Kritika Kamra, who impressed the audience with Gyaarah Gyaarah, believes she has become more experimental with her roles

As 2024 comes to a close, actress Kritika Kamra is happy about the success of Gyaarah Gyaarah, reflective of dull periods in between and hopeful for 2025. A spy drama, For Your Eyes Only, with Pratik Gandhi on Netflix and a lead role alongside Vijay Verma in Amazon Prime’s Matka King, being directed by Nagraj Manjule, the coming year has a lot in store for Kritika.

But first up, let us know what she does on New Year Eve. “I like to take things slow since the last couple of years. For me it’s a time to reflect, as everywhere outside the rush is maddening. I like to spend some time with myself in some quiet corner or with a very small group of people whom I love and cherish,” she shares. Kritika loves to travel in January, but only once the New Year crowd settles down!

Back to work. Gyaarah Gyaarah, produced by Guneet Monga Kapoor and Karan Johar, became one of the most-watched shows of 2024 and connected her to a wider audience. “There was a promise of magic and it really turned out to be magical! I got to meet some amazing people while shooting that show and when it was released, the reactions surpassed our expectations. Whenever you work on something, you hope to strike a chord with the audiences, but Gyaarah Gyaarah got me a lot more recognition and love from a different set of audience than my previous shows,” she says.

Kritika is happy that people who had seen her work on television came back to rediscover her as a police officer in Gyaarah Gyaarah, which was a surprise for them. “A lot of people have come up to me and spoken about how they appreciated the versatility of my characters.”

Coming up

In the upcoming show For Your Eyes Only, Kritika play a pivotal part in a historic journey. “It’s a story that is about an important time in India and all the characters are a part of a very big plot. This is all I can share right now actually,” she laughs.

On the other hand, Matka King is the story of how betting became a mainstream phenomenon in Mumbai and other parts of the country. “I play a character that is very different from everyone else that I’ve essayed on the screen before. For this role, I had to get into an entirely different look and also speak in a new dialect.”

Apart from challenging roles, Kritika is kicked about working with some of the best talents in the industry. Pratik Gandhi and Vijay Verma are the two actors she deeply respects. “I have always enjoyed their work on screen and now know that they are good co-actors as well,” she avers.

As for is equation with Pratik, she says, “After many years, I got a chance to reunite with him in For Your Eyes Only, which was a lovely surprise. To witness all the appreciation that he gets for his work and see his growth journey is really inspirational as a fellow actor.”

Acting aside, Kritika is also hoping to expand her brand Cinnabar. “Chanderi is very close to my parents’ house and I’ve been going there since childhood. So the idea of this brand is to shine some light on the beautiful craft of Chanderi. So far it’s been more of a passion project and has got immense love, despite no marketing or any kind of push from our end. Next year, we have some big expansion plans.”