Excited and nervous in equal measure about headlining her first woman-centric film, Kriti Sanon on playing a surrogate mother in Mimi
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 4, 2019)

After the success of Luka Chuppi, Kriti Sanon is reuniting with director Laxman Utekar for Mimi, which revolves around surrogacy. While industrywallahs may discourage young actors from playing a mother on screen, Sanon is certain that letting the film pass would have been a mistake.

"Dino [Dinesh Vijan, producer] had acquired the rights of the Marathi film, Mala Aai Vhhaychay [2010], a while back. When he had told me about the concept, I loved it and it stayed with me. Months later, while we were on a flight, he narrated a part of the story casually to me, and I had goosebumps, and tears in my eyes. When a film has that effect on you, you know you have to do it," smiles the actor, who will share screen space with Pankaj Tripathi.

Given the movie's premise of a young woman becoming a surrogate for a couple, netizens have quickly drawn parallels with Vicky Donor (2012) that had Ayushmann Khurrana play a sperm donor who helped reproductively challenged couples. "Donating sperms and going through pregnancy are way different from each other," she argues, dismissing the notion of any similarity between the movies. "This film is about a young girl who has dreams and aspirations, and how becoming a surrogate to a couple changes her life. It can't be compared to any film that has been made here."

Sanon has enjoyed a spate of successful films in the recent past. She understands the weight of expectations that comes with Mimi, which will be her first woman-centric project. "It is a huge responsibility and I am nervous as well as excited. The story is so divorced from my experiences, and I have to portray emotions that I have never felt; that makes it challenging. But I want to take risks. I'm glad that Mimi will be my first so-called female-centric film."