I get more comfortable with the idea of growing as an actor'

In an exclusive interview, Kriti Sanon discusses the leap she has taken as an actor in Mimi, collaborating again with Luka Chuppi director Laxman Utekar, and returning to the small-town template after her breakthrough Bareilly Ki Barfi.

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The Kriti Sanon interview | 'With films like Mimi, I get more comfortable with the idea of growing as an actor'

After appearing in over a dozen films since her debut in 2014, Kriti Sanon will be seen as the solo lead in Mimi, where she plays a Mandawa-based young woman averse to children, who agrees to be a surrogate mother but gets abandoned by the couple. From the trailer, it seems like the story where a woman turns pregnant in the midst of an affair only to get abandoned by her partner who evades commitment. Just that here, there is no partner and the lens is that of surrogacy.

You made your debut seven years ago with Heropanti. You have been playing the quintessential heroine since then but will finally be seen as the titular character in Mimi. What sparks did Laxman Utekar see in you while working on Luka Chuppi that he decided to cast you as the solo lead?

I think that will be best answered by Laxman sir. From what he's told me, Luka Chuppi is a very lighthearted film; there's only one emotional scene in the film, on the terrace when she's feeling suffocated because she's lying to the family. When he saw me perform that, he saw a lot more depth in me than what he's seen in the rest of the film. I think that's when he saw me as Mimi.

Having said that, I was craving to do a film like Mimi where I had a lot more to do, where I felt challenged as an actor. I was looking for something I could dig my teeth deeper into, something which was a little more intense but at the same time very entertaining. When I heard the one-liner of Mimi, I felt it had a lot of heart and soul, but is also very entertaining. It felt like the perfect film I'd like to lead as my first time.