Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; October 19, 2019)

In a candid chat with Bombay Times, Kriti Sanon opens up about her Housefull 4 co-star Akshay Kumar, the one prank he pulled on her while shooting, and the confusion that ensued on set with two Kritis on board the same film. Read On…

Housefull 4 is based on the concept of reincarnation. It is set in two different eras, and is being called a ‘reincarnation comedy’. Did this aspect of the film excite you to do an all-out comedy film?
I don’t know if I will ever get to do a comedy set against a period backdrop. The subject makes it different from the other films from the franchise. The storyline is that everyone dies and is then, reborn. The old pairs get swapped, and only one person from the group remembers it — this idea drove me crazy (laughs!).

Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh have been a part of the franchise earlier. Did they help you ease in?
Akshay sir and Riteish are like a riot on sets. They are fabulous at comedy and both are funny on and off-camera. I love their sense of humour. If you have such co-stars, you can feed off their energy. Sometimes, during the scenes, they can throw you off-guard with their impromptu reactions and you have to match up. Bobby is quieter as compared to the other two and he keeps to himself. He enjoyed the most in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). We stayed at a heritage palace, and he didn’t want to move out from there. The other actor who was a lot of fun was Johny Lever. I also got to learn a lot from him. He is so good at what he does that I couldn’t control my laughter. While doing scenes with him, we would crack up every time he delivered his lines. He had to redo his scenes because of us.

How was your bonding with the other actresses (Kriti Kharbanda and Pooja Hegde)? And did Akshay play pranks on any of you?
Well, I did bond with both of them. In the current times and the reincarnation period, we are siblings. We are a bunch of sisters that don’t get along with each other. In the film, we are just catty and bitchy. The entire team of actors bonded really well on the sets. The good thing about Akshay sir is that once he arrives on the set, he doesn’t go back to his vanity van. So, in between shots we would play games. He would just pick up an orange and play catchcatch. It was as random as that (laughs!). This time, I am glad that he didn’t play any major pranks on us. No ‘Akshay Kumar’ kind of pranks (laughs!). However, there is one prank he pulled off while we were shooting in London. The location had a lot of horses and horse poop. He came to me and told me that he knows palmistry and that he can predict my future within minutes. He held my hand and pretended to be reading it. Even before I realised, within seconds, I saw that he had kept some on my hand. It didn’t freak me much, as it was dried and not gooey (laughs!), but there were others who did panic.

With Kriti Kharbanda and a Kriti Sanon on the sets, was there any confusion?
Initially, when they would call our name, we both would be clueless about who they were addressing. But as the shoot progressed, I was called Kriti, and she was called Kharbanda. Then, they started calling me by my surname and her by her surname, too. Later, I was called Sanon while she was addressed as KK. The funny bit is, they gave up on calling us ‘Kriti’ (laughs!).

Suddenly there has been an abundance of bald men on screen —Ayushmann Khurrana (Bala), Sunny Singh (Ujda Chaman), and even you are romancing one yourself, Akshay Kumar, in the film…
Cuts in…I think bald can be really sexy, depending upon how you carry it. Take Pitbull or Dwayne Johnson for example. They look fabulous!

The film was earlier being directed by Sajid Khan. Then suddenly, when his name cropped up in a #MeToo case, Farhad Samji stepped in. As actors, did you feel a jerk in the transition?
Obviously, every person has different energy on a set, and two people will direct the film differently. There was a different kind of energy and rhythm that came in when Farhad stepped in. Fortunately, he has also been associated with earlier films of the franchise. Thus, the project wasn’t alien to him. He knew it in and out. At that point, we didn’t want the film to get affected as money and sweat had gone into it. So, we all came together and carried the project forward.

Moving on…While this one hilariously takes you back to a period in time, you have a real period drama coming up — Panipat (based on the third battle of Panipat). This is the first time you will be portraying a real-life character. Was that a challenge?
Panipat is my first ever period drama. It is for the first time that I am playing a real-life character on screen. Also, this is the first time I am playing the role of a Maharashtrian woman. Even though, it is set in the earlier era, the character of Parvatibai is so powerful. She was a vaidya (ayurvedic doctor), who was quite strong-headed, very opinionated and made sure her voice was heard. I am not sure if there were many women like that in the era. I just applaud Ashu sir’s (Ashutosh Gowariker) interpretation of the character.

What sort of training did you have to undertake for the film?
I learnt Marathi and have spoken a few lines in the film. During Raabta, I had undertaken training for hand-to-hand combat and sword-fighting. I brought all that to use only in this film. I had to fight while dressed in a nauvari sari. Mind you, it was not a ready-to-wear sari. I had to drape it in the traditional way every day.

We have been hearing a lot about your sister Nupur planning to make her Bollywood debut. What’s happening on that front?
For now, I am happy that she has bagged a music video opposite Akshay sir. Since childhood, she has been passionate about singing. Music plays an important part in her life and I am happy that she is starting her journey as an actor with a music video. When I was new to Mumbai and was looking for a break as an actor, there was a point when I felt like taking up whatever came my way. However, I am glad that I didn’t do that. I keep telling Nupur to go slow because an actor’s debut film sets his or her career graph.