Nikita Dutta on embracing her individuality while living her Bollywood dream in Jewel Thief
Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; April 22, 2025)
Last month, when Nikita Dutta featured in Ram Madhvani’s historical series The Waking Of A Nation, it satiated the actor in her. With her upcoming work, Kookie Gulati and Robbie Grewal’s heist thriller Jewel Thief—co-starring Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat—she is living her Bollywood dream: playing the classic heroine and drawing inspiration from all the stars she grew up watching. Ahead of the Netflix film’s release, in conversation with mid-day, Dutta reveals the joy of shooting for an out-and-out masala film, why she doesn’t compromise her individuality to become a commercial star, and her admiration for Jewel Thief co-star Khan’s actor-wife Kareena Kapoor Khan—who she believes is the last of the stars.
Edited excerpts from the interview.
What was it like to be a part of a quintessential Bollywood thriller, which has song-and-dance and carries the filminess of the movies of the past?
We all know the hook steps of popular Bollywood numbers. It is what we all love [to do]. However much we say that cinema is real and great, which it is in parts, when you talk about the Bollywood that we have grown up to, [the realistic films] took away the filminess of it. So, it was exciting to be a part of that because I was getting to do what I have always [dreamed of doing]. The closet actor in all of us has somewhere enacted that in front of the mirror. I was told, ‘You aren’t a heroine until you have worn a saree in the snow.’ I am still waiting for that.
Over the years, female actors have spoken about how difficult it is to pull off a mainstream heroine act convincingly. There’s also been a discourse around how such stereotypes set unrealistic standards of beauty and put pressure on women to look a certain way if they want to be a part of commercial cinema. So, what goes through your mind when doing a commercial film?
If we go back to our classic heroines, who are known for doing commercial cinema—from Sridevi, Madhuri [Dixit-Nene] to Aishwarya [Rai Bachchan]—I always look up to these actors and feel they tick all the boxes for me. If you see, none of them were trying to be like each other. They all had their own personality. And that’s what made them [so popular]. Or if you look at Kareena Kapoor [Khan], she is the last in the league. I have no one else in mind, who looks good, dances great and has these fabulous expressions.
What I am trying to do right now, irrespective of Jewel Thief, is not follow a trend or get into the zone where everyone is blindly getting into the plastic world and looking like clones of each other. I am trying to stay true to what I saw growing up, which is to have your own personality, but at the same time try to adapt to what a particular film or story demands.
After Jewel Thief, you have another film coming up this year. While you seem to be busy with projects, there’s a sense in the industry that work has slowed down. For someone who juggles films, TV and OTT, what’s your understanding of the happenings in the industry right now?
Somewhere, when OTT picked up, there was a boom that happened and there was an abundance of work. So, we got used to that but now everyone, including makers, has become cautious. People have more options, so they pick and choose and they aren’t ready to watch anything or everything. So many changes have happened—OTT platforms merging, and the numbers of a film getting affected because it has come directly to OTT. I wouldn’t say that work has slowed down but there’s a lot of processing. We are going through a change, where makers are trying to see what will and will not work. So, experiments are bound to happen.
Has that affected the quantity of offers coming your way?
Irrespective of anything, you get offered things and you just have to choose the best from what you get. That’s an ongoing process.