I never consciously try to be shocking, different: Kalki

SHE MADE HER Bollywood debut with Anurag Kashyap’s Dev.d and went on to do some unconventional roles in films like That Girl in Yellow Boots, Margarita with a

Straw and Waiting. National Award-winning actress Kalki Koechlin says she never tries to be “shocking and different” and always expresses what she feels – like how she instinctively got her hair chopped.

“I don’t try to be different. When I cut my hair short recently, people were very shocked and I was like, ‘I didn’t think about it’. I wanted to change it, so I did that. I remember going on Google while in the parlour with my hairdresser to find out what should we do and how we should cut (the hair).

“Now it’s like people going ‘Oh my God, what has she done? Is she sick?’ Everybody has a different opinion. I am just saying that I don’t think I consciously try to be shocking or different. I express what I feel like expressing,” Kalki said on the sidelines of the live edition of her podcast series Kalki Presents: My Indian Life.

Her new podcast with the BBC World Service which was released on August 4, is about being young and Indian in the 21st century. Over 10 episodes, the podcast series explores extraordinary real-life stories from around the country. One episode is about a woman who talks to Kalki about her part in India’s Mars mission, while another is the story of a man with a speech impediment trying to succeed as a musician.

The series will also feature stories on family conflicts, sexual abuse, harassment, caste discrimination, victim shaming, body insecurities and sex education. It is BBC’S first English language podcast aimed at young adult Indians.

“Podcast is a complete new world. It is an interesting platform to understand young population in the world as we have a lot of young adults who are extremely smart and talented and have lots of opinions,” she said.

There were some shocking stories that made her cry.

“We cried while shooting. You realise these stories once in a while, but you don’t know how often that happens. That is really shocking. It just makes you face reality. You don’t understand what all they go through to reach where they are,” she said.

Kalki feels that to change society, everyone has to speak up. “I don’t know if it’s just Bollywood that has to bring about the change. I think every medium, in terms of whatever work we are in need to talk about issues more. When you talk about that, you can make stories about them and eventually film about them. Opening debate and discussion (is the solution) rather than immediate firing on each other on social media because that’s the problem.

“We always end up sticking to our opinion rather than listening to another person,” she said.