Kalki Koechlin Quotes

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

"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."

"Being a feminist means asking for equality. But people take it the other way at times. It is looked down upon is because it is seen as man-hating. But, feminism is a really crazy idea that suggests men and women are equal."

"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."

"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 keep saying this: If you're not a feminist, you're a bad person."

"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 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."

"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, 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."

"When your private life has been dragged into public space, you tend to attain a zen-like composure."

"The country has double standards - it's obsessed with fair skin on one hand, but if the woman is white, she is expected to be loose-moraled."

"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."

"It is enough if I can be relevant. It is more about me keeping up with youngsters than influencing youngsters. So I just want to stay relevant, really."

"I consider myself as a human being with lots of ups and downs and learning from a lot of failures before I can succeed."

"I improvise a lot and try something new every couple of years."

"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.'"

"Once I got married, I was only invited to the things that Anurag was invited to. People would say, 'Call Anurag's wife.' They wouldn't say, 'call Kalki' or 'call Kalki's husband.'"

"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."

"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."

"Of course, people have tried to stereotype me... But it's very short-lived if you realise that you're only as new as your newest film... You have to look beyond the period of initial reactions and recognise that there's a bigger body of work and an effort to do something bigger."

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

"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."

"I think the glamour industry, all over the world, does portray a version that is 'Photoshopped' - a picture that is not very realistic."

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

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

"I like fashion, but it's not something that I follow religiously."

"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."

"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."