Says Kalki Koechlin who was born to French parents but raised in South India; she plays a firang in her next film alt39 Shanghaialt39
LIPIKA VARMA
She made an unconventional debut with alt39 Dev Dalt39 and her roles
thereafter in alt39 Shaitanalt39 and alt39 That Girl in Yellow Bootsalt39 have made it clear that Kalki is not your conventional Bollywood actress. Although she does have a mainstream success alt39 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraalt39 in her portfolio.
With alt39 Shanghaialt39, Kalki will be seen on the silver screen in yet another unusual avatar. The movie capitalises on her French descent and has her portraying a firang in India. Kalki talks about alt39 Shanghaialt39 among other things.
On her character in alt39 Shanghaialt39 I have always liked Dibakar Banerjees films. As soon as he asked me to play the character of Shalini, I agreed. Shalini is very idealistic and short tempered.
I am unlike Shalini in these two traits.
On playing a firang on screen I guess I was an obvious choice to play Shalini since I look like a firang. I am happy Dibakar thought of me in this role. I could obviously identify with being a firang.
I could understand the anguish of a white girl. I am used to having people advise me on things because they think of me as an outsider. The truth is I am really an Indian at heart having been brought up in South India. So, I get very angry and can identify with Shalinis anger in that regard as well.
On corruption Corruption is prevalent everywhere in India. We, ourselves, support corruption by trying to pay off the traffic cop when we get caught breaking the red signal.
I feel corruption can be eradicated from its roots only if every individual stops supporting small instances of corruption. The film doesnalt39t provide a solution, but comments on India today. Like my reel character Shalini, I hope that India will change its corrupt ways.
On the challenges she encountered while working on the film Working on my Hindi was more of a challenge than portraying the character since I had to use some chaste Hindi. I managed to improve my Hindi with the help of Atun Mongia, the casting director of the film. Also, in a sequence I had to hit a character artist hard and I just couldnalt39t hit him hard enough. Dibakar made me hit this poor guy until he was satisfied.
On learning from different directors Having worked with different directors, I have noticed one thing in common among all of them, from Anurag ( Kashyap) and Dibakar to Zoya ( Akhtar)… They all want the scene to be perfect in all respects.
They too leave no stone unturned in their field, on par with an actors performance. They do have different styles though.
While Dibakar will keep requesting you to give your best until satisfied, Zoya and Anurag leave it to you. But they do explain what they want from you.
On being offered similar roles If you get the same kind of roles, it is not easy to experiment.
I kept being offered dark roles but with alt39 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraalt39 I think I have broken the mould. I prefer to perform powerful roles. I believe in trying all kinds of characters and films belonging to different genres.
If you get the same kind of roles, it is not easy to experiment. I kept being offered dark roles but with alt39 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraalt39 I think I have broken the mould. I prefer to perform powerful roles. I believe in trying all kinds of characters and films belonging to different genres
