After 20 Films, Kriti Sanon Is Done With Good Girl Roles
On What Women Want, Kriti Sanon tells Kareena Kapoor why she was bored of the 'sati savitri' heroine and welcomes flawed, realistic roles after 20 films.
After 20 films, Kriti Sanon has stopped waiting for the industry to hand her the perfect woman. In the latest episode of What Women Want, she told host Kareena Kapoor that early in her career she often had to pick the best of a narrow set of roles — and those roles kept asking her to be the same coy, agreeable heroine.
The ‘good girl’ problem
Sanon described the standard leading lady as a product of the male gaze: quiet, shy, in need of rescue and never allowed to do the wrong thing. “For a very long time, it was like the good girl,” she said, adding that the woman “is seen from the male gaze.”
“It is refreshing that people are now writing parts that are more real, more human, not necessarily white, human enough to make mistakes.”
She said she was bored of playing that version. The boredom was not just about repetitiveness; it was about wanting characters with interior lives and moral messiness.
Roles that finally let women be wrong
Sanon pointed to newer work as proof of the shift. In Do Patti, she took on a double role that let her play someone mean and selfish. She also referenced Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker to explain why audiences can stay with a complicated character once they see the pain beneath the choices.
That appetite for texture now sits alongside a list of performances that show her range:
- A National Award for Mimi, where she moved between ambition, warmth and sacrifice.
- Commercials and comedies such as Bareilly Ki Barfi, Dilwale, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Crew.
- Praise for her performance in Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2.
Why the shift matters now
This is not just one actor’s preference. When a National Award winner says she was handed a “sati savitri” figure for years, it names a pattern many female performers know but rarely discuss. The phrase she used — the male gaze — has become shorthand for the danger of writing women as accessories to the hero’s journey. Sanon’s relief at newer parts is a sign that writing rooms are expanding, but slowly.
For audiences, her comments are an invitation to notice whether the women in a film exist for themselves or mainly to reflect the hero. That question changes how we watch everything from big-ticket Hindi films to streaming originals.
The next step, if the trend holds, is more women-led stories where a character can disappoint us and still hold the frame. Sanon has already produced and starred in projects that test that idea, and her recent film choices suggest she plans to keep pushing.
Source: Hindustan Times
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