‘I wouldn’t have called myself an athletic person growing up. But training for this film changed that.’
‘It pushed me in ways I didn’t expect and made me discover a strength I didn’t know I had.’
Kalyani Priyadarshan is the first superwoman of Indian cinema.
The actor, who has wowed everyone with her performance in Lokah, tells Subhash K Jha, “I was insecure in thinking maybe there were better people than me for this role but I saw it as something that came to me for a reason. I wasn’t going to question what God was offering me.”
Our film industry is largely male-dominated. Has it been a challenge to find your voice?
This is a tough question. I think we’ve just been waiting for the right stories and the right storytellers. More importantly, for people like Dulquer Salmaan to back those stories so they can reach their full potential.
For a long time, there’s been hesitation to take risks with women-led films, but this one feels like it’s opening new doors.
What’s been most moving is the kind of support it has received — not just from women, but men as well. So many men, within the industry and in the audience, have made it their mission to celebrate this film and say, ‘See what women can do.’
That really goes to show how much we sometimes underestimate our audiences. They’re capable of so much love and support, as long as the content is strong.
Your journey as an actor has been swift and steady. How did you make it happen?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how I’ve reached here, but I know I’ve been blessed in many ways.
I’ve had the chance to work with some of the best people in the industry.
I was born into a family that gave me both inspiration and opportunities.
I’ve had the privilege of choice to wait for stories that truly speak to me, rather than taking up every opportunity that comes my way.
Not everyone has that luxury, and I try to use it responsibly by picking projects that challenge me and mean something to the audience.
At the heart of it, I think it’s a mix of hard work, patience, and whatever God has blessed me with.
I feel grateful.
Your father, filmmaker Priyadarshan, still can’t believe you reached where you are, without his help.
I don’t think that’s a fair statement for him to make.
He knows how hard I work for the opportunities I get, but honestly so much of why I’m even here has to do with him.
All through my childhood, he has passionately talked to me about cinema, and made sure my priorities were about the craft and not the fame.
I owe a big part of this journey to him.
How did Lokah happen?
This is a question best answered by screenwriter-director Dominic Arun because long before I came on board, he had been working on this story with cinematographer Nimish Ravi for about two or three years.
It was originally planned as a very small, standalone film.
But once Dulquer Salmaan came in, he saw something bigger in it.
He’s always had a larger vision and ambition for the kinds of stories we can tell, and he encouraged them to expand it into a bigger universe.
He told them not to think of it as just a female-centric film, but as something with far more potential, and he backed that vision completely.
Honestly, it’s the three of them who made my character Chandra’s story much larger than what it was initially meant to be.
What was your reaction when you were first offered the film?
I clearly remember the day Dominic Arun narrated Lokah to me. The moment he left, I sat there thinking, ‘Wow, this is incredible, but also so ambitious.’
I had two doubts: one, whether I was the right person for it, and two, whether someone I didn’t know personally, like Dominic, could actually pull it off.
So within minutes of him leaving, I called everyone I knew who knew him.
I told them I’d heard a script I loved but needed to know one thing: Can this guy really pull off something so big?
What did they say?
The response was unanimous. Everyone whose opinion I trusted said the same thing — that Dominic is incredibly talented.
After we started shooting and became friends, Dom once laughed and said, ‘You know, all my friends called me right after the narration to tell me you were checking up on me!’
How were you sure that you could pull it off?
The confidence in myself. I knew I couldn’t say no to something this special.
I was insecure in thinking maybe there were better people than me for this role but I saw it as something that came to me for a reason. I wasn’t going to question what God was offering me.
Tell me about the shooting process. Were the stunts tough?
I had the best time shooting this film, even though it was one of the most challenging experiences I’ve had.
Most of it was shot through the night, for months on end, but I honestly have no complaints because those were some of the best months of my life.
And that’s thanks to the team.
We had (action director) Yannick Ben on board because we had big ambitions for this project and wanted the best of the best.
But since we were already on an overstretched budget, we had to plan carefully.
All the action had to be shot in one go.
Things like flying Yannick’s team back and forth wasn’t possible, so for three weeks straight, we shot non-stop action.
I was right in the middle of stunts, fights, and training every single day.
It was intense, but when you’re working with a team and toward a shared vision, you get this energy you didn’t know you had.
How intense was your preparation?
My training journey began much earlier, from the day I got the role.
Action and stunts were new territory for me, especially on this scale.
I wouldn’t have even called myself an athletic person growing up.
But training for this film changed that.
It pushed me in ways I didn’t expect and made me discover a strength I didn’t know I had.
Tell us about your forthcoming projects.
I have Genie with Ravi Mohan, which is ready for release, and Marshall with Karthi, a rural gangster film.
Both are very different from what I’ve done before.
