I’m not in favour of the cut culture: Kalki Koechlin

In the vast universe of Bollywood, its legends, megastars and star kids, Kalki Koechlin is like a gegenschein, a faint glowing spot in the sky, exactly opposite the position of the sun. Even with a jam-packed busy year with projects including the India-Pakistan collaborative documentary with Sabiha Sumar, the Fox Life travel show, a probable web series, several back-to-back theatre performances, a power-packed role in Konkona Sen Sharma’s directorial debut among several other ventures, the actress jokes that there isn’t much work for ‘white-Indian-confused-Bollywood-actress’. Recently in the capital to launch PizzaExpress India, the national-award winning artiste discusses her love for food, censor board, upcoming projects and more.

Her ex-husband and fellow industry mate Anurag Kashyap’s co-production Udta Punjab, is at the centre of raging controversies. Leading Bollywood filmmakers including Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar have spoken out strongly against the censorship troubles that the movie is facing over its subject of drug problem in Punjab. Kalki doesn’t shy away too, “I have always maintained that we should strive for a better rating system. Suggesting cuts to a movie isn’t going to work. I have personally seen movies that have been categorised as ‘family films’ even when they contained violence, item numbers, crass language and stuff like that. We just need to collectively bring in or develop a system that works appropriately for different age groups or sections of the society. If it’s a movie like Udta Punjab, then give an A certificate and that’s it. I am in no favour of the ‘cut’ culture.”

On the work front, Kalki has found an interesting mission across borders. She has teamed up with Khamosh Pani director Sabiha Sumar of Pakistan in an attempt to strengthen cultural ties and encourage the exchange of ideas. Titled Azmaish — Trials of Life, the feature length documentary will follow the journey of the duo as they travel through the two countries.

Sharing details about it, Kalki says, “Sabiha is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and we got introduced to one another at the MAMI film festival last year. After that brief meeting, she called me to chat about this idea that she had for a documentary where two women discover their own countries and we visit each other’s countries too. I was thrilled. We, as citizens of our respective countries, always see our two countries in conflict: be it through politics, media or cricket.”

She goes on, “Hence, with India and Pakistan we did not want to make it political but explore what normal people are doing, thinking and feeling about their own countries and circumstances. We wanted to explore and highlight lives through a human perspective and see how accessible and similar they were. I was excited to go to Pakistan and visited in January for the first time. I was with Sabiha during some of the documenting. Then she came over and we shot in Delhi and Mumbai too. Interestingly, till now, food has been a common theme throughout. Azmaish is a work in progress and we are continuing to discuss new ideas and continuing with crowdfunding. By this year end, it should ideally get released.”

The petite actress admits she’s an absolute foodie. “I am a foodie to the core yet fit as a fiddle,” avers the actress who has just returned after exploring the exotic North Eastern cuisines with her father Joel Koechlin while shooting for The Greatest Escape, a travel and adventure show set to be aired on Fox Life. She goes on, “We went to Meghalaya, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and covered about 3,500 km in 13 days. It was great fun. I never knew that I had such a huge fan base in the north-eastern region. I was so touched and intrigued to have gotten to know people from there. I tried some yummy mouth-watering dishes during my stay. My passion for trying out various flavours and cuisines has been inherent, as I have been brought in a family of mixed cultures. Having spent time in Pondicherry during my formative years, I closely associate with south Indian food: rice, rasam and sambar. But at the same time, since my mom is French, I also got introduced to homemade bread, pizza, pasta, pie and different types of salads. Probably this intermingling of cultures has made me so experimental.”

Pizzas, she shares, are one of her best comfort foods. “I also happen to love them so much because they take me back to the time when I was studying in London, where a boy took me out on a date to a pizza place,” she shares, laughing at the memory.