'I’m going through a reversal mode,' says Kalki Koechlin

Kalki Koechlin may have an intense on-screen image with the kind of roles she has played, but she is like any other girl who loves fantasy and romantic comedy, though she says she “hates to admit it as it sounds cheesy!”

“I am going through a reversal mode as I read and watched intense stuff when I was a kid and now I have started liking humour and romance!” says Kalki. But the movie that makes her go weak in the knees is Les Enfants du Paradis, a black and white French romantic comedy and tragedy by director Marcel Carné. “This movie inspired me to take up acting. It is a tale about the struggle for theatre which is beautifully depicted. It’s a classic love story,” she says.

Kalki has also grown up watching films like Hook, which is a spin-off on the classic tale of Peter Pan. Apart from this, she likes the gritty, nonchalant character of Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Among books, Kalki enjoys Life of Pi by Canadian author Yann Martel. “It begins in Pondicherry, the place I was born and the book carries the most ridiculous premises like the boy going to the Cannibal Island when he starts hallucinating and pushing the boundaries of one’s imagination.”

She grew up reading Charles Dickens and likes comic character Obelix “as he has all the problems in life and doesn’t even get his magic potion!” When asked if she is a book person or a movie buff, she says, “I used to be more into books earlier, but after entering the film industry and with Anurag (Kashyap) having a collection of over 5,000 DVDs, I have become more of a movie person,” she smiles.