Kalki Koechlin on 10 years in Bollywood: Hasn't been a stable moment

Kalki Koechlin describes her decadelong journey in Bollywood as mercurial navigating through ups and downs and looking for calm in the unstable industry Having made her debut with Anurag Kashyaps Dev D in 2009 the actor went on to star in several acclaimed films from Shaitaan Margarita With A Straw Waiting to the recent Gully BoyThese ten years have been mercurial lots of ups and downs I dont think there has been a stable moment Its all or nothing There were years I had five releases and there were years I had none Kalki told PTIThe actor says with time the mediums for an artiste have grown and she is making the most of it Im now doing web podcast theatre and films There seems to be a lot on the platter At the end of the day I am not so concerned about the medium Im concerned about the content and what kind of challenges I can bring for myself Theres so much stereotyping that happens that youve to really be like ok can I do this in a different wayA part of the challenge was when she was offered the second season of Netflix India Original Sacred Games The show came her way when she was going through some changes in her personal life and was in the middle of dubbing for one of her other web seriesHaving seen and liked the first season directed by Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane Kalki felt pressured when she got an audition callI did the audition but didnt get a callback for three weeks I thought its gone I didnt get it Then I got one call saying one more audition When you dont get a callback youre like hmm ok and then when you do theres no feedback as well They just want to see it again so you dont know what that means I wore a different saree for the second audition I think that worked It was one of those typical ashram saree organic one and I think that did itOn the show the 35yearold actor will be seen playing Batya Abelman an apprentice of Guruji played by Pankaj TripathiTo understand her character Kalki had several rounds of discussions with Kashyap who directs portions featuring Nawazuddin Siddiquis Ganesh Gaitondeiquestand Neeraj Ghaywan who helms the present day track of Saif Ali Khans Sartaj Singh But on set Kalki observed her costar Tripathi to pick up the nuancesI was following Pankaj and he didnt know I used to literally copy his walk behind him his gestures Luckily when I was shooting that portion I didnt have much to do I am just there in the background so I used to watch him a lot He tells all these stories so I used to listen to his stories and try to imbibe some of it Batya is his apprentice also so there was this need I didnt want to copy him but be completely influenced by himKalki describes her character as someone whos complicated very sincere in her belief system but added one can never escape their past Here is a person who seems to have overcome her difficult past seems pretty calm but somewhere simmering theres her past which comesHer character is set in both the worlds the past of Nawazuddins flamboyant gangster Gaitonde and the present of Saifs honest cop SartajWorking with two different directors for the tracks only added to Kalkis performance They were appropriate personalities for the tracks Anurag has this spontaneous on the spot thing going on Gaitonde portions are all very chaotic Theres a lot of craziness and drama happening Neeraj is a calculated calm person who likes to plan everything Sartaj is like that too he plays by the rules In that sense it was useful Batya also goes from being this chaotic rebel to this very calm personFor season two Varun Grover returns as the lead writer and is joined by three new writers Dhruv Narang Pooja Varma and Nihit Bhave The show starts streaming from August 15Also View PhotosDid you know Kalki Koechlin has French ancestryCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates