She identifies as an Indian, is named after the 10th avatar of Vishnu, doesn’t reject her French origins and has a strong connect with The Eiffel Tower. The beautiful and talented actress Kalki Koechlin, however, is very much her own person, with a mind that is razor-sharp. Full of beans, wit and humour permeate most of her responses, be it on the stage or interacting with the media. Indeed, her great grandfather worked as the chief engineer during the making of the Eiffel Tower, but she laughs, “It doesn’t mean I get a discount when I visit the iconic place.”
Speaking the Unspeakable… perhaps few literary sessions have a more befitting title. But dressed to the nines as she arrived for Chitkara Literature Festival on Saturday, she was as unplugged and candid as the writing in her debut book is. Her book, Elephant in the Womb, a clever spin on the expression elephant in the room, addresses issues post childbirth, which rarely get talked about. And one elephant, the film industry, she feels must acknowledge is, “How large majority of the films are not working and there is hardly any money.”
Of course, Kalki has been a part of many blockbusters like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani… As the demand for sequels to much loved films never dies down, she is not sure whether sequels really work. Besides she says, “Isn’t this question better answered by directors Zoya Akhtar and Ayan Mukerji?”
Having worked with the very best filmmakers, there are many like Nitya Mehra and Dibakar Banerjee, who are on her ‘my favourites’ list… You bet her ex-husband Anurag Kashyap figures prominently too, not on the top though. Working with him in Sacred Games Season 2 was as comfortable as being part of his Dev D for, “much time had lapsed since our breakup.”
For someone, who wears her relationships up her sleeve, she agrees there is always a danger of the media blowing up things out of proportion. Only she understands, “That is the nature of the beast, it’s all about hogging the headlines.” Why even her PR team tells her to be in the limelight every two weeks. But she would rather not fall prey to this click-bait and is not afraid to disappear either, “for it’s important to be yourself and rejuvenate.”
This might mean the pace of work for the National Award winning actress slackens every now and then. But she strongly believes, “I am going to be around till I am 90.”
OTT has anyway changed the rules of the entertainment game and “women can be the heroes of the show.” Of course, her upcoming web-series Bhay is not woman-centric but about the mystery around Gaurav Tiwari, a paranormal investigator, who died by suicide. Playing a journalist (in the series), who is a non-believer, in real life too Kalki is more of an agnostic. Yet, she does not discount otherworldly experiences which others have had and she may not have been privy to. Among her many experiences, roller-coaster [i]of motherhood is right now one that has changed her perspectives like no other. Like all working moms, indeed she suffers from mother’s guilt and quips, “There should be a separate universe for mothers’ guilt.”
One advice she would like to give her daughter is, “Be the best version of yourself. Wear you own shoes and do not take the beauty market too seriously.”
Ready with her stand-up show I Am Ok, actually about not being ok, inspired by her book on motherhood, the Ranveer Allahbadia controversy has not dented her belief system. And she upholds freedom of speech above all. But then Kalki who was once quizzed about ‘having a baby out of wedlock,’ is not the one to not speak her mind.
Box
Hot & happening!
Lisa Ray might proclaim to be an introvert but sure knows how to charm her audiences. In Chandigarh for Chitkara Literature Festival looking stunning in a white and gold saree, she spoke of how City Beautiful is ‘very close to her heart.’
After all, it was here that the Oscar nominated film Water actress trained with her director Deepa Mehta’s best friend Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry’s theatre group. In her words “still hot at 52”, however, she shares how being called pretty can often be a cage. She says, “One needs to move on and work on one’s inner-self and find meaning in things other than success.”
Calling herself ‘an accidental actress’ she spoke about how she trumped life-threatening cancer and decided to go public about her disease. “The idea of secrecy is tied to shame and I saw no reason to keep it a secret.” Author of memoir Close to the Bone, she also shared how when she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a part of her said “I am going to be ok.”
Today, the multicultural half-Polish half-Bengali model, actress, author and activist, who just had a spiritual experience at Mahakumbh, believes in JOMO (joy of missing out) rather than FOMO (fear of missing out).
