'For me, it's about doing good work'

No frills

Actress Kirti Kulhari has chosen a rather different subject to make her mark in mainstream Indian cinema.

She started her career with television commercials and theatre. She has also acted in films like Khichdi and Shaitan and is all set to floor the audience with her upcoming flick Jal.

“Jal is the story of a water diviner and two warring villages. It involves a lot of characters. I play the romantic interest of Bakka, who is the water diviner. It is a Bollywood masala film where there is a hero, heroine and a villain and yet, it is meaningful and a sensible entertainer. It is a film that one would enjoy watching,” she says.

Kirti details that it was more like the film had chosen her and she knew she was doing the film from the word ‘go’. “I always wanted to play characters which were more real and grounded, rather than glamorous dolls. It meant a lot to me. The day I went for the look test, I knew I wanted to be a part of the film,” she elaborates.

The actress says fitting into the character was not much of a problem as she used to spend her summer holidays with her grandparents in a village in Rajasthan as a child. “Though I am not from the same place, I knew somewhere that I could do it right.

There is a distinct difference in the body language of a village woman and that of a city girl and I was aware of it. I spent a couple of days with women from Kutch to pick up their body language and the way they live. Picking up the dialect was a major problem, but I did figure it out. It was very challenging and I kept thinking if I was doing it right. There was a lot of pressure but I enjoyed it and it pushed me to better myself,” she adds.

Women-centric roles are the new fad in Bollywood and actresses feel that they have a better scope now than earlier. “For me, it’s about doing good work. Of course, author-backed roles for women are very rare but they are becoming very popular and I am open to such roles. It will also be great to carry a film on my shoulders completely. If a big banner is making a good film, I would love to be a part of that as well,” she notes.

The actress has a lot in her kitty and will soon be seen in a musical love story Bandya. “I am really hoping that I get to do bigger and better films after Jal,” she sums up.