Kirti Kulhari: "I want to play as complex characters as possible, I'm bored of playing white characters"

From playing a lawyer who is a single mother in "Four More Shots Please!" to a survivor of abuse in "Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors", actor Kirti Kulhari says she wants to tap into the varying degrees of complexity through her on-screen characters.

The 36-year-old-actor, however, is not adverse to taking up a "white character" provided it is written well.

"I want to play as complex characters as possible. I want to play dark, grey characters. I am bored of playing white characters. But if a script comes up where a white character is written with a lot of depth and layers, I would like to play that (too)," Kulhari told PTI in a Zoom interview. "Every (role) I played is not simple to play. Human beings are not simple and to tap into so many aspects is not easy," she added.

The actor is looking forward to the release of her upcoming film Shaadistan. In the movie, Kulhari plays a singer named Sasha, whom she described as "a tigress when it comes to taking charge of her life".
Directed by Raj Singh Chaudhary, "Shaadistan" follows the journey of four young free-spirited musicians, a small-town couple and their young daughter in a camper van, travelling from Mumbai to a small town in Rajasthan.

"To me, Sasha represents freedom, which is misunderstood by people in terms of freedom to do this or to do sex or whatever. When you say freedom, it means choosing your own life and how you want to live your life and who you want to be. Sasha doesn't seek validation for anything in her life."

Asked if Sasha was an extension of her Four More Shots Please! character Anjana Menon, Kulhari said both women are empowered and unapologetic but they are very different.

"Anjana is in the process of finding herself. She comes from a place of being emotionally carried away, while Sasha has found herself, she is not operating from a space of ego or being not sure. She is emotional but will stand up for herself and others."

The actor, who is set to play a doctor in the upcoming web series "Human", said she wants to keep reinventing herself.

"I don't care about what image I make but I want to tell a story or play a character that will touch you and make a difference. Being an actor, I am given an opportunity to make a difference to the world I live in and this is my way of doing it," she added.

"Shaadistan" will stream on Disney+ Hotstar VIP from Friday.