Nikita Dutta: I didn’t pay much attention to PR machinery after Kabir Singh FilmyMeet

As she completes 10 years in the film industry, actor Nikita Dutta is embarking on a new journey as she makes her Marathi film debut with Gharat Ganpati. Ask her about this new venture and she says, “I never thought I’d get into regional films. Since I have come in this industry, I have stuck with Hindi, be it TV, films or OTT. But when this film came to me, I loved the idea of it. I am speaking Hindi in the film, not Marathi. So, the whole idea of not knowing the language and still pretending to know, wasn’t there and I just had to be myself. So, I felt I could do justice to the part and be a part of that world even without knowing the language.”

The actor insists that artistes in regional cinema are more focused on their craft as compared to Bollywood. “A lot of my co-actors are theatre actors. So, they come from a very hardcore acting-oriented school of thought. They aren’t more about the appearances but their performances, and I really appreciate it,” she says, adding that while regional cinema is making its way pan-India, it’s only for the popular films. “Unless the film is talked about, it doesn’t get the eyeballs. When Sairat (2016) came out, and people talked about it, that’s when even I went to see the film. And that’s what happens with any regional film out there. Once the release happens and there’s a buzz around it afterwards, that’s only when it is viewed pan-India,” Dutta insists.

Ask the 33-year-old to describe her 10 years in Bollywood and she calls them “adventurous”. “This is an unpredictable industry. I started with a film (Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, 2014) and thought it would continue there, but then I suddenly got into TV. Then I came back to films. So, you can’t plan anything here,” she shares.

The biggest success for Dutta in this time has been Shahid Kapoor starrer Kabir Singh (2019). The film gave a boost to Kapoor and actor Kiara Advani’s career a big boost. Does she feel she didn’t get that kind of push from it as her co-stars did? “Everyone got their share and even I did get a push. Post Kabir Singh, I had five films in hand, but then lockdown happened and two of those films got shelved, two of them went instead from theatres to OTT and one film’s release got pushed by three years. So, everything went haywire. Also, there is a lot of PR machinery that goes behind pushing you. And probably that’s something I didn’t pay much attention to after Kabir Singh came out. I am not saying I didn’t get my due; everyone played their best cards, probably I didn’t play them that well at the time,” she ends.