Nikita Dutta talks about life after 'Kabir Singh,' her Marathi debut, and more; ‘I do remember right after the movie I had a lot of work that came my way’

MUMBAI : Nikita Dutta first came to notice as a finalist in the Femina Miss India 2012 pageant. She then went on to star in additional television shows such as Ek Duje Ke Vaaste (2016), after making her TV debut with Dream Girl in 2015. Her cinematic debut was in Gold (2018), a film starring Akshay Kumar.

The popular films Kabir Singh (2019) starring Shahid Kapoor, The Big Bull (2021) starring Abhishek Bachchan, and the paranormal movie Dybbuk (2021) starring Emraan Hashmi follow. She also appeared in Khakhee: The Bihar Chapter on Netflix.

Also read: Find out the real story behind Nikita Dutta’s ‘new look’!

She makes her feature film debut in Marathi with her most recent film, Gharat Ganpati (2024). The Gharat Family cherishes having Gauri Ganpati visit their ancestral house during the Ganpati celebration. The scene is set against the breathtaking Konkani scenery. This deep custom, which spans generations, encourages an inspiring reunion while resolving difficulties.

“As the name suggests, the film centres around the Ganpati festival, but also a lot to do with a joint family-their dynamics and their internal issues which they deal with during the festival. It’s a beautiful representation of Maharashtra and culture, which a lot of people aren’t well versed with. I am basically playing a girl from Delhi who comes to Maharashtra and is in love with a boy who lives in Konkan. I didn’t really have to speak Marathi for the movie, which is also the reason why I was so comfortable doing it. Though the difficult part was that every other character who is there is speaking in Marathi, so I had to basically just get a little better at understanding what they are saying,” Nikita told the popular news portal on the call.

Acting was not at all in her future because she came from a family where everyone was in the armed forces. Her goal was to get ready for the civil services, but while in college, she unknowingly entered the Miss India pageant, which completely changed her path. After that, she just accepted each opportunity that presented itself. She started hosting TV shows, which helped her land her first serial.

She collaborated with the Hemkunt Foundation during COVID and used her social media following to promote their initiative to provide oxygen cylinders and concentrators, as well as to ask for donations.

“There was not much I could do physically. I tried to help them out on social media and with whatever I could do from my end,” she said.

Nikita has also been candid about how she realized early on how crucial public relations was to land new jobs.

“I come from a place where there’s nobody who’s going to guide me. I don’t have any godfather or family in this industry, so nobody is going to tell me that ‘this is the way to go about it.’ I had a release (Kabir Singh) which was extremely successful. Everyone knew about my work. I do remember right after the movie I had a lot of work that came my way. But I think that work was not represented correctly and that’s probably the PR’s job which is why they do what they do. This is something I guess I have understood on the job. It’s not something somebody told me before, unlike if one is from a film family, and before your movie your PR is activated. You’re already getting advertisements because you’ve got a certain surname that doesn’t work in our case. I feel like I could have just done better in terms of representation, which I’ve probably taken a while to understand,” Nikita explained.

The actress's next project is the October 2024 release of Jewel Thief: The Red Sun Chapter on Netflix, co-starring Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat.

Also read: From Kabir Singh to Dange: Five Must-Watch Films by Nikita Dutta

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Credit- Free Press Journal