EXCLUSIVE Interview! Kriti Sanon on Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, gender pay gap, AI taking over films

In an exclusive interview for ‘ Not Just Bollywood ’, Kriti Sanon talks about her film which releases today, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, how AI can be a threat to the film industry and how mounting of a hero is like larger than life whether it is a Sooryavanshi or Animal.  Edited excerpts from the interview :  How did you prepare for your role in _Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya_ ? Actually this role was really unique for a robot who is so close to being a human being that a robotic engineer doesn’t get to know that she is a robot. Again since a guy falls in love with her, she had to feel the connection. I had to feel the organic chemistry between a robot and a human being. There is something amiss about her, some sort of a mystery and something is off about her. While shooting, I was always checking whether it is getting too robotic or whether my acting is getting too human. So, it was a constant challenge. She is an AI and she is evolving and learning and getting better every day. For example, cooking with both hands, I can never do it. I am really clumsy in real life. My coordination is a huge problem sometimes. Even her laughter for that matter, it was her quirky bit. That laughter was purposely kept a typical giggly laugh. There were few sections in the film which are very different from how I normally act. There were a few things which were a little exaggerated. Otherwise my method is very subtle and organic. But this was a different experience. On AI taking over the film industry… It could be a threat. Chat GPT gives you everything. In the time of landline, I never thought that I would be able to video call and chat with my cousin in Canada. I didn’t know about virtual reality. But we have it now. There is a robot called Sophia in Saudi Arabia. How advanced and how fast this is going to move that I don’t know. It is scary no doubt and a lot of the jobs that humans used to do earlier and taken over by technology. On cinema changing and women’s roles changing in the entertainment industry… Now also I have seen many films which are very male centric and the girl doesn’t have much to do. But then we have very good writers who are fortunately writing for women and good stories for women. But we still have a long way to go to equalise that. We are not there yet. On gender pay gap which is a sad reality… It’s still there. It will take time to have a balance. There are a lot of things involved in it. It is not just the producers. It’s also how you pitch a film. Someone needs to take the risk of mounting the film on a woman’s shoulder at a certain scale. When you put it at a certain scale you might get a lot more audience than you generally get. When you shoot a male centric film whether it is a Sooryavanshi or Animal, the way the mounting of the hero happens it’s like larger than life. It is something which is aspirational and draws in a lot of people. Gangubai Kathiawadi was one such film where I felt that after a while there was so much mounting of a woman actor in that scale. And it was really exciting to see. It did give the numbers – the hundred crore profit. But of course nothing justifies the amount of difference in the pay that is there in the industry. WATCH trailer of Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya here: