“Your films are not you,” says Kalki Koechlin describing her character of a boldly flirtatious woman who manipulates as she waits for an audience interaction at the screening of her recently released A Death in the Gunj at the recently concluded Habitat Film Festival. Kalki has gradually evolved into a versatile actor who not only knows her worth as an actor, but also has a deep understanding of the changes in the industry around her.
“I am glad that I have been offered different roles and have not been typecast. Here, I had to work on my voice, be more still as I am more of a jaunty person like Aditi from Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani while Mimi is very poised and manipulative which took a lot of practice. Also, I had to learn a little bit of Bangla, which was very difficult when it comes to accent but it is part of actor’s life to keep learning,” she reflects.
She revealed that Konkona Sen Sharma was not sure of her playing an older character as she looks young because of which she had to give audition twice. “It was tough,” she sighs.
Patience pays
Like the story of her other film Mantra which received mixed reviews, she suggests, the real life too demands a lot of effort in keeping everything right but underneath that everything keeps crumbling. “Everything is falling apart. People are not ready to communicate to their family members, how can you expect countries to have friendly relations?” remarks Kalki. “The younger generation is exposed to different ways of expressing but the older ones are keeping things inside. Communication is necessary but that happens with time. Patience is what these times require.”
She plays the rebellious character of the daughter of a rich businessman who wants to live life outside his father's house in the Rajat Kapoor-starrer, something she doesn’t relate to any longer. “Today, I am not that rebellious girl who was angry with everything when my parents were in the midst of divorce process. I am much calmer but I rebel in a different way — through my writing, my art and my acting. I am happy that I am in a profession where I am allowed to be a rebel,” reflects the 33-year-old actor.
Going by her love for the digital medium, recently, she shot for a web series called Smoke directed by Ayush Raina, who has previously made shows for MTV. “I play a Portuguese Goan DJ in the crime thriller which is based on Goan mafia where Russians, Israelis and Indians are fighting for domination. It was something different and that attracted me,” says the actor.
She also travelled to the North Eastern states on a bike which she says gave her opportunity to know her dad who travelled with her for a television show. “We have not spent that kind of time together for the last ten years and that gave me time to strengthen our bond as father and daughter. We drunk together the rice wine, stayed in cheap accommodations and rode bikes together. I got to know that the only thing he hates about me is I earn my own money and he is no longer responsible for me,” laughs Kalki.
Doing theatre is her passion which increases many-fold when she does it for Rajat Kapoor for whom she keeps travelling to different parts of the world for exploiting what she terms “Rajat’s obsession for Bard.” She asserts that there is lesser financial viability for original writing in theatre these days though she keeps writing and recently travelled with her own play called The Living Room .
“Who is going to give more than six months of one’s life writing a play for which one is not getting paid? Some are doing it like Manav Kaul but adapting is what most people do, as starting from scratch is really very hard,” observes Kalki. She keeps experimenting with different medium and short films like her Naked allows her to question social taboos and stereotypes. “ Naked is a relevant film which depicts the other side of social media and connotes that though we are using it, we still do not know how to use it properly as it is still evolving. But through it, you are no longer dependent on the larger system and freely express your views. Like I always say, you are what you post on the Internet,” remarks the actor. Known for her stand on women issues, she laments on the cases where women have accused men for false reasons and taken a soft corner in the garb of gender. “Any rebellion will come with negative sides to it and there will be people who will take advantage of it. Women were subjected to a lot more injustice than some men are facing which makes the present scenario fair enough. But still, feminism is not about women getting more than men but it is about equality and it is similar to those minorities like African Americans and lower caste people in our country who want to exert their identities amidst the inequality,” sums up Kalki.
