Kalki Koechlin: 'Streaming Has Plateaued; There's Too Much Content and Nobody Knows What To Watch'

Kalki Koechlin has long occupied an intriguing position in Indian cinema, not as an outsider exactly, but as a presence that refuses to fully assimilate. While mainstream stardom tends to reward certainty and volume, Koechlin’s career has been built on curiosity and a willingness to sit inside contradiction. It makes her an unusually apt fit for Her Song, a Franco-American film that moves between past and present, history and invention, exile and inheritance.

The film, which follows a writer tracing her grandmother’s wartime displacement while living through the early days of the pandemic, is steeped in repetition and cycles. It is interested in how history replays itself with minor alterations, and how identity is shaped as much by what is concealed as by what is remembered. For Koechlin, the appeal lay not only in the material but in its method. The screenplay insists on precision, rhythm and fidelity to language, an approach that runs counter to the prevailing improvisatory culture of Indian filmmaking.

In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Koechlin is candid about an industry that increasingly privileges spectacle, speed and aggression over texture.

Edited excerpts:

Q: I tried very hard to read up about Her Song, but beyond the elevator pitch there was very little out there. Can you tell us what the film is and why you were compelled to be a part of it?

Kalki Koechlin: Briefly, the story is about an American writer who goes back to the village her grandmother belonged to because she wants to write about her grandmother’s life. There was something called 'The Exodus' from Paris — when the Nazis came in and everyone fled Paris to different parts of the south of France. Her grandmother ended up in this particular village, and she goes there to write this book based on her grandmother’s experiences. As she’s writing, the COVID-19 pandemic hits. And suddenly the same cycle repeats itself: people start fleeing Paris again because they’re hearing rumours about how bad it’s getting in Italy, and everyone runs off to the countryside. There’s this strange repetition. It’s a quirky comedy where she’s playing with her fiction, and the fiction seems to be happening around her.

It’s also about many other things like belonging. Where do we belong? Is the place we think we’re from really where we’re from? Because she uncovers secrets, lies, affairs and other things going on in the family. It’s done in a very light, comic way, but also quite poetic. We become aware of ourselves through the past.

Q: Cycles are fascinating to explore. Which part of the cycle do you think the current streaming landscape is in?

KK: I think streaming has reached a kind of peak. It was this thing that just took over the world — there was so much content, everyone was excited, and it gave incredible employment and opportunity to so many people. But now it feels like it’s plateaued. There’s too much content and nobody knows what to watch. I have that problem — I go on Netflix and I’m just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. I actually miss the old times when you had to wait for something. When you watched a series on TV and waited a week for the next episode. That instant gratification has really affected attention spans.

People aren’t watching as much, the business model isn’t working as well, subscriptions aren’t what they hoped for, and content is being made less. So it’s hard to say where it goes from here. But I think it’s another creative cycle. When belief in formulas plateaus, people have to go back to the drawing board, go back to creativity, to original formats that can once again capture attention. I’m hoping for a renewal of creativity.

Q: What did Her Song allow you to explore as an actor that Indian cinema hasn’t quite given you space for?

KK: One thing that really stood out was the absolute respect for the script. To the point where a script supervisor would come and say, “I noticed in this take you didn’t say the,” or you missed a word or even a comma. Every single detail was noted.

I’ve experienced that in theatre, especially with texts that are considered sacred, like Shakespeare. But I’ve never really experienced that in cinema. In India we’re very good at improvising and tweaking dialogue on the spot. Here, sticking to the text was important, especially because with comedy, pauses and timing are written very deliberately.

That was very exciting for me. Also, comedy isn’t something I’ve done a lot of. Otherwise, filmmaking is the same everywhere — the rush to finish before the sun sets, stopping shoot because a plane flies overhead. That part is universal.

Kalki Koechlin attends The Elle List 2025 at The Four Seasons on January 30, 2025 in Mumbai, IndiaProdip Guha/Getty Images

Q: Radhika Apte recently spoke about being tired of shoddy scripts and being expected to “bring her A-game” to fix inconsistencies. Has that been your experience too?

KK: Absolutely. There are two issues. One is language. A lot of people write in English and then translate into Hindi. Something gets lost in translation, and suddenly the dialogue sounds more formal and less spoken. You read one script in English, and then two weeks before the shoot you get a Hindi version that sounds nothing like it. Then you’re trying to make it sound natural again.

The second thing is the rush. Often there aren’t enough drafts. Everyone is improvising because they want to go on the floor very quickly. There are exceptions — Goldfish was very text-based and very specific about language — but those writers are few and far between.

Q: Do you think language itself is becoming a hurdle in mainstream Hindi cinema?

KK: Yes, I do. Of course there are writers who are deeply rooted in Hindi, like Varun Grover, and actors who are comfortable with that language. But a lot of urban-based cinema does have this issue. There’s a lot of translation back and forth, and something gets diluted.

Q: Do you sense a shift in which narratives are being greenlit right now?

KK: There’s definitely a shift towards action-heavy films, big budget, CGI-driven spectacle. Horror is another genre that’s really popping up. I’m actually doing a horror series right now, and I’ve also done a paranormal series that’s releasing soon.

But subtler comedies, dramas, indie cinema — they’re few and far between. It’s been a double whammy. COVID pushed everyone onto screens, and the only thing that seems to pull people back into cinemas is big blockbusters. Add to that our shrinking attention spans because of social media. If something is slow or takes time to build, there’s a lack of faith from producers and makers that audiences will stick with it.

I really miss slow-moving films. I’m looking for stories that give me a slower version of things. That space feels missing right now.

Q: Streamers now often require a theatrical release before acquiring a film, which can be devastating for indie filmmakers. What’s the plan for Her Song?

KK: It’s doing the festival circuit right now. We’ve been unofficially confirmed for a couple of festivals, and hopefully we’ll find distributors in different regions. It’s a very text-heavy screenplay and about 70 per cent French and 30 per cent English, so it’s hard to market. Releasing it in India feels particularly difficult. Ultimately, platforms are where it can find a more universal audience that’s comfortable with subtitles.

Right now, it’s incredibly difficult for indie filmmakers in India. It’s a miracle to get a film made and released. You look at films that get rave reviews at festivals and then disappear theatrically because of show timings and lack of screens. It’s disheartening. My hope is that audiences are also getting tired of spectacle. People aren’t enjoying big blockbusters as much as expected. Maybe that dissatisfaction will push a renewed respect for creativity and original content.

Q: You mentioned horror. What draws you to the genre, especially given how it often treats women’s bodies

KK: The project I’m currently doing is written by a woman, and that really changes the gaze. The women lead the story, they’re the ones figuring things out, fighting back, finding a way through vulnerability. That’s very exciting for me.