I am sick of being linked up: Kriti

Bangalore gal Kriti Kharbanda created waves when her 2010 romance Chiru hit theatres, opposite the southern heartthrob Chiranjeevi Sarja, also known as Chiru.
Her second big screen outing was the Telugu flick Teen Maar, the remake of Imtiaz Ali’s superhit Love Aaj Kal, opposite the Power Star of Tollywood, Pawan Kalyan. It has already set a record in Telugu cinema by releasing in 1,150 theatres worldwide and has received a positive opening.“I never expected Teen Maar to have such a great opening.
Pawan Kalyan is a huge star in Tollywood, but for me, it’s just my second film. It actually scared me that I was doing such a big film. I’m relieved that it’s being liked by so many people,” she says.
And even though she’s just two films old, Kriti is already being linked with co-stars and colleagues and has been voted the fourth most sexually desired star in Tollywood. What about her rumoured link-up with Chiru? “Chiru belongs to the younger lot and he’s barely a few years older, so we got along very well. It was a lot of fun working with him. Pawan is a more senior actor. Initially, I was nervous about how I should behave with him. But when I met him, he made me feel totally at ease and I realised that I could be myself with him. There were no starry airs whatsoever,” she says.
Those were not the only rumoured link-ups and Kriti adds that she’s sick of hearing these stories. “I’m single and sick of being linked up. After two and a half years in the industry, I still get linked up. During the Filmfare awards I was supposedly seeing Allu Arjun (Bunny). Thereafter, I was reportedly seeing my Teen Maar director. We are good friends. He has a son my age. It was sick, but it didn’t affect my friendship with him,” she adds.
Link-ups aside, the focus right now is to further her career in Tollywood and Sandalwood. “There’s a new Kannada project that I’m likely to work on, but it’s too early to speak about it. There is, however, the likelihood of another film with the Chiru team. Director Mahesh had said that he wants to work with the team again and is planning to get a script in place,” she says. There were also rumours doing the rounds about Kriti replacing Shriya Saran in Manoj Manchu’s next, Mr Nokia, which she starts shooting for this month. “I am doing the movie, but I didn’t know that I was replacing her until after I’d signed it. I had heard that she was also going to be in the movie, but there were some date issues with her. That’s when I was approached,” she clarifies.
So are there any Bollywood dreams? Not yet. “The only Bollywood dream I have is to meet Shah Rukh Khan once,” she giggles. “I have received several Bollywood offers, but I haven’t got anything very promising or performance-oriented that a newbie like me needs,” she signs off.
Contributed by Naaila Khan