Kriti Sanon used her appearance at the Red Sea International Film Festival to position Tere Ishk Mein and her latest roles as part of a wider comeback for big-screen romance. Speaking at the Variety Lounge in Jeddah, the actor said “this year has been about love stories,” tying the film’s theatrical run to a broader appetite for emotional stories at a time when, as she put it, a swipe culture often sidelines long-term connection.
Sanon described Tere Ishk Mein as one of the most layered roles she has taken on, playing a woman trapped in an abusive relationship whose decisions remain messy and human. She said she was drawn to the part because the character feels raw, flawed and vulnerable rather than idealised. The film, directed by Aanand L. Rai and co-starring Dhanush, has delivered strong opening numbers since its November 28 release while sparking fierce debate over its depiction of “toxic” love, a conversation Sanon has welcomed as proof that audiences engage seriously with difficult material.
Recent box office figures back her sense that romance still sells. Trade trackers report Tere Ishk Mein approaching the ₹100 crore worldwide mark after a front-loaded first week, even as competition from new releases slows its daily take. That run follows a streak of hits for Sanon, with her last three releases each crossing ₹100 crore globally, reinforcing her current position as one of Hindi cinema’s most bankable leads in love stories with a strong musical spine.
At Red Sea, Sanon linked that commercial phase to shifts behind the camera. She argued that Hindi films long framed women through a male gaze, as “damsels in distress” who stayed nice, sweet and passive, and credited the rise of women writers and directors with bringing messier, mistake-prone heroines to the centre of the frame. She also spoke about how her engineering degree shaped her working method, saying that an analytical mindset and constant questioning help her build performance choices on set, even if women who interrogate material still face a double standard.
The festival slot, which combined an onstage conversation and a high-profile appearance at the Women in Cinema gala, underlined how Tere Ishk Mein now functions as both a domestic box office play and a calling card for Sanon on the global circuit, framing her as a Hindi-film star intent on driving adult romances at scale rather than treating them as niche counter-programming.
