[Archivio] Riporto di seguito un'intervista concessa da Kalki Koechlin a Vivek Bhatia, pubblicata da iDiva il 25 novembre 2011. These Boots Are Meant For Walkin’: Kalki:
'It’s that smile. It makes you listen to her with rapt attention. Topics pelt you like a hailstorm. She begins with an outsider’s account of the film industry. Then she speaks eloquently about her love for theatre and how she wouldn’t stop trying to make it big in films. Top that with her being Caucasian. She’s aware of strangers ogling at her, while she walks down the street. “They don’t know anything about me. This is my home. I belong here,” she says emphatically. Recently, she married a certain Mr. Kashyap - a divorcee with a 10-year-old daughter named Aaliyah. He’s known to be mercurial and doesn’t hold a pleasant reputation in the industry. “I think he’s quite sorted,” she takes up for her director husband.
We make ourselves comfortable in her new duplex apartment. “It’s an awesome den,” she says, referring to the new house the couple has bought for a steal. “Whenever I need a break, I switch my phone off and sit here in peace. I’ve got one room filled with DVDs and the other with books. It’s like a holiday destination,” she beams. We’re accompanied by her cat. His name is Dosa. “I had another one by the name of Masala, but she went absconding,” she tells me, while caressing her pet. She’s under the weather and gingerly sips on her green tea as we chat.
Kalki’s film That Girl In Yellow Boots (TGIYB) has been a late bloomer. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival last year, where it garnered great reviews. Back home the film saw the light of day quite late. All thanks to its offbeat subject and dark treatment. (...) “Ruth’s character has been the most difficult role for me,” she exclaims. “Apart from Ruth being Caucasian, we have nothing in common. Ruth is very dark.” TGIYB is her career’s first solo film. She considers herself lucky to have got this film. She also expresses her interest in doing a biopic someday. “You get to play a real person, dig deep into the character’s persona and do in-depth research,” she explains her excitement about doing a biopic.
With TGIYB she also makes a debut of sorts as a film writer. “Anurag first asked me to play the main lead and I readily agreed. A few months later, he asked me to write the film and I refused,” she laughs. Having written for theatre in the past, she knows that film writing is a different ballgame. “But Anurag wanted to narrate the story through a woman’s perspective. So after a lot of prodding, I did give it a shot.”
She’s extremely ‘lazy’ when it comes to writing. She goes into full-throttle melodrama, points towards the ceiling and jokes, “I need some kind of inspiration to fall on me.” She adds cheekily, “Even Anurag is damn lazy. He occasionally needs a hard kick on the butt.” Kalki says that a deadline is her worst nightmare. She doesn’t believe in locking herself in a room and writing. “Even in school if we had to submit an essay, I’d be staying up all night and submitting it at the very last moment.” Her ideal place to write is Ooty. “My mom stays there. There is no cell network and it’s extremely peaceful.” (...)
Kalki has portrayed characters that belong to a foreign origin. This surely has limited her avenues as an actor. She agrees her appearance is a ‘realistic drawback’. “I look like a foreigner. (...) As an actor, I want to push my boundaries. But I can’t change the way I look.” Considering that she looks like a foreigner, a lot of people have advised Kalki to work in Hollywood. “I’d love to do French cinema. They have amazing filmmakers there. But I always want to be here, even if I get work abroad,” she states empathically. She believes Indian cinema is growing by leaps and bounds. “There is a distinct change. There are mainstream films being made for the masses but there are new filmmakers who are making a difference.” She adds she’d never be able to sign an out-and-out brainless, commercial caper. “I’d love to do a film like Band Baaja Baaraat. That was a commercial film too but it wasn’t nonsensical. I’d never do a brainless film even if it’s opposite Aamir Khan.”
But being a Rajinikanth fan, Kalki confesses she’d blindly sign a film opposite him. “I’ve grown up watching his films and even if you know it’s wrong in every way, you still like it. I’d do pretty much anything with Rajinikanth, except a porn film,” she laughs. Jokes apart, Kalki states that the reason why masala films don’t come her way is because she isn’t a commercially saleable actor. “Today, either it’s a new face or a face that is saleable at the box office. Acting isn’t the priority,” she points out.
Among her contemporaries she thinks Priyanka Chopra has really evolved. “She may not have stood out in the beginning but Priyanka pushed the boundaries with Kaminey and 7 Khoon Maaf. People may not like her movies but her performances have been brilliant,” she says. “And now she’s coming out with a music album. That’s awesome.”
Theatre has always been Kalki’s first love. “It makes you shed all your inhibitions. Also, there’s a live audience, you can’t lie to them, they’re right there,” she explains. Kalki recalls her school days where she was always part of the drama team. Later, in college, she studied theatre and completely submitted herself to the art form. Terming the process as ‘humbling’ she says, “I’ve seen people do other work to afford doing theatre because they don’t make enough money just acting in plays. They rehearse three months prior to the show. This kind of discipline I don’t see in people working in films.” Having said that she’s high on filmmaking. “I’m discovering more and more about filmmaking. It’s a lot subtler. In the end you don’t need to have the histrionics like plays do,” says she.
Talk about Anurag and Kalki becomes a different person altogether. She can’t stop blushing and seems more excited than ever. The couple recently got married with just close family and friends attending. Kalki didn’t want the marriage to turn into a social event. “Everyone had an awesome time at the wedding. There was absolutely no pressure. I was having breakfast with my pajamas on and then I changed into a saree and got married,” she laughs. She claims marriage hasn’t changed anything. “I've lived long enough with him to know his terrible habits. I haven’t found anything new to crib about,” she jokes.
But there are a few things about Anurag which bother Kalki. One of them being Anurag not taking out time for his daughter. “I told him that she would grow up in no time and show you the finger when she becomes a teenager,” she states. Kalki adds that Anurag isolated himself at a point when he was going through a traumatic phase fighting the norms of the industry. “I told him to take a step back, show what he’s got by shutting up and doing his work,” says she. Anurag seems to have followed his wife’s advise and he clearly is in a much happier space.
“I took him windsurfing and it was hilarious. He was in the water more than he was on the board,” she laughs. “We also go for treks to different places. He has been opening up. There has been a positive change in him. And it’s not forced.” She recalls Anurag’s sister warning her about how difficult it was to live with the man. “She told me, ‘He’s an impossible person to be with’,” she laughs. She admits that Anurag is a difficult person but adds, “If I had to take him seriously, I’d go nuts. But I wouldn’t claim that I have changed him. I just give him a nice slap occasionally,” she jokes. “He was always a positive person. But everyone saw the other side. So he conveniently played on that,” she reasons. “I think he just woke up to the reality that, ‘Oh yeah I was a normal person and I used to have fun.’”
The 10-year age gap between them doesn’t seem to bother Kalki. She thinks it works in favour of their relationship. “He’s lived more than I have and he’s gone through so much that he appreciates what he has with me,” she says. “I’ve been with many boyfriends who’ve been half-hearted. He’s wholehearted. That’s what I love about him”.'
