An actress, a playwright, a writer, and now the founder of a theatre company. ANANYA BORGOHAIN explores the many facets and talents of Kalki Koechlin
In her last film, the award-winning and critically acclaimed Margarita with a Straw, Kalki Koechlin (pronounced Cake-la) played a perky young girl who has cerebral palsy. In order to prepare for the role, she confined herself to a wheelchair and started doing all her chores in it everyday. The intensity and dedication she puts in her works come as no surprise, as has been evident in her unique performances in Dev. D, That Girl in Yellow Boots (TGYB), Shaitan, Shanghai, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (YJHD), and so on.
Originally from Pondicherry and belonging to French ancestry, Kalki grew up in Ooty and went on to study Theatre in Goldsmiths, london. Besides writing TGYB, she has been an award-winning playwright, and this year, she also started her own theatre production company, little Productions, for which she has debuted as a play director.
Maurice Koechlin, who was a part of the construction of the Eiffel Tower, is said to be of her ancestry and her father has a business of designing hang-gliders and microlight aircraft. She has also been actively involved in raising awareness about many social issues like child sexual abuse, women’s issues, rights of the disabled, and so on.
In various forums, she has also spoken about how she has herself faced discrimination and battled stereotypes, being a white girl in/from India. In an interaction, the artiste speaks about her childhood, her understanding of cinema, and things she is fond of.
What is your earliest memoryIJ
My earliest memory is going to the wrong woman at the beach thinking she was my mother and running away crying when I saw she was a stranger!
Your parents are said to be devotees of Sri Aurobindo. Are you spiritual tooIJ
I don’t know if I deserve the title of spiritual, I am on an existential search. I like to question the meaning of life and try to find an inner life that balances my thoughts and actions, but I am still at the beginning of that journey.
How did you fare as a studentIJ
I was pretty good actually. I was no genius, but not bad in studies either. I would get As and Bs for every subject except math. I sucked at math, and had to redo my math exam thrice before I finally got a B.
You have studied drama and theatre in london and have also worked in the field there, but contemporary Hindi cinema is a major paradigm and cultural shift from it; does that also constrain you in picking ‘commercial Bollywood’ rolesIJ
Not really. I grew up watching those Bollywood and Tamilian films. Not everything needs to be intellectualised in cinema, you know. Yes, as an actor I sometimes struggle to find logic in a character or a plot point, but it’s also my job to find a way around that and still believe in the role and make it work. I continue to do independent films and commercial films and understand that they are different from each other, that you can’t intellectualise all commercial films nor commercialise all indie films and that is okay. There is place for both.
As a writer, what elements are indispensable for you, without which your story can’t progressIJ
Conflict. If there is conflict, drama comes into play; the conflict can be humourous or serious or frivolous, but it is only when there’s a difference of opinion which needs a resolution (or attempts at resolution) that stories happen.
How did you contemplate a plot as intense and unique as TGYBIJ
It was Anurag’s (Kashyap) idea completely, he narrated his story and asked me to write it from the protagonist’s point of view. I only wrote the dialogues, which I drew from personal experience as a white girl growing up here, from anecdotes of men who had been to massage parlours and from certain interesting personalities I’ve met in my life.
Do you think differently while writing a film script and writing a playIJ
Yes, scripts for plays tend to have more stage directions written which describe the mood and setting of the play or characters. On the other hand, the film is really more visual, so one tends to skip the narration part and work on dialogues more.
What has playing laila (Margarita with a Straw) added to the way you contemplate lifeIJ
As an actor it has made me value the importance of daily riyaaz, which can bring an ease to carrying off a character. As a person, I have naturally become far more aware of the lives of the differently abled, the limitations they face from society. It has also made me more comfortable in my skin, more able to accept my shortcomings and appreciate my strengths.
Talking about indie cinema, what could be done to distribute it better and familiarise the Indian masses with itIJ
I wish I knew. There seems to be a rising interest in audiences for indie cinema and yet our distribution system remains stubbornly stuck in a star system. We need more cinemas dedicated to independent films and documentaries; we need a film-savvy governing body to designate a certain amount of screens to regional, indie, alternative work, so that regardless of the current blockbuster that takes over most of the screens, there is a constant alternative which runs independently.
You’ve done ‘dark’ and intense films like TGYB or Shaitan, and coming-of-age, feel good films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or YJHD. Is being versatile difficultIJ
I think it would be difficult if I didn’t love my job. Being versatile is the essence of being an actor, to take on different forms convincingly, but I really enjoy that challenge. The only difficult part is the hours of wait in the vanity van!
Which characters do you personally relate to more than othersIJ Are you by nature a serious, thoughtful person, or a candid extrovertIJ
I’m both. I relate to Aditi fromYJHD because I had a loud mouth in school and was a tomboy. I relate also to Chanda (Dev. D) or Ruth (TGYB) and the feeling of wanting to disappear, of too much unwanted attention drawn my way.
How are you balancing between little Productions and your filmsIJ
I’ve only just begun little Productions, so right now it’s taking up all my time and I happen not to have any film commitments so it’s alright, let’s see what happens in six months.
What is the objective behind little ProductionsIJ What form of theatre would it produceIJ
Honestly, it was a practical decision. I wanted to direct and open my play and needed a company name to register it under. Now if this play works, we make money back and that allows for the company to produce more. I would be open to all sorts of ideas, probably steering towards (but not limited to) original writing and devised work.
Which authors/playwrights/poets do you readIJ
I love EE Cummings, Jacques Prevert and Sylvia Plath for poetry. I love David Mamet plays, Woody Allen too. And authors, Oscar Wilde, Kurt Vonnegut, Jhumpa lahiri, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare, RK Narayan, Saint Exupery... the list can go on.
Anything you want to change about BollywoodIJ
I hope for better writing, more value for scripts, especially dialogue writing.
What hobbies do you cultivateIJ When you are not working, what is your usual day likeIJ
My favourite hobby is switching off my phone! My second favourite hobby is having a bubble bath, with candles, music, the works. I also like going off to some remote mountain top cut off from civilisation. I like watching stand-up comedy, George Carlin, louis CK etc. I love watching poetry slamming, live acts and movies on the big screen. I do like reading, but lately script reading has become so much part of work that reading for fun has become difficult.
What are your future goalsIJ
To get better at whatever I do.
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