If action sequences can be choreographed, why not intimate scenes: Kalki Koechlin

Mumbai: Kalki Koechlin says it is extremely important for actors to trust each other before shooting intimate scenes and believes such a practice should be made mandatory in the film industry.

Kalki said she has done intimate scenes with actors without even meeting them before, something which should not happen.

"When we are on a film set, no one is going to not have a really choreographed action scene. No one is going to 'by mistake' punch the actor in the face. So why aren't we doing that for intimate scenes? 

"There are a number of scenes I've done where I've not even met the actor before I have to bite his lips off. It doesn't make sense. There needs to be trust between the actors," she said. 

The actor was part of a panel discussion on code of conduct at work at the 9th edition of Tata Literature Live!.

Kalki said she is currently doing a play where they were given a two-page code of conduct that was drafted by the royal court last year after several #MeToo cases surfaced.

"In this play that I'm doing, about rape of a Roman woman, every morning my co-actor and I have consent between each other where we ask 'Can we do this?' and agree on touch. That has just made us so much more comfortable. We trust each other a lot more.

"There is no 'improvisational bit' that happens. That kind of good practice needs to be encouraged and demanded from those of us in the industry," she added. 

Kalki believes it is extremely important for an individual and an industry as a collective to take responsibilities. 

"In my industry, we have had a meeting few weeks back with the producers guild, directors, casting directors, crew members to understand what are the problems and how can we ourselves take responsibility," she added.