'Dev D' felt like a big exam as I was still learning Hindi: Kalki Koechlin on her first lead role

New Delhi: Actor Kalki Koechlin says she remembers being "highly stressed" about her Hindi while working on Anurag Kashyap-directed Dev D, which released in February 2009 and slowly acquired a cult status.

Dev D, starring Abhay Deol in the title role, is a modern take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's much-adapted Bengali novel Devdas. It also starred Mahie Gill in the role of Paro.

It was Koechlin's first leading role in Hindi cinema and the actor was still learning Hindi when she landed the role of Leni/Chanda in the movie.

"My memory is of being highly stressed about Hindi. It was when I was still learning Hindi and I got a special tutor for learning all the dialogues. I didn't understand some of the dialogues but I would be able to say them in my sleep. I was just mugging them. So, it felt like a big exam," Koechlin told PTI in an interview.

The film, which completed 15 years of its release on February 6, was the first major hit for Kashyap and all its actors earned critical acclaim for their roles. The soundtrack is considered one of the best works of Amit Trivedi's career till date with hits like Emosanal Attyachaar, Paayaliya, Nayan Tarse, Pardesi and Aankh Micholi.

The 41-year-old actor counts Emosanal Attyachaar among her favourite songs from the album that she says she still tunes in from time to time. The song was playing when she went to audition for Chanda's role in the movie and she knew that the movie would do well, she added.

"I went for an audition and they were like listening to the song in the office. I was like, 'Is that going to be in the film?' They said, 'Yes, probably'. And I was like, 'Okay, I have to be in this (film)" Koechlin said, adding that the film was not an overnight success but gained cult status over time. "That album remains extra special. I sometimes still listen to that... I just love that album. And I think it really made the film. The choice of using the emotion of music to make the film was really cool." "Emosanal Attyachaar" video featured a relatively new Nawazuddin Siddiqui as one of the performers and Koechlin remembers it being shot like it was just yesterday.

"I met Nawaz for the first time and he was practising his lines and performance, just behind where they were going to shoot and there was this quiet boy. He was just in a corner and I didn't know who he was and he was doing his lines and doing his thing. "He didn't seem like a personality, but as soon as he went on stage and performed in that Elvis kind of costume, it just blew my mind, and everybody loved it. He was so full of charisma and I think we knew a star was born that day. So I guess that song will always remain really strong for me," she added.

The actor, who was briefly married to Kashyap and still has a friendship with the director, said besides the gratitude that one had for "getting a job like that", the whole team was excited about what they were working on.

"There was such closeness. Everybody would hang out after the day and there was this sort of excitement to work.

"In that sense, it was a lot of fun to shoot. Of course, the atmosphere that Anurag sets on all his sets is that he tries to kind of make it a community and everybody is sitting together at the lunch table. There is not this kind of hierarchy and separation so much on his shoots," she recalled.

Koechlin, who went on to deliver great performance in films such as That Girl in Yellow Boots, Shaitan, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Shanghai, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Margarita With a Straw and Goldfish as well as streaming shows Sacred Games and Made in Heaven, said her pace has become slower than before after she welcomed her daughter Sappho with Israeli musician Guy Hershberg.

"I've had a kid and it is much slower than it used to be. I want to be at home much more. At the same time, it's not like I want to end my career. The other day, I was filling petrol and there was a lady who was also there and she recognised me.

"She said, 'What are you doing? Don't you work now?' So, I sat her down and I was like 'Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani' has re-released, my Tamil film 'Nesippaya' is also playing. And 'Goldfish' just released on Amazon. It's just that the pace is going to be different for me until my daughter is not interested in her mother anymore," said the actor.

Has she kept in touch with some of the co-stars from her past hits? "Hrithik (Roshan) and I have our birthdays on 10th of January and Farhan Akhtar's birthday is on 9th January. Every year we just message each other and that's our connection.

"Other than that, I am in touch with Abhay quite often because he also lives in Goa and we bump into each other. And then, of course, Zoya (Akhtar, filmmaker). I have worked with her again and again, so I'm in touch with her."