Femina - 5 questions with Kalki Koechlin

5 questions with Kalki Koechlin

The actor, playwright and director talks about taping with Naseruddin Shah in new hospital drama Waiting, her new Mumbai pad and other milestones

Your new film Waiting opened to great reviews. What was it like to work with Naseeruddin Shah?
Just to be able to work with Naseer who has so much talent and experience was incredible. His approach to scenes was so unpredictable that it kept the actor in me on my toes...all the time.

How does it feel now that your theatre company Little Productions, and your first production The Living Roomare also set to complete a year?
It has been exhausting but fulfilling as well. I have learnt a lot about direction and acting. I had to look at acting from a director's point of view, which gave me a new perspective altogether.

What are you like as a director"a bit of a taskmaster, perhaps?
I'm patient and probably a little too kind. I'm not too strict about timings, and about learning lines on time. But I can get really emotionally high-strung if things are not working out. I just say, "If you don't want to do this, let's quit". And that's worse than shouting (laughs).

You recently bought your first house in Mumbai. How are you settling in?
It took about six months of looking at apartments before I finalised on this 2BHK. Since it was an old house, I had to do a lot of work. I made a very nice open kitchen and placed a big tub in my bathroom. I have a lot of colonial furniture from Puducherry, paintings and plants in the house.

Tell us about the celebrations that followed after you won the special jury award for Margarita With A Straw at the 63rd National Film Awards.
I called over all my friends who live close by" and opened a bottle of Mot & Chandon champagne that my mother had preserved in the back of her cupboard for a special occasion. We also cut a cake. The next day was even more overwhelming as I received flowers from Priyanka Chopra, Siddharth Roy Kapur (MD & CEO of Disney India) and my management team.