Maroc - POPDIARIES.COM - A La Une - 20/Feb 07:23

Kirti Kulhari says she was sidelined during Pink Movie promotions

Kirti Kulhari shared How Pink Movie became all about only Taapsee Pannu during promotions & stated that "Tapsee became the Pink Girl." Kirti Kulhari came into the spotlight in the year 2016 in the film 'PINK.'  However, despite delivering a strong performance in the film, Kirti felt that she was sidelined during the promotion of the film and the experience was quite underwhelming for her. In a recent chat, Kirti said that this episode also strained her relationship with Taapsee Pannu, who was promoted as the face of the film. Speaking with Fever FM, Kirti recalled how the hierarchy amongst actors affected her deeply. She said, “When Pink happened, for me, there was never a thought, ‘Who is big or small’ in terms of their status in the industry. I was like it is a story of three girls. That’s how I saw it. I came from a space where I believed ‘We are all actors. We are all together. But Pink made me feel a lot of ‘big star-small star’ treatment. The people around you make you feel that way.” Kirti said the film was the story of the three girls but in the way it was promoted, she felt that Taapsee was given the star treatment, after Amitabh Bachchan. She recalled that she came to this rude realization only after watching the film’s trailer and she had a “meltdown” after it. She said, “I saw the trailer was mainly filled with Taapsee and Mr Bachchan. That was the first jhatka for me because I knew what I had done in the film. Shoojit was like, ‘Don’t worry about it, let the film come out.’ I never do PR. I believe my work will be eventually seen. However, during the promotions, the PR machinery happened for Taapsee because she came after Mr Bachchan (in terms of hierarchy) in that film. Eventually, it became her film and she became the Pink girl in terms of positioning and I saw that happening in front of me. This was the first shocker for me because I couldn’t understand this.” She recalled that even after the film’s release, she was nominated for a few supporting actress awards but she never went for those because she never saw herself as the supporting actor here. “My PR game was zero. It shook me,” she said. When asked if this strained her relationship with Taapsee, Kirti said that it affected their equation but added, “I think from her side, she didn’t notice this. She has been nice to me but that whole PR game, I took it a little personally.” Kirti’s Pink episode taught her to be clear about her positioning in her future projects, which included Mission Mangal as well as Four More Shots, which starred multiple female actors. She shared, “I was very clear when I took up Mission Mangal. I told them, apart from Vidya, if I am not given equal positioning as the other girls, I won’t do it. I learned the positioning game on the job.” While explaining hierarchy and her entire journey, Kirti got teary-eyed. She said, “The whole hierarchy thing that happens, we have unconsciously become conditioned to treat it with, ‘What’s their status and what can they do for us’. Our behavior changes with different people based on their status.” READ HERE: Amitabh Bachchan’s Wishes Are the Best Badge of Honor, Say Sanam Teri Kasam writers and directors Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao