MUMBAI: She made her foray into Bollywood with a cliche love story "Heropanti" and went on to feature in multi-starrer "Dilwale", but Kriti Sanon's acting skills came to notice with her performance as Bitti in "Bareilly Ki Barfi".
The actor, who last release "Luka Chuppi" was also well-received by the audience, says after completing five years in the movie business she is happy that people are finally taking her seriously as a performer.
"Both 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' and 'Luka Chuppi' were instinctive choices, today I do feel all the more confident to go with my gut feeling with a script. I am glad people are taking me seriously as an actor. And it is because of the work I have done.
"It is important to grow with every film otherwise you become stagnant. And my motive is to grow with every film," Kriti told PTI in an interview.
The 28-year-old actor adds that it is just the beginning for her but she is well-aware of the struggles ahead.
"I am an ambitious person. I am very hungry as an actor. I want to do better. I have the fire in me to do a lot more, provided I get the opportunities. I am not a person, who would get satisfied easily with where I am. Everybody has their journey and it is difficult to sustain but it is also very difficult to climb."
Citing example of Deepika Padukone, Kriti says every actor has that 'one' film in their filmography which establishes them as an "actor".
And it was "Cocktail" that changed things for Deepika.
"Some climb early some take it longer and it depends on the opportunities that come your way and depends on which film does that for you.
"I do feel 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' did make me take a leap. And had I not done that and taken a safer film, which I was already doing, maybe I would have taken way longer.
"It is eventually the choices and decisions that you make and then it is a matter of that one film that would take you up there and you never know which would be that one film."
Kriti says with success people start recognising the artiste and the workflow increases.
"The opportunities depends on how well you are doing in your career. When you do not come from a film background it takes a while for people to register or recognise you and then see your work and talent. Your name starts popping up slowly," she adds.
The actor says even though she is particular about her career choices, she would now like to do at least two-three films a year.
"I don't want to do a film for the heck of it. I don't want to take up films to fill up time. I want to do more number of films. I was more selective and cautious to not go wrong. But now I have become carefree and I am not so scared.
"And I have now sort of cautiously increased my pace a little bit. I have four releases this year and it is going to be tough for me to maintain it. I would like to do two-three films a year."
The 28-year-old actor is busy promoting her second release of the year "Arjun Patiala", which is directed by Rohit Jugraj and produced by Maddock Films.
It will hit screens on July 26. The film pairs her with Diljit Dosanjh.
Kriti plays a journalist while Diljit will be seen as a cop in this small-town quirky romantic-comedy.
She also has "Housefull 4" and "Panipat" up for release later this year and has been recently signed up for filmmaker Rahul Dholakia next directorial venture, a female-driven thriller film.