“As an actor, I always try to play my part with utmost sincerity”

KIRTI KULHARI

In this What’s App voice interview over the mobile phone, KIRTI KULHARI tells JYOTHI VENKATESH for Mayapuri and bollyy.com exclusively that she consciously makes it a point to keep her acting real and tries to underplay her part whenever required.

In this period of self hibernation when everyone is locked at home during the lockdown, do you feel trapped?

I do not at all feel trapped except for those moments when I feel that I should step out and do something tangible on my own to help my fellow human beings. I spend time meditating a lot and spend time with myself, my parents and my dog. Actually since the second season of the web series on Amazon Prime Video ‘Four More Shots Please’ has just been dropped, I am also in the process of giving interviews these days

You played a wife, a girl friend, a mother and also a friend. How did you approach your complex role in the series? How tough was it for you play your part as Mrs Anjana Menon in Four More Shots Please?

The part of Mrs Anjana Menon was not at all tough to play in Four More Shots Please. I did my home work diligently and prepared for my part by adding my own intrinsic touches to decorate my character. Isn’t that the reason why I am an actor in the first place? I do not see emoting as a complex work. It is the job of an actor and I am an actor. If you understand the dynamics of life, acting isn’t at all that complex and you can easily translate your emotions to your character.

How would you describe Mrs Anjana Menon?

Anjana is fiercely independent and very good at her job. Anjana acts with an air of confidence and is also much grounded. Anjana is someone who is very sure of herself. Circumstances make Anjana tough and who she is. She learns to stand in her own two feet since she sees life differently from her friends. She is also very emotionally entangled with her husband Varun but at the same time she has moved on in life too but something is yet unresolved in her life and hence she is fighting constantly. Anjana is vulnerable and is attracted to people in her life because she has taken that step by going out and stepping out into the world outside.

Didn't the intimate bedroom sequences and the lip to lip kiss scenes deter you or scare you? As an actor, would nudity deter you from taking up a film or web series?

As an actor, I always try to play my part with utmost sincerity. I was ready to shed all my inhibitions in front of the camera not only as an actor but also as a person and experience more confidence and liberation too as a person.

How did you bag the series ‘Four More Shots Please’ in the first place? Were you asked to choose your part?

Rongeeta Nandy contacted me for the web series. To tell you the truth, I was a little bit apprehensive about taking up the role because I had to decide whether to, play the mother, especially since a casting like this at a young age can put an actress in trouble too.

In what way do you feel the theater, web series and films are different from one another as an actor?

I have been part of web series like Bard of Blood and Four More Shots Please. Like Four More Shots please, my film Mission Mangal also had an ensemble cast. Acting just cannot be different whether it is a film, a web series or a TV serial. Acting in all the three different media is absolutely similar by nature and you do not at all have to change your acting just because you are acting for an OTT.

You have been part of films like Indu Sarkar, Blackmail, Pink, Uri, Shaitaan, Jal, Mission Mangal etc. Which are your five best films as an actress till date?

Undoubtedly, I ‘d begin the list with Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar, followed by Uri, Mission Mangal, Pink and last but not the least Girish Malik’s Jal

What has been your growth from Jal to Four More Shots Please as an actor?

My growth as an actress over the years is for others to see and comment. I have been different as an actor from film to film. I was different in Shaitaan and Jal and would not want it to be in any other way as an actress. To tell the truth, I have grown up as an actor from strength to strength. As an actor, I try different ways to make my character more layered and multi dimensional and what’s more realistic. I consciously make it a point to keep my acting real and try to underplay my part whenever it is required.

In what way has marriage made a difference to your career?

My marriage to Sahil has actually made me a better actress and has also exposed me to a whole new world of cinema. I think my husband Saahil has been very supportive when it comes to understanding my profession and I as an actress. It has also helped me to be more comfortable in then intimate scenes that I was required to give in the web series with either Sameer Kochchar or Neil Bhoopalam

 What gives you the guts to choose different meaty roles conscientiously as an actress?

As far as I am concerned, the main fundamental reason why I opted for acting as a career is that I love acting. It is my passion and I have always liked to choose something which excites me and ignites me from top to toe. That is why I think I have the guts to choose different meaty roles conscientiously as an actor.

Would you prefer to be a star in demand or a good award winning actress?

Take it from me; I am not in this profession to be a star in demand. I am here because I love acting as such and I am able to do things.

What do you have to say to the criticism that you did not have a Malayali accent a Mrs Anjana Menon in Four More Shots Please?

It is the writer and the director who takes the decision together for the way an actor has got to touch his or her character in his or her own way. Since Mrs Anjana Menon had left for a boarding school in the North and is not from Kerala, and was brought up with a lot of North Indians, the writer and the director decided to not let Anjana  have a Malayali accent or diction.

Do you feel the web series is posing a threat to films today?

Myths have been blasted as far as the OTT platforms are concerned  especially in the last three years and I am very glad that producers are coming  with new and different concepts and people also have started welcoming them with open arms  and embraced the different content that they set out to provide, by taking to them like water. The feature films being made these days are no longer frivolous and we actors are actually in a win - win situation

What is your role in the web series The Bard of Blood?

I play the role of a Baluchi girl, named Jannat who happens to be the daughter of a Baluchi army leader who takes on the role of leading her people for freedom and helping all those housewives whose husbands have disappeared or mothers whose sons have gone into oblivion.

Which are your forthcoming films as well as web series?

Among the films that I have on the floors being readied for early release after the lockdown period are The Girl On The Train with Jacqueline Fernandez, Parineeti Chopra and Aditi Rao Hydari. I am playing the role of a police officer in the film, which is an upcoming Hindi-language mystery thriller film directed by Ribhu Dasgupta who had also directed Bard of Blood and produced under the banner of Reliance Entertainment. It is a official remake of the 2016 American film of the same name, in turn based on the British author Paula Hawkins' 2015 novel of the same name, a short film called Charu with Pawan Kriplani and a yet untitled road film in which I am playing the role of a singer.