Kalki Koechlin: Shot the film when I was five months pregnant

A still from Paava Kadhaigal

Kalki Koechlin is taking in the joys of motherhood - when she is not doing diaper duties, she is playing the ukulele and singing African lullabies to 10-month-old Sappho. "I've had a luxurious year because I have been at home with my baby. If it weren't for the pandemic, I would have been back at work within a few months of my delivery," begins the actor, who will be seen in Netflix's Tamil film, Paava Kadhaigal. The anthology, directed by Gautham Menon, Sudha Kongara, Vetri Maaran and Vignesh Shivan, studies how love, pride and honour influence relationships.

Kalki Koechlin holds Shivan's short film, Love Panna Uttranum, dear as the director went to extreme lengths to ensure she was a part of his story. "I shot for the film in September [2019] when I was five months pregnant. Vignesh wanted to shoot it later, but I told him that I won't be able to do it then because I was due in January 2020. So, he advanced the shoot."

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Kalki Koechlin

In telling four distinct stories, the Tamil film makes a sharp commentary on casteism and honour killings. Koechlin, who firmly believes that cinema should go beyond entertainment, says the treatment of the subject drew her to the project. "The audience often dismisses dramas, saying that they are too heavy. This film is a black comedy. Here, the subject has been treated in a comic way so that it reaches more people. The idea is to humanise the characters so that people can relate to the story."

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