IN CONVERSATION WITH SALONY LUTHRA FOR HER UPCOMING SHORT FILM ‘KAJAL’

In Conversation With Salony Luthra For Her Upcoming Short Film ‘Kajal’

interviewed by Sriram Sundar

Congratulations Salony on your brilliant performance in the short film ‘Kajal’.

Thank you very much!

Tell me something about your role in the film?

‘Kajal’ was a special journey for me!

It’s about a woman’s personal strength. And there are a lot of people who try to curb that, but then once you realize your inner power, it’s a totally different scene all together.

While I was doing the film I realized that we let so many people kill our personality and dominate us. Somebody will say something not nice to you and you start feeling you are not good enough. If that keeps happening over a period of time, you tend to lose your existence. It has happened to me as well, so ‘Kajal’ became a personal journey where I once again realized that I need to make something out of my life and not do something just for the sake of others!

Nowadays there are a lot of films based on women empowerment and ‘Kajal’ is also on those lines. So do you think the situation here in India is getting better or is it still the same?

In India, the conditioning of women is very different to the women in the west. As women, we are brought up in a way where our parent’s happiness and dreams are more important than our own. Our social structure is like that. After marriage, if your husband is liberal then you get to see a different side of life otherwise it’s going to be the same mundane lifestyle for you. Parental pressure for women is such that you forget your own personality. As women, we are very powerful but in India, we are not made to understand that. Hope people change their attitude towards women after this.

How did you prepare for the role? How hard was it to get into such a character?

Pakhi Tyrewala sent me the script when I was shooting for a Tamil film in Singapore. She also wanted me to put on weight for this.

I started observing women around me, like in bus stops, trains where they do not say much and just let things happen to them. Silence can be captured only when you are genuinely silent and it is more about what is happening inside you. So I guess I have given my best and done proper justice to the role (smiles).

What is your dream role?

My role in Tamil film ‘Sarabham’ is once in a lifetime kind of a role. The play that I am working on now is a two-actor play that any actor would break her legs for. I look for roles that empower me at the end of the day.

I have been fortunate to get the roles that I have done till now. I would also love explore World Cinema like French or Iranian films as I don’t feel the language as a barrier!

You gave us an award-winning performance in Tamil film ‘Sarabham’, you are part of several advertising campaigns and you are also doing theatre. So what kind of similarities or differences do you find between theatre, ads and movies?

All are beautiful forms of expression according to me. I had to do a lot of preparation for the Tamil films, as I was not familiar with the language. I like doing performance oriented roles but I will do commercial films if there is something interesting for me to perform as an actor. In theatre, being on stage with dialogues and so much happening around you is just a different feel. Ads are also very realistic and natural. For me, they are all very different and interesting mediums.

Great! And what are your upcoming projects?

Tamil short film ‘Oliyum Oliyum’ is doing the festival rounds right now. My play “Blackbird” is happening at National School of Drama’s (NSD) reputed International Theatre Festival ‘Bharangam’. I recently shot for an international film called ‘Forbidden’ which is also about the journey of my life. So those are in the pipeline.

Wish you all the best Salony and thank you very much for talking to CinemaForensic!

Thank you! Thank you so much.

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