Workshops on intimate scenes is important: Kalki

Mumbai: National award-winning actress Kalki Koechlin, who has observed a behavioral change among men after the prominence of #MeToo movement in India, says workshops ahead of performing any intimate scene is important.

"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," she added. 

The #MeToo movement has changed the film industry Kalki told IANS. "Of course, there is a change. I would say, consciousness has been created."

Citing an example, she said: "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."

She had an "intimacy rehearsal" where she interacted with her co-actors and asked for permission on "how we will touch each other in an intimate scene".

Kalki has earlier addressed drug addiction and drug mafia in "Candyflip", a film and "Smoke", a web series.

Directed by Shanawaz NK and produced by Balasubramanyam TC, Surendra K Hegde, "Candyflip" released on Netflix OTT platform.

Talking about her experience, she said: "It 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..." 

How does she look at the situation of youngsters' addiction?

"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," she said.

"Empathy and re-telling the story from our perspective might just change people's mindset towards those (drug addict) 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," said Kalki.