Kriti Kharbanda, who is nine films old, is not only a bundle of talent, but belongs to a rare of breed of actors that are hard to come by these days in tinsel town. For starters, Kriti admits she cares a damn if people don’t mob her on the streets. She is highly principled and goes out of her way to help directors when they are in distress. And, she does not carry a credit card! “Yeah, it might sound strange, but that’s the way I am, that’s how I’ve been brought up. I want to be what I am. I don’t want people to change me. I have come up the hard way, so I know what it means to be a natural person,” says Kriti, who is also a trained jewellery designer. She has no qualms in stating that she never dreamed of being an actor, “I keep reminding myself about it. Look, I don’t have any godfathers or guides in the film industry. There have been several days when I have cried alone after losing a project. I have started from zero. I believe in destiny. And mind you, to be successful in the film industry, luck is more important than talent.” Nevertheless, Kriti has been making waves in Telugu cinema. She is eagerly awaiting the release of her next film, Mr. Nokia opposite Manoj Manchu, and is currently shooting for the first-ever 3-D film in Telugu, titled Om. Directed by Sunil, the film deals with a contemporary love plot and will be released in three months. Kriti made her debut in Telugu with Boni in 2009, and has acted in the recently released, Teen Maar. She has also acted in the Kannada movie, Chiru in 2010. A song shot especially on her made Kriti a household name in Karnataka. She now has four Kannada movies in the pipeline! And, this is no small achievement for a complete outsider in an industry dominated by generations of actors and producers. In fact, if she had accepted every film that came her way, her filmography would have crossed 25 by now! But Kriti is a choosy actor, although she has been the ‘most-seen’ face on TV commercials for the last five years. “It is because of my mom that I turned to acting. Otherwise, I had no plans of being seen on the big screen,” she smiles. A Punjabi by birth, Kriti moved to Bengaluru in the 90s with her parents, who pursued their independent businesses, “As a child, I
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