In her tenth year in Bollywood, Kriti Sanon hits the ball out of the park with Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya; a RARE actor who proves her worth as a performer through mainstream films and who doesn’t rely on hatke, art films to do so

By Fenil Seta -

February 19, 2024 - 4:30 PM IST

The recent release, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, has turned out to be a decent grosser at the box office. It came at the right time when competition was negligible and also, it got the benefit of Valentine’s Day. While the audience reaction has been mixed, when it comes to Kriti Sanon, the feedback has been unanimously positive. In an era when people can be quite ruthless on social media, it’s rare that a mainstream heroine is being showered with only accolades.

In her tenth year in Bollywood, Kriti Sanon hits the ball out of the park with Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya; a RARE actor who proves her worth as a performer through mainstream films and who doesn’t rely on hatke, art films to do so

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya tells the story of a man who falls in love with a robot. Kriti plays the hot and intelligent robot, Sifra, and the way she took the performance to another level is seen to be believed. This was not an easy act. She had to walk the thin line wherein she had to appear as a human as well as have robot-like features. And she nailed it. Hence, it doesn’t seem unconvincing when Aryan (Shahid Kapoor), a robotics engineer, doesn’t realize that he got involved with a robot. While taking care of this aspect, she also looked adorable, which made it easier for the audience to have a soft spot for Sifra. Finally, her comic timing was quite spot-on. From her fake laughter to the way she ‘malfunctioned’ in the police station scene, she made sure screens across the country erupted with guffaws.

An appreciation post on Kriti’s Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya performance is incomplete without mentioning her costumes and style. She looked out of the world in all her clothes (styled by Sukriti Grover), be it Indian or Western.

Many are not aware that though Heropanti (2014) was her debut Bollywood film, the first film that she acted in was 1: Nenokkadine (2014). Though it was a Mahesh Babu vehicle, Kriti got noticed for her strong screen presence and confident performance. She continued with her good work in Bollywood as well. But it was Mimi (2021) that proved to be a turning point. When the trailer dropped, many in the industry were sceptical about her casting. The perception then was that Kriti was more of a glamorous face than a fine talent and they felt that she is a miscast.

But Kriti Sanon proved them wrong and how. Her performance came as a pleasant surprise and no wonder that she got a National Award for this much-loved film. It is thanks to Mimi that the audience and the industry were sure that she’ll be able to pull off the challenging role in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. Mimi, in short, changed things for her drastically.

Kriti Sanon also benefited as she worked with some of the most talented and top directors and production houses from the beginning. 1: Nenokkadine was directed by none other than Sukumar of Pushpa (2021) fame. She has been signed by Rohit Shetty, Ashutosh Gowariker, Amar Kaushik, Laxman Utekar etc. When you work with talented technicians, your craft definitely gets better and Kriti Sanon is an apt example of it.

However, of late, the box office success has eluded Kriti. Housefull 4 (2019) was her last clean hit. All her subsequent films like Panipat (2019), Bachchhan Paandey (2022), Shehzada (2023), Adipurush (2023) and Ganapth were flops while Bhediya (2022) was an average grosser. She worked quite hard in Ganapath and looked out of the world but sadly, the film went unnoticed and so did her work. Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya’s box office verdict is awaited. Such consecutive flops can demotivate any actor. Nevertheless, what goes in her favour is that she did not get brickbats or was not considered responsible for the debacles. It was the directors, her co-stars and even the writer (in the case of Adipurush) who got slammed. Notwithstanding these flops, she’s still considered a saleable name and a combination of good looks and fine talent. Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, meanwhile, boosts her track record for sure.

Often, actresses in Bollywood have to work in arthouse films or very unconventional hatke flicks to prove their worth as actor. Kriti has been blessed since she proved her acting prowess through entertaining films, be it Mimi, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and even Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) for that matter. As she completes a decade in Bollywood, we hope that she continues with her strategy of working in mainstream cinema that can reach out to the lowest common denominator and yet look for roles that can satisfy the actor in her. At this rate, there’s no doubt that she’ll soon emerge as one of the top superstars in the days to come.

Also Read: Kriti Sanon reacts to a fan asking her to choose between Mimi and Sifra; actress says “both were challenging”