Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; March 20, 2021)

Kriti Sanon, who recently started shooting for an upcoming film with Varun Dhawan, is looking forward to the line-up of movies she has signed. The actress is glad that the year 2020 is now a thing of the past. “Honestly, 2020 is probably the worst year of my life. I would just delete the year had it been in my hands,” she says. While the year started on a good note, it later took a toll on her emotionally and physically.

“The year began with me being busy with film shoots, post which the lockdown was announced. I was glad that I was in the company of my parents through that phase. They were visiting me in Mumbai for a week, but they ended up staying for nearly a year due to the lockdown. It would have been tough to be alone at home. Back then, I shot a nice campaign to boost people’s spirit and even did some media interactions. It is only later that I disconnected and was only active on social media.”

It was the time when Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise shook the nation on June 14 and led to numerous debates. The actress, on multiple occasions, poured her heart out on social media and revisited memories.

She says, “At one point, there was so much noise around that I didn’t want to be a part of it. It reached a point where people stopped being sensitive, and there was too much negativity around. I didn’t want to be a part of that negativity. I knew what I felt about the situation and I wanted to keep that to myself. I didn’t feel the need to talk to anyone about anything that I was feeling. Also, what you want to say, you can always say it on social media. You can write and express yourself instead of talking out loud.”

As Kriti battled through the emotional phase, she was happy to get back to work in the last quarter of 2020. However, in December, she tested positive for Coronavirus. She says, “The toughest part of it was quarantining for 14 days in one room. It gets to you a lot more. I was fortunately at home when I tested positive. Thankfully, I had finished my film’s schedule and I didn’t fall ill in the middle of the shoot.”

Kriti, who has a penchant for writing and has been penning poems, began journaling this year. She elaborates, “I actually started journaling in 2020. However, it was a different kind of journal, more of a gratitude journal. I realised that I wasn’t enjoying that too much, so from January 1, I started a five-year journal to scribble whatever I want. It is a daily thing, where at the end of the day, I just take out two minutes and write whatever happened throughout the day, or I pen down my thoughts through that day. It will be interesting to look back next year and read what happened last year on a particular day. It’s a nice way to record your memories.”