Kriti Sanon

Sanon made her acting debut in 2014, with Sukumar's Telugu film 1: Nenokkadine, a psychological thriller, in which she played the role of Sameera opposite Mahesh Babu. Despite the initial hype, the film generated mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial failure. For her performance however, Sanon garnered positive to mixed reviews, with a Times Of India critic saying she "looks pretty" and "acts well". Furthermore, a reviewer at Sify.com was a bit more neutral, saying she "looks gorgeous", though her performance is "okay".

Later that year, Sanon made her Hindi film debut with Sabbir Khan's action-romance film Heropanti, opposite newcomer Tiger Shroff. Despite only receiving mixed to negative reviews from most prominent critics, the film proved to be a commercial success at the Indian box office. Sanon was generally appreciated for her performance, with film critic Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama saying she "looks gorgeous and handles her part with certainty and confidence" and that she "has the trappings of a star", whereas Rajeev Masand said she "looks lovely and makes an impression despite her harebrained role". Srijana Das of Times Of India, however, criticized her emoting, calling it "more cheesy than sharp."