Once again all set to entertain us with her upcoming film Sukhee, Kusha Kapila gets candid with The Pioneer, speaking about the vibe on the sets, working with Shilpa Shetty, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
It’s hard to imagine the amount of hardships Kusha Kapila has had to undergo in the past few days — at present she can feel like herself again because the joy is in her cinematic career now, her goals are about the future and with slice of life film like Sukhee alongside Shilpa Shetty is like life is happening every moment for her now. It was an absolute pleasure for us to talk to this live wire and she’s crazy. Joking, readers!
“Fun and a collaborative vibe on the sets of Sukhee — hum log zindagi ke ras lere the. I got this film at a stage of life where I wasn’t looking for too many choices to choose from. It just happened to come to me and we happened to shoot a lot of our scenes in Chandigarh.
Now, you can only imagine the vibe! Our leading lady is Shilpa Shetty Kundra, she had some insane shooting hours. Strangely, what I was most excited about on the sets of my new film were the “kurtas” actually. I was behind my stylist all the time, get all of them for me! Then the female bonding that we indulged in. The dialogues of the movie aren’t superficial at all, because even off-screen those were really the kind of discussions we had. Authentic portrayal of reality! Neither it’s over-dramatic.”
After a while, her director with whom she shared a very fun banter was fed up with Kusha. Now, we are not joking but it was hysterical! There was a bigger, funnier repartee going on between the director and Shilpa. They were so amusing to look at for the record! So her director is an introvert, and as we all know the Case Toh Banta Hai fame is an extrovert to the absolute. She was always dying to crack jokes! “Mujhe har jagah punchline marni thi,” she says, and at one point, very rigidly her director asked her to just stick to the script! She still didn’t back down, she did four improvisations and Sonal had to keep one of those in the film because it was just so good. In spite of the fact that the director kept warning her on how she’d cut all the blarney, the Sukhee actor was giving (she laughed).
“C’mon now, I am from the world of Instagram, so she would always ask me to be more emotional. You won’t believe it, just two days before also she wasn’t so pleased with our trailer. She didn’t get that specific emotion from me! She sent me a reference, with a voice note persuading me to behave like this Kusha. I re-recorded because I knew for a fact she won’t be sleeping, otherwise. She’s very careful about the portrayal and what will people take home with them. If you are burdened with society’s expectations, you will relate to my film. This a gender-no-bar issue! I plan to be Sukhee till the date of release (she giggled).” Good that her social media career has gotten her a place in the room, a room where she can audition, and is now prowessing like a real heroine.
She continues, “There were scenes where I have showcased real anger, real rage towards Shilpa Shetty. A hundred points to her for not admonishing me ever on the sets! I was surprised to see how she responded back to my extrovert nature (she laughed out loud). She’s so bindaas! I was in awe of how she was balancing her life. If she’s cracking jokes, she’s also zen. She dances like tomorrow will never come and she also practices yoga. I crave this balance in my life! She’s an OG, we are talking about the ultimate heroine. I was also surprised to see how Shilpa dvelved into the traits of a Delhite so quickly, she’s full-on Mumbaikar guys.”
She is so lucky to never run out of touch with any of her friends. She never had a grand reunion! But now that she has shifted to Mumbai, and what great timing because one of her friends from Seattle is coming down and Kusha is busy doing the promotions. Now they are having a grand college reunion and her friend goes you can’t be promoting a film about friendship and not attend your own reunion. You are hilarious, Kusha! The friend said. They are her life, they feel Kusha doesn’t have time for them anymore but they are the ones who are keeping her alive. And truly, she says her peers are her biggest earnings.
Besides on a hilarious note, “The most difficult transition of my life was to leave dairy — oh my god, I used to love milk and curd so much. Where are they now? To be able to leave it was heartbreaking, dahi meri zindagi thi. PCOS, or lactose intolerant are the kind of things that have taken precedence in my life. Sticking to almond milk has been the biggest tragedy of my life!”
