Kalki Koechlin Was Called 'Affair Girl' After Made In Heaven Role: 'Can I Do Something…'
'After Dev D, I felt so scrutinised for the way I looked, that I felt ugly," Kalki said. 'I would look in the mirror, and I knew I wasn't ugly. Now when I look back, I'm like: I was in my prime, I looked so good. Why didn't I enjoy it? But there were times when I'd be looking at myself and feeling so ugly, just from the fact that somebody, you know, said some comment about my teeth, or said something like, 'How can you be an actor?' All this kind of stuff that people just say on social media."
While Dev.D earned her praise for her bold performance, it didn't translate to steady film work. In fact, she didn't land another film for a full two years. 'I also didn't get work for two years after Dev.D. I was doing my play The Skeleton Woman, which I co-wrote with my co-star, Prashant Prakash. So we were writing a play, putting it up, traveling around the country. I didn't do a film for another two years. So it took a long time for me to kind of grow in the industry, to become famous. That didn't happen overnight. People think that, oh, I got that break and that's it, but it actually took a few films."
The attention she received post-Dev.D wasn't always respectful either. Kalki recalled one particularly strange article early in her career. 'Also, somebody had written that I'm like a Russian model who's come and done this film. I was very offended by it. Really? How did you not know that I was born in Auroville? Please do your research. Then I realised a lot of journalists don't do their research."
Years later, even with films like Margarita with a Straw, Gully Boy and Made in Heaven under her belt, she says the problem of typecasting still lingers.
'People want to see you do the same thing over and over again. Now it's, you know, like, 'Home breaker', 'Affair Girl'— ever since Made in Heaven and Gully Boy. And I'm like, okay… but can I do anything else now? Even after Margarita, I was only offered disability roles. I'm like, guys, what's… what? So I've kind of just understood that this is the ebb and flow of things, people only remember you for your latest. And then you have to rebuild each time."
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