. 

Lukka Chuppi (2019)

Lukka Chuppi succeeded for all the same reasons Bareilly Ki Barfi did - it was simple and sweet and came with social commentary. Kriti gave a stellar performance alongside Kartik Aryan in this film about an unmarried small-town couple living together and the riot this causes within their families. While it wasn't much of a critical success, it still managed to be a commercial darling and one of Kriti's most memorable performances. 

Mimi (2021)

A remake of the Marathi film 'Mala Aai Vhhaychy!', Mimi featured Kriti in the central role as a surrogate mother. The film was released on OTT platforms and was lauded by critics for its masterful portrayal of the practice of surrogacy. Kriti's character, like many of her characters usually are, is a small-town rebel who wants to go to Mumbai to become an actor and decides to become a surrogate mother for the money.  But the recklessness of a decision as momentous as surrogacy soon dawns on her.

Kriti gives a career-defining performance for Mimi, positioning herself as a solid actor with the prowess to handle the weight of a titular role. The film won her two accolades, including a national award, for the title of 'Best Actress'.  

Kriti is set to perform in Housefull 5 as well as a 'Do Patti', a film being created under her own production house, Blue Butterfly Films. 

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