EXCLUSIVE: Love, Sitara star Sonali Kulkarni on her Kerala connection, “I always check if there is at least one Mallu in all my film units, so that...”

Filmmaker Vandana Kataria’s ZEE5 movie Love, Sitara is a romantic drama between the characters played by Sobhita Dhulipala and Rajeev Siddhartha. It is a rare Hindi film to be set completely in Kerala. It also stars Sonali Kulkarni in the pivotal role of Hema chechi. In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, the actress said she felt Sobhita is quite similar to her in real life in terms of nature.“I liked her nature a lot,” said Kulkarni. “I feel she is a bit like me. I can’t just start loving a person right at the onset and I don’t get excited with someone very early. That’s not my nature. I prefer being calm and then if friendship happens, it’s fine. Else, we can still happily work together. I felt her nature was the same. She is very co-operative and sweet natured. And she is too talented. I am looking forward to her career.”Sharing more about their on screen relationship in Love, Sitara, the actress said, “The story has been told from her (Sobhita’s) point of view. It is about the important people in her life, including my character, Hema. I am Sitara’s mother’s sister, who is an air hostess. They are a Malayalam family from Kochi. And my character being an airhostess has traveled around the world. So, I am the only one who has been out of the house.”Kulkarni added, “Sitara always feels she should be like Hema. I am an idol for her. But at times you don’t know some things about your idol. There are quite a few problems in my character’s life about relationships and ego. Whether Hema is able to resolve her issues and how much it impacts Sitara is what you will get to see in Love, Sitara.”Kulkarni had to take training in Malayali diction since she is playing a character from that community. “I had to because I know Tamil, Marathi is my mother tongue, and I understand Hindi and Gujarati too. We had a dialogue coach in Malayalam, both during the shoot and dubbing. Local co-actors were very excited, so they always provided help. So, it was fun,” she said.Kerala holds a lot of importance for Kulkarni as her very first film Cheluvi (1992), a Kannada movie by Girish Karnad, was shot in Palakkad. She also pointed out that there is at least one Malayali person from the crew in all her films as she considers it as a good omen. “I visited Kerala for a shoot for the first time after all these years,” she said. “There is at least one Mallu in all my units. I always check if there is at least one Mallu in the team, so that my film receives good luck. And this entire film was in Kerala, so it was all the more good luck for me.”Sharing what she finds unique in Kerala, Kulkarni said, “There are people from different religions and communities over here and the atmosphere is so harmonious.”The actress shared that her preparation for roles varies from film to film. “It is never pre-decided,” she said. “Sometimes, the director asks us to do a workshop. Sometimes, the dialogue coach teaches you. Sometimes, you are required to learn a skill for a performance. For example, I had to play a pediatrician in a film. I had thought that they talk to kids in a kiddish way to make them feel good. But when I observed them, I realized this is not how they operate. Similarly, before playing a potter in a film, I used to think it was a fun and romantic activity. But later on, I realized that one has to learn how to operate the wheel.”Kulkarni revealed that there are times when you don’t instantly gel with your onscreen character and that is fine with her. “Sometimes, I find my character after one and a half days. Till then, I tightly grab my director’s hand and ask them to let me out of the darkness and only then I will open my eyes,” she said.Produced by RSVP, Love, Sitara will be streaming on ZEE5 from September 27.Also Read: Trailer of ZEE5’s Sobhita Dhulipala starrer Love, Sitara explores complexities of modern relationships, to release on September 27