The last year has been really busy and transformational for actor Kirti Kulhari, both professionally and personally. The glamorous actor started her own production house Kintsukuroi Films and also learnt to ride a bike. “I have been driving four-wheelers since the age of 17. But I had never learnt to ride a bike and neither did I get a scope to learn it for any of the characters I’ve played so far. Last year, when I went to Ladakh a couple of times, I decided to do a bike trip there on my own. I am definitely going to Ladakh this year around June-July. I always wanted to be responsible for myself and learning to bike is also an extension of that. I am living in the moment and loving it totally,” shares Kirti, who is earning quite a lot of praise for her class act as heart surgeon Saira Sabharwal in the medical drama Human that was released on Disney+ Hotstar last week.
“It’s amazing to get such reactions. While playing Saira or any role, authenticity is always the keyword for me. Being a doctor is only one aspect of Saira Sabharwal, which is such a well-written role with so much depth and layers. Playing her was like playing with Lego, digging into the part and pushing myself to find out more about Saira,” says Kirti, who had several conversations with medical professionals and psychiatrists to understand the various facets of Saira to keep her real and understated with all her finesse and flaws intact.
But playing Saira is not what has kept the actor busy all this while. Kirti also started shooting for Nayeka, the first film from her production house, early this year. “We shot on the 2nd and 3rd of January but the pandemic again got the better of us, so, we had to put it on hold for a bit. The journey as a producer is a very exciting one and it was a natural progression for me. As an actor, I now have a certain standing in the film industry and I want to use that to create cinema that I believe in,” she adds.
Is it the lack of good roles that’s forcing more actors like her to come up with their own production houses? “It would have been true if I would have done it 2-3 years back. But currently, I am doing a lot of interesting work. I might end up acting in some of my own productions but the prime intention of my production house will be to tell good stories,” she further explains.
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Fascinated by human relationship stories, social dramas and thrillers, Kirti wants to tell simple stories that will leave the audience stirred and give them food for thought. “If a piece of work doesn’t bring any change, small or big, in the viewer — it’s a sheer waste of time and money,” she feels.
As an actor, too, Kirti has matured and learnt from her experiences – good bad or ugly — to evolve as a stronger and better artiste. “The situations or people in your life are not in your control but what choices you make out of them definitely are. You can become stronger or go down the drain, playing the victim and blaming everyone around,” says the spunky actor, who will soon be seen in the third season of Four More Shots Please apart from her upcoming dark comedy thriller, Nayeka.
Human is streaming on Disney+Hotstar.
sharmishtha.g@newindian express.com
Twitter: @sharmidas