"It is not improvised on the spot."
Actress Kalki Koechlin has stated the importance of workshops ahead of performing intimate scenes. She said they should be previously choreographed.
This comes after observing a behavioural change among men following the prominence of the #MeToo movement in India.
The National Film Award winner has had a workshop in the past for an intimate scene, which involved interacting with her co-stars before performing it with them.
Koechlin has compared intimate scenes to dance and action sequences which are choreographed. Actors should know every movement of the performance.
She said: “Intimacy workshops were important because like every dance and action sequences are previously choreographed and each actor knows every movement of the performance, an intimate scene is also choreographed.
“It is not improvised on the spot.”
Kalki also explained how the #MeToo movement has changed the film industry.
“Of course, there is a change. I would say, consciousness has been created.
“Right after the #MeToo movement took off, I was doing a play where my director was a male, and he sent two pages write-up on how we all should behave at the rehearsal space.”
This includes rehearsals for intimate scenes where it is not improvised and permission had to be asked so that others would not feel uncomfortable.
Kalki once had an “intimacy rehearsal” where she interacted with her co-stars and asked for permission on “how we will touch each other in an intimate scene”.
The actress is known for her unconventional body of work within Bollywood. This includes exploring drug addiction in CandyFlip and web series Smoke.
CandyFlip was directed by Shanawaz NK and was released on Netflix.
Kalki spoke about the experience: “It (drug addiction) happened to one of the friends of our director of the film.
“That fellow took a lot of drugs and then his mind just flipped, it lost control.”
“It was quite a moving story and it shows the sea of confusion.”
While there is an issue of young people suffering from addiction, they are not the only demographic as Kalki explained:
“I do not think only youngsters are suffering from addiction, I have seen middle-aged people also going through the addiction of alcohol and other things.
“The concept of addiction is when an individual gets into a loop of a habit that he/she cannot come out of.
“Empathy and re-telling the story from our perspective might just change people’s mindset towards those (drug addicts) who are suffering.
“They are no different from an individual who is addicted to work. It is only wise to humanise the person who is suffering instead of humiliating. That is the way we change our society.”
Kalki Koechlin last starred in Indian web series Made in Heaven which is about two Delhi-based wedding planners who run an agency.
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