Kirti Kulhari is a distinctive screen personality. The actress shot to fame with a power-packed performance in Bejoy Nambiar’s acclaimed Shaitan, a film that boasted of consummate talents of the likes of Kalki Koechlin, Rajkummar Rao, Rajeev Khandelwal and Gulshan Devaiha, amongst others.
However, it’s inarguably Kirti’s act as the sombre, mature Falak in Pink that’s really put her out there, in the true sense. The film has her featuring with Amitabh Bachchan and Tapsee Pannu, and has opened to unanimous critical acclaim. Kirti could not be more pleased with the results.
“I had to give a screen test for Pink. Falak is a very strong character with an extremely high emotional quotient. To an extent, Tapsee’s character Minal is quite similar to my character Tanya from Shaitan,” she reveals.
“Even during my theatre days, I’d try to make my portrayals distinguishable. I’m glad that meaty roles have come my way and that the industry recognises the actor in me.”
Her graceful screen presence in the movie ensured that despite Big B delivering what could very well be one of his career best performances, the audience sat up and took notice of Kirti’s performance.
“Bachchan sir is an extremely selfless actor,” she explains. “While we have actors solely concerned about bettering their own act, we have him, who goes out of his way to ensure that the scene is the benefactor. All while getting his own job done with characteristically inimitable panache. He gives you so much space and support, it automatically enhances your performance.”
Luckily for Kirti, she’s ended up doing one meaty character after the other, be it in Shaitan, Jal or Pink. “Good characters and an opportunity to prove my mettle as an actress sure do excite me,” she confesses. “But, being a good actor is not enough in our industry. Given an opportunity, I’d love to do a glamorous role. In fact, I really do want to do a potboiler, now that I’ve done enough character-driven roles.”
