Kirti Kulhari’s debut production, Kinaare, will premiere at the Dharamshala International Film Festival on Friday, October 30. Kirti said, “We had to be EXTREMELY well-prepared.” The team shot the film in just 18 days using a single camera. Kirti also plays the lead role in this story about a single woman.
Kirti Kulhari has embarked on an exciting new chapter in her career. The talented actress has turned producer with her maiden feature production, Kinaare, which is set to premiere at the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) on Friday, October 30. Written and directed by brothers Akbar and Azam Qadri, the film is produced by Kirti Kulhari under her banner, Kintsukuroi Films, along with co-producers Abhishek Koka and Maansi Guptey. Besides producing the film, Kirti also plays the lead role alongside Rajeev Siddhartha, Alka Amin and Ravi Taneja. Kinaare tells the story of Amina (Kirti Kulhari), a single woman who has devoted her life to caring for her ageing parents and looking after their home. However, her seemingly predictable existence takes an unexpected turn when her cousin brother (Rajeev Siddhartha) visits her after 15 years. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Kirti Kulhari spoke about Kinaare's premiere at DIFF, her decision to venture into production, and a lot more.
EXCLUSIVE: Kirti Kulhari talks about Kinaare’s premiere at Dharamshala International Film Festival; reveals her debut production was shot in JUST 18 days with a single camera: “We had to be EXTREMELY well-prepared”
What are your first thoughts about Kinaare premiering at the DIFF?
We finished shooting the film in January this year. As a producer, I am very happy and proud of the turnaround time, from the day we started shooting to wrapping up the film and now premiering it at DIFF. In my experience, it sometimes takes a while for a film to be ready and find its place.
I was also at DIFF last year with Full Plate. That was my first visit to the festival, although I had heard so much about it. I am somebody who believes that if I attend a film festival, I would rather go there with a film. That happened with Full Plate and now with Kinaare. To return to DIFF the very next year with my own film, both as an actor and a producer, makes me very happy and thrilled.
Tell us about the unique name of your production house...
(Smiles) It's called Kintsukuroi. It's a Japanese term that means mending broken pottery with gold. I believe cinema is that gold that mends broken hearts and minds! That's why I chose this name for my company. Cinema and art have the power to heal, make us contemplate and encourage us to look within.
Usually, when actors turn producers, they prefer to stay behind the camera. However, you have donned both hats in your maiden production. How was the experience?
Ideally, I would have liked to just produce. But the script was such, and the opportunity to play this character while also helming the film as a producer came together in a way that I couldn't have chosen one over the other. I truly enjoyed doing both.
What helped was the fact that I have become quite comfortable with acting. It comes quite easily to me now. Having spent so much time working with scripts as an actor, I was already familiar with that process. As a producer, I was spending even more time with the script because I was creatively involved in almost everything.
The first couple of days are very important for a new character to take form and shape. Once I got into the character, my acting was the last thing I bothered about! I was busy looking at everybody else's performances. That was also exciting because, as an actor, I hardly ever look at the monitor. But here, I was watching the other actors and their performances. There was a lot of learning because I wasn't just looking at myself. I was looking at the scenes with a certain objectivity.
Of course, the directors were there to guide me with my performance. In the times to come, you'll see me wearing both hats again. There might also be projects where I will just be producing, which is something I find equally exciting.
How many days did it take to shoot Kinaare?
We shot it in just 18 days! We had only one camera, which meant that we had to be extremely well-prepared on paper, much more than you would be on a film with a reasonably comfortable budget. When you have more money, you can afford to take certain chances.
Having said that, filmmaking always involves taking chances because, despite all your planning, something or the other can go wrong. But since we had limited resources and were aware of our limitations, we prepared much more extensively than people usually would. I think even in the future, when I have bigger budgets and other things are sorted, I will continue to focus heavily on preparation.
Your costume, hair, makeup and other departments are important, of course. But if your camera and direction departments are completely aligned, and you know exactly what and how you are going to shoot, it saves a tremendous amount of time and money.
What happens after DIFF? Do you plan to take Kinaare to more film festivals, or are you considering a theatrical release?
I don't know, quite honestly. This is my first time doing all of this. We are currently in the process of selling the film. I wish our industry had more clarity for such situations because then we wouldn't be in this situation. The bottom line is that no one really knows what the journey of a film is going to be. Hence, I am taking it one day at a time.
There are two sides to going independent. Firstly, you have the freedom to approach things your own way. There are no deadlines, timelines or even fixed rules. I enjoy working that way. On the flip side, there is always a greater degree of uncertainty that you have to live with. So, with freedom comes uncertainty. It was a very conscious decision to make this particular film independently, and I will figure out the rest as we go along.
Right now, we are just happy to be at DIFF and share our film with people who truly appreciate cinema. There is no business side to it at the moment. We are simply enjoying the very purpose for which we made the film.
I haven't really thought about a theatrical release yet. Ideally, I would like Kinaare to find a home on a digital platform so that it can reach its own audience. But you never know what is meant to be!
Last year, you appeared in Badass Ravi Kumar (2025), which received a lot of love from audiences. The song 'Dil Ke Taj Mahal Meinn' continues to be popular. In an era of sequels, can we expect Badass Ravi Kumar 2?
(Smiles) I haven't got a call yet! I have had a couple of films like Khichdi and Badass Ravi Kumar in my career, which are actually anomalies when you look at my overall career graph!
Nevertheless, there's a lot of fun stuff coming out in the next three to four months. These projects are interesting and very different from one another. I'm really looking forward to them.