Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; January 13, 2018)

The first of the award galas marking the cinematic achievements of Bollywood in 2017 kicked-off last year, with the Star Screen Awards taking Twitter by storm soon after its airing on New Year Eve. Twitterverse was in splits at the introduction of a new title, the Nothing To Hide Award, bestowed on Kriti Sanon and Shahid Kapoor in the female and male categories respectively. Among the many users left scratching their heads over the title, questioning, “What does that even mean?” was singer Benny Dayal, who wrote, “Nothing to hide that this award was named and planned that very moment.”

The award was introduced for celebrities who share details about their career and private lives ‘honestly’ with fans on social media, thereby upping their fan base in a short span of time. Responding to the array of puns pointed towards them, Sanon now tells mid-day, “As long as I am not asking someone to give me an award, it [the win] is fine. If I am given enough to accept it.”

The now infamous title, she says, was in fact a tag line of one of the sponsors of the show. “This award connects me with my fans,” she rebuts, adding, “I don’t think I needed to respond to this, but a lot was written about the win. Besides, nowadays, there are different awards being handed out, including one called a ‘Youth Icon’. So, I don’t see why this is surprising.”

On the work front, Sanon is set to reunite with Raabta (2017) director Dinesh Vijan for a comedy that pairs her alongside Diljit Dosanjh for the first time. Arjun Patiala will see Sanon as a crime journalist, while the Phillauri (2017) actor plays a cop. Rubbishing rumours that the film will revolve around a married couple with a significant height difference — Sanon being the taller among the two — she says, “My character will be showcased as someone who is taller than the average women. Hence, she is also taller than Diljit’s cop. So, this topic might be touched upon. But it’s not the crux.”