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Kriti Sanon at She Sakti 2025 urged producers to back women-led films like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi and Rajesh A Krishnan’s The Crew.
Kriti Sanon praises Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi.
At CNN-News18’s SheShakti 2025, National Award winner Kriti Sanon — who won for Mimi the same year Alia Bhatt bagged the honour for Gangubai Kathiawadi — spoke about why producers and directors must place stronger bets on actresses to lead big films and powerful stories. Pointing to the striking opening scene of Alia in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, Kriti praised the director and said that women-led cinema has proved its strength and the industry should back such content with the same conviction as male-driven projects.
Kriti said, “Take a risk on the subject, not on who’s leading it. If a female-led film… the only one that comes to my mind, honestly, that has been at that scale, at that budget, was Gangubai Kathiawadi. You felt like it was larger than life. It would have been the same-looking film even if a man were leading it. And I felt like the budget, the shots, everything was taken in a larger-than-life way. When someone makes an entry, we call it a ‘hero shot’ — where you make someone look larger than life. That doesn’t normally happen when a female is leading a film like that. So I was very, very happy seeing that. At least someone had the guts to put in that much money on a female-led film.”
Opening up on women breaking glass ceilings in Bollywood, she said, “You need to really be passionate about it, and there is no shortcut. Nothing comes easy, there are no free lunches. You have to work hard towards it, and what is also very, very important is not to give up, because there will be times, especially when you don’t come from a film background, when no one’s giving you anything on a platter. There will be so many people telling you why it’s too big a dream, why it can’t happen, why contact is needed, why connections are needed, or what’s wrong with you — you’re too short, you’re too tall, you’re too thin, you’re not in the right shape, whatever. I feel people are going to tell you what’s wrong with you, but no one’s really going to tell you that you can do it other than you. So I feel you really need to be very, very driven, passionate, and patient, because it will come when the time is right, but you have to keep working on yourself.”
Kriti Sanon was last seen in the Netflix thriller Do Patti (2024), where she not only showcased a gripping dual performance but also marked her debut as a producer. Before that, she appeared in Crew (2024) alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tabu, and in the romantic drama Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024). Earlier, Kriti earned the National Film Award for Best Actress for her powerful portrayal of a surrogate mother in Mimi (2021), a performance that cemented her place among the finest talents of her generation. Up next, she will be seen opposite Dhanush in Anand L. Rai’s Tere Ishk Mein, scheduled to release on November 28, 2025, and will also headline Homi Adajania’s much-anticipated sequel Cocktail 2, which goes on floors this August and is slated for release in late 2026.
Shreyanka Mazumdar is Chief Sub Editor of the entertainment team at News18. With an unbridled passion for all things Bollywood, she loves deep-diving into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment world, bring…Read More
Shreyanka Mazumdar is Chief Sub Editor of the entertainment team at News18. With an unbridled passion for all things Bollywood, she loves deep-diving into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment world, bring… Read More
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