Top 60 Kalki Koechlin Quotes

I like social media, as it cuts out the middleman. You can be yourself, you can’t be misquoted, and it’s also useful for me to get information about my theatre shows across to people.

You wouldn’t believe how many people have told me that I need to fix my teeth or that I need to restructure my jawline.

What makes us really human is it’s in the presence of death that we start valuing life.

Vulnerability is important in life, I feel. That’s what allows you to experience intense emotions, whether it’s joy or pain or sadness.

I cry at the drop of a hat.

‘Jia Aur Jia’ is like my first proper fun, masti Bollywood film. I have a full-on dance number.

There’s a thing about opinions… They are formulated over time. They tend to change with time, and you are going to change your mind many times.

You can’t force people to change. You can only give them the option.

I like to believe I perform better under pressure and at the last minute.

We need better and stronger roles for female actors.

Theatre is really an actor’s playground.

It’s only over time that you get to exploring or adding nuances to the character. Like my part in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ – I am so not the person who wears high heels and totters about like a poodle.

Now I know Hindi, and I can read and write Hindi, but the problem is that I can’t improvise when I am acting because I think in English, so I have to translate my thinking from English to Hindi, and therefore, I speak slowly.

In marriage, a woman becomes the weaker sex, even if her husband doesn’t want her to be. This happens because of the way society has built the institution.

I want to work with as many directors as possible because with each director, you learn something new.

There is always going to be depth and layers to people and that’s what interests me in a character: when there is some problem to overcome, when there is a complication to understand in a person.

A lot of people make fashion their whole life, which I think is not cool.

I don’t comment on everything; I don’t comment on things I don’t know enough about. I feel people should talk about something only if they feel strongly about them.

I think it’s what’s inside that makes you beautiful on the outside.

Theatre is more metaphorical where you have to be louder and larger than life, whereas film is more subtle and more real.

There’s nothing like performing for a live audience.

Yes, India is intolerant towards women, at least when it comes to their safety issues. When I was shooting in Jharkhand, I was constantly being followed by two soldiers to ensure that I was safe. Women are so unsafe in our country.

There were a lot of pretty women in cinema around Audrey Hepburn’s time, but she stood out because she had a very interesting personality – which went beyond her looks. She did so much for women, for animal rights, for children’s education – it’s always the personality that comes through and makes one seem beautiful.

I don’t even mind playing a bimbo or a silly girl, as long as it isn’t stereotyped and there’s a reason for that character to be part of the story.

It’s great to come home always… coming home to good south Indian meals or Andhra food is always a pleasure.

Often, we hide our personality and are afraid of bringing it out in our clothes. So, I think when people are fashionable, they are able to express themselves.

In India, you can just show up at a friend’s house, and they will feed you; you can borrow someone’s clothes and touch each other. In London, they would say, ‘Oh, let’s meet for coffee at 4:15, and we will talk about, I don’t know, this play that we saw.’

I keep saying this: If you’re not a feminist, you’re a bad person.

Theatre is something that keeps me very alert, and I am actively creating whether I am on stage or directing. In films, I feel I become more of an introvert, going deeper in the realism of a character.

I think, no matter how successful you are, there is some struggle of one kind or the other for every actor at every level. There are times when your work progresses at an extremely slow pace.

In the beginning, I was very stubborn and always wanted to be just an actor. I was told by a lot of people to try my hand at writing or directing, but I always thought, ‘I am an actor, and this is what I want to do.’

I’m from a small town where the pace of life is slow.

Once I wanted to get into films, I took my time about it because when I first got to Bombay, I gave my photos and CDs to all the production houses. But the roles that came my way were the ‘typical white girl dancing in the background’ kind of roles, which I was not too interested in, or it was advertisements.

It’s only that we live in a patriarchal society, and therefore, the word ‘feminism’ has to be used as a counter to patriarchy. But feminism is about being equal. The word used should be ‘equalist,’ as it is about all humans being equal and respecting each other for that.

We don’t expect someone in a bikini to stand up for women’s rights; we only expect a girl in an ‘NGO outfit’ to speak about it. It’s as much as the right of the girl in the bikini to talk about it as a woman in a kurta. We need to embrace that multiplicity.

I am always open to any film from any place, given the role and the script is interesting.

I am not an activist. I am an actor.

I don’t work for awards; they’re just an icing on the cake.

If you are a musician, you practise your instrument every day, but actors can’t be on a set every day. Theatre is a way for me to keep practising my art form.

In Bollywood, it’s always feast or famine for an actress. That’s the way of the game.

Everybody should read ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ by Kurt Vonnegut. This book is about the hypocrisy of war, told in satire, and is hard-hitting and truthful.

Being independent in my choices is important to me.

Theatre is my first love; I would not have done it if I didn’t love it and certainly not for the money – you really have to believe in it.

You shouldn’t feel awkward in your own body and constantly try to be an image for somebody else. You should to be comfortable in it.

I, in particular, am in a confusing spot because I am Indian, but I am white, which people don’t get. So often I find myself struggling to explain my Indianness.

There’s a lot of pressure on women to look in a certain way. It’s not easy to live in a world that objectifies women.

I do not get that many offers in commercial cinema, to be very honest.

I do like to dress up, and I love to go for red carpet events and look my best, but I have to be comfortable, and I don’t want to wear make-up when I am taking a flight.

I was born in Pondicherry. Both my parents are French. They met in Pondicherry in the ’70s, got married, and stayed back in India.

I do not differentiate between a commercial and an indie project as long as there is a strong subject and the character in the script is relatable.

There’s lots said about me. I have teeth that are way too big for my face or that I am too skinny for my own good… And I can safely say that I have three left feet. But there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s the way I look, and that’s the way I was born.

I will say that my style sense is very mercurial. There are days when I love to be all comfy, relaxed in casual wear, and there are days when I go all matching, matching.

I don’t want to choose between commercial and independent cinema. I just want to choose between a good film and a bad film.

As a teenager, I was very awkward in my skin. I was never in the cool gang. I had braces and was quite the geek as well as a tomboy.

When I have to be in public, I can’t be in a bad mood.

I, for one, personally like rom-coms, silly rom-coms, but at the same time, I also want to watch a documentary or an award-winning drama.

I find it very hard to dance. I have 2 left feet.

I love being unconventional because that’s the reason I stand out.

Every role that one does – at least, that’s what happens in my case – becomes a sort of therapy.

A director’s job is like parenting. You have to look after your actors like children, pay attention to each of their different abilities.