Krithi Shetty (krithi.shetty_official) was only 17 when she debuted in a lead role, in the Telugu romantic drama ‘Uppena’, in 2021. Before that, we saw her in a string of ad films and a blink-and-miss appearance in Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Super 30’ (2019). It was on the set of one such ad in Hyderabad that a stylist spotted her and pitched her to a casting director, which is how she landed Uppena. There was just one problem: Shetty, a Tulu-speaker, couldn’t read or speak a word of Telugu. A quick study, Shetty took Telugu lessons and would show up to sets with her dialogues memorised (and everyone else’s too), to understand the scenes better. Read her full cover story at the link in bio, and grab a copy of our 30th anniversary issue of September-October ’26, on newsstands now! Editor: Snigdha Ahuja (snigdha.ahuja) Interview: Ananya Rai (anniiiiiiiee) Photographer: Aastha Manchanda (manchandaa) Stylist: Nishtha Parwani (nishthaparwani) Makeup Artist: Savleen Kaur Manchanda (savleenmanchanda...