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| Archie Panjabi talks about being Kalinda Sharma Posted: 24 Jun 2011 02:54 AM PDT Archie Panjabi, who fashionably walks the talk in The Good Wife, was in town recently and had a tete-a-tete with The Star. THOSE boots ... they seem to have a life of their own," says actress Archie Panjabi of the now iconic leather boots her character Kalinda Sharma wears in the critically-acclaimed legal drama The Good Wife. "There is something about those boots and how fitted her clothes are ... it makes me feel very powerful when I am playing the character." The boots in question – a pair of knee-high black leather Via Spigas – are arguably the most talked about piece of footwear on TV at the moment; maybe even of all time. Kalinda, the in-house investigator at the Stern, Lockhart & Gardner law firm is rarely seen without them; unless, of course, she switches them for a pair of studded, suede Calvin Kleins – also black. So popular are those boots that fans (and Kalinda has legions of them) dub them the "boots of justice". Cool as they may be, the boots have nothing to do with fashion. They are an extension of Kalinda's character; a character so mysterious and so guarded that we need clues (like a pair of kick-a** leather boots) to gain some insight. "Even though everything about Kalinda looks very sexy, the intention is not for her to come across as sexy but as someone very focused and reserved. Her job is not to intimidate people but to get information. It's more about creating a presence." Panjabi was in Kuala Lumpur last week with her husband, businessman Rajesh Nihalani, for a five-day holiday to visit relatives (she has close relatives in Seremban, Port Dickson and Kuala Lumpur) but graciously agreed to meet with Malaysian media during her brief trip. Despite battling jet lag having flown in from New York the night before, the actress gamely shared some insight into her character and the series. With Kalinda, talk isn't cheap. According to Panjabi, audiences don't really get to know her from what she says. She observes: "She doesn't have a lot of dialogue a lot of the time. It's more her reactions, her dress and the way her hair is tied up." Figuring out a character so ambiguous, while challenging, isn't easy. "I am always paranoid before I do a scene. I usually have a very clear idea of what my character would do but with Kalinda, she's so mysterious ... imagine how it is playing a character that is so complex. How do you do a scene when you don't fully know what to expect from the character? I am learning to go with my gut. "When they say 'action' it's almost like those boots take over. They kind of guide me to do things which I normally would not do," says the 39-year-old actress of Indian descent from Edgware, London. The Good Wife is a law procedural that focuses on Alicia Florrick (Juliana Margulies) whose husband Peter (Chris Noth), a former state's attorney, is jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. An out-of-practice lawyer, Alicia has to return to her old job as litigator at Stern, Lockhart & Gardner to provide for her children. The series follows her as she learns to deal with her husband's betrayal and copes with unresolved romantic feelings for her boss, Will Gardner (Josh Charles), an old college sweetheart. The series is said to have been partly inspired by real life American political scandals such as that of Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards and Bill Clinton. Kalinda is the firm's investigator who soon becomes a close friend and confidante of Alicia. Professionally, Kalinda is an ace investigator. She uses a combination of stealth and charm to get information to win their cases. She is alluring, fearless and manipulative. She hangs out with cops and is able to knock back tequila shots like a pro. Personally, however, she is a closed book. Nobody knows what she is thinking or feeling and even after two seasons, viewers don't have a clue about her family or friends or where she comes from. Even her ethnicity is never discussed. We do know, however, that she is bisexual (thanks to the emergence of an ex-lover mid season) and that she has some deep, dark secrets. Physically, Kalinda is daunting despite her petite stature. Her pulled-back hair, close-fitting tops and dresses, short skirts, leather vests and jackets and, of course, the knee-high boots are sexy but more than that, they spell power and mean business. In person, Panjabi seems nothing like her character. While Kalinda is aloof and unapproachable, Panjabi is warm and friendly. She smiles a lot and giggles. She poses for photographs. Does she share any traits with Kalinda? "Uhmmm ... no," she laughs. "I am sure there are similarities between us. We're different but sometimes I do things on instinct (when in character) and so I learn a little bit about myself as well as Kalinda. Sometimes, when I am in a situation and I don't know how to resolve it, I find myself wondering what Kalinda would do because she is so able to resolve a problem without getting too emotionally involved. "I think if I ever met Kalinda, I would definitely love to hang out with her. People often say they wish they had a friend like that because they'd feel protected by her. I would probably be a little intimidated by her because she doesn't say much to you. " Reel journey The role of Kalinda was something that sort of fell into her lap because her preference is for film, not TV. Panjabi's screen debut was in the 1999 British hit movie East Is East, a comedy set in the 1970s, in which she played Meenah, a soccer-mad teenaged tomboy. Panjabi received good reviews and the movie went on to win The Evening Standard Best Film Award and the Alexander Korfa Bafta award for Best British Film in 2000. She also starred in another British blockbuster, Bend It Like Beckham (which won a Golden Globe and a Bafta in 2003), The Constant Gardener with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, and more recently, in A Mighty Heart alongside A-list Hollywood mega star Angelina Jolie. She can currently be seen in The Infidel, a British comedy about a British Muslim (Omid Djalili) who goes through an identity crisis when he discovers that he was adopted as a child and that he is actually Jewish! He secretly tries to discover his Jewish heritage but his wife (played by Panjabi) suspects that her husband is having an affair. It was Panjabi's performance as Indian-American journalist Asra Nomani in A Mighty Heart that caught the attention of the casting agents of The Good Wife. "They had seen a lot of actresses for the role and they were about to offer it to somebody else. Then one of the casting associates mentioned my performance in A Mighty Heart and they sent me the script and asked me to put myself on tape. "Normally in America, you can go for five or six castings before you are seen by the executives. But they really liked the way I had done the recording and so as soon as they saw it, they offered me the role. It was the easiest casting I've had in my career," recalls Panjabi. Getting the job may have been easy but the actress admits that she was a barrel of nerves in the beginning. "I didn't really know much about the role of an investigator. I kind of just thought of detectives ... you know, Sherlock Holmes, and Cagney and Lacey. I was at a dinner about the time we were doing the pilot episode and I was sitting next to Matt Czuchry who plays Cary (Argos) and I remember telling him how nervous I was because I didn't know what to do with this character. Kalinda is so mysterious. I was worried that if the character just doesn't work, they would re-cast me. This was such a dangerous character and I wanted to please everyone. I really wanted to come back and do the season because I loved it. And Matt gave me the best piece of advice. He said: 'Archie, you are never going to please everybody, so if you sit there worrying about pleasing all the executives, it's not gonna happen. You should follow your gut and play the character the way you want to.' "That was really the best piece of advice. I just made decisions based on what I felt was right rather than trying to do the right thing for the American public or for an American show," she shares. Always evolving Kalinda was a hit with fans from the get go. Somehow, fans (both men and women) fell in love with the character despite her reserve. Says Panjabi: "When they tested the pilot with a test audience, one of the things that scored very highly was the character of Kalinda and the relationship between her and Alicia. As a result, the writers knew they had something very interesting with the character. The response from the audiences was a lot better than they anticipated and so they developed it ... which has all been very fortunate for me." One of the things the actress loves about her role is its ambiguity which, she says, challenges her as an actress even after two seasons. Constantly evolving, Kalinda is like no character Panjabi has played before. "I think I am one of those actresses who gets bored quite easily if I really understand everything about the character. It becomes almost robotic, which is why I haven't really done much television. Most of my previous work tends to be in film. But with this character, because she is so ambiguous, its exciting and keeps me interested. The thing about this series is you never know what the back story really is. I was told in the beginning, the character was an investigator who may come in and out of the series. I don't think the role was meant to be as big as what they made it, which has been very fortunate for me. "But I remember when I read it (the script), I felt there was something really strong and interesting about this character. She's so different from anything I've done or anything I've seen on television. I definitely got a good feeling about it." As she wasn't given much background about Kalinda when she was offered the part, Panjabi wrote a two-page back story for her character, which she uses as a reference point. "Kalinda is really a work-in progress. My suspicion is that, she is the way she is because of survival. She has obviously had something in her life that affected her. It's almost like people have let her down. In one of the last few episodes (of Season Two) she has a line where she tells Will that she doesn't have to confide in anyone. To me, when a character says something like that, she may have been hurt a lot or let down a lot in the past and her way of surviving is to divorce herself (from feeling) and move on." The constantly developing plot lines and character arcs keep Panjabi on her toes. "It's a really exciting project because they (creators Robert and Michelle King) never know themselves. They write something and if they feel it works or that it's interesting or if the audience responds to it, then they will write further. It's almost interactive." Winning formula Panjabi's dazzling portrayal of Kalinda won her an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series last year. At the time, she was barely mid-way into the first season and a relative unknown in America. Also, she was up against favourites Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks of the Mad Men. The win came as a sweet surprise. "I didn't hear my full name. I just heard 'Ar...' and was getting ready to clap for somebody else. I hadn't prepared a speech. I was so shocked. People in the business had actually told me: 'You know Archie, it's a great character but you're not hugely known'. I really convinced myself that I didn't have a chance. When they announced my name ... I was ecstatic and a bit emotional. I wasn't able to speak. Then I realised that the whole world was going to be watching this speech for years to come, and I had better think of saying the right things. It's amazing how the human body is, it somehow just gets on with it and I was able to come up with something. I was okay after I gave the speech." Panjabi reckons that the popularity of the series is because the characters – even Kalinda – are real and the presentation of them is so novel. "The characters are all layered and the performances are very nuanced. It's not over-written. It's the kind of drama where you really have to watch it to understand what's going on. You can't sit in the other room ironing or making a cup of tea and know. It's actually watching what's not being said that's important. I think this challenges audiences. In today's world, there is so much variety and choice in TV dramas and I think people want something that's a little more stimulating. "Also, the characters resonate with people. Even the good wife is not necessarily 'good' as you will see in the finale. It shows people as they really are. The reality is that no one is perfect. No one is completely imperfect. I think people connect to that," she says. While the drama on The Good Wife can get heavy and complicated, the atmosphere on the set, says Panjabi, is "a lot of fun". "It's quite a relaxed set. We work long hours, so there needs to be some lightness on set. There is a lot of legal jargon to learn and when you're working 16 hours a day, sometimes that legal jargon is too much. I mean, we're not lawyers, we're just actors and sometimes the words are so hard to remember. To lighten the atmosphere, sometimes when someone is on camera, the others will be trying to make him or her laugh. You really have to be very strong in order not to laugh. It gets really hard to look at the (other) actors' eyes because they've got a mischievous smile on their face," she shares, with a laugh. Who's the naughtiest one? "I think people would probably tell you that I laugh the most, which is really ironic. I am very bad at corpsing. If I catch somebody's eye, I'll laugh and once I start laughing, I find it very difficult to stop ... sometimes the whole crew starts laughing as well and we have to remind ourselves to be serious or the bosses might tell us off," says Panjabi, giggling as she recounts the behind-the-scenes stories. Panjabi resumes filming Season Three in three weeks and while it may spell the end of her holiday, she's excited to know what's next. "Well, I definitely get a new pair of boots next season," she jokes. "I think you're going to see if Alicia and Kalinda's friendship can be saved. I think Kalinda really wants to save it but the ball is really in Alicia's court. I think they're also going to develop the relationship between Cary and Kalinda and I don't know which way that's going to go. It will be very interesting to see because there definitely is an attraction between them but they're on opposing sides – he's with the state attorney's office and she's with the law firm. I think it's going to be fun." The repeat of The Good Wife (Season Two) finale will air on Diva Universal (Astro Ch 702) tomorrow (1pm) and Sunday, June 26 at 2pm. You can also catch Panjabi in The Infidel, now playing at cinemas nationwide. |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 03:14 PM PDT TV series, Eukanuba Extraordinary Dogs, highlights some of the most amazing canines in the world and their kinship with the human species. IT'S simply extraordinary that dogs continue to fascinate us when in fact, we've always known of their potential to, not just co-exist with us humans, but to contribute to the betterment of our lives. Why else would there be an endless string of movies and series on dogs? The point behind the making of Lassie, Old Yeller, Beethoven, K-9:P.I. and Hachi: A Dog's Tale, among others, has never been lost. In fact, that point is taken to a new level of consciousness with Eukanuba Extraordinary Dogs, a TV series that features some truly remarkable four-legged friends who display mind-boggling abilities, everything from knowing when its owner is about to have a hypoglycemic attack to detecting cancer even. So what is it that continually intrigues us about our four-legged friends if they've consistently proven themselves to be our best friends? "I guess it's surprising how similar dogs are to humans, in terms of sight and sound, though dogs are more advanced in these areas, and I think that's really what the series is trying to demonstrate," explained Neil Osborne, chief executive of programme producer A Brand Apart Television Ltd, during a recent telephone interview from London. Osborne also pointed out how the show attempts to draw parallels between dogs and the human species. "Although there are dogs around the world who have developed special tasks, like helping the disabled and working with military, I think what's interesting is, your dog at home is just as capable of doing these things. Dogs show incredible loyalty and awareness and are able to react like humans even." The dogs on Eukanuba Extraordinary Dogs are almost unreal in their ability. Take for instance, Scamp, a pet miniature Schnauzer belonging to the Pines Nursing Home in Canton, Ohio, United States, who raises the alarm when he gets a feeling one of the seniors is about to pass on. Then there's Maybe, a Golden Labrador which helps it's owner forsee a potential epileptic seizure. "The word extraordinary is truly appropriate because it's quite unbelievable that a dog can detect cancer cells in a human or even a diabetic attack. I think these stories really wowed a lot of people," explained Osborne of the brief of the programme. While Eukanuba, the dog food maker, doesn't claim to be the first to highlight the extraordinary abilities of dogs, the packaging of the show certainly makes it one of the more engaging watches. A Brand Part Television's partnership with Eukanuba was almost a no-brainer, Osborne revealed. "We're in the business of making television shows for international brands. So we develop stuff in music, sport, lifestyle, travel ... all sorts of things, really. When we came up with this idea, we knew it would be popular right across the world with television networks. So, that was the easy bit. The next was to find a brand that would support this show, a brand of an international scale that would fit the message of the show, and there was only one choice." The programme is distributed to Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East – "Across around 100 territories," informed Osborne. Unlike actors turning up for auditions to bag a part in a movie or play, the dogs on the show didn't have to read Shakespearean lines or jump though rings of fire. "We had about 70-80 stories from around the world which were whittled down to the 39 on the programme. The Eukanuba Kennel Club helped in narrowing the search, too. "Although dogs are highly intelligent, it is still difficult to get them to act. There were some things which were re-enacted, like dogs being dropped into rivers and lakes to rescue people from the Italian School Of Water Rescue Dogs, and that can be difficult. But generally, all the dogs were good and well-behaved in front of the cameras. Of course, we had trainers and handlers present," Osborne revealed. His own favourite story is the one with Bingo, a Jack Russell Terrier who plays guardian to his 10-year-old owner Cole. Cole suffers from sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that can cause a victim to stop breathing in his sleep. The series is divided to various categories – smell, hearing, sight, power in movement and sensitivity. So, the dogs are recognised for these individual abilities. Production for the series took a speedy five months. Having worked so closely with dogs, it's no surprise that Osborne himself is a dog lover. "I have three Boxers. They're very intelligent and also very good guard dogs." Osborne was also quick to tease his dogs' greedy behaviour. As a dog owner, Osborne has learned a fair bit about the canine species but he was still intrigued by a number of things in the series. "Beyond being reminded of how extraordinary dogs are, I learned a bit more about the science, like the dog's advanced nose receptacles ... nose sensors, which are way more powerful than a human's." Eukanuba Extraordinary Dogs takes full advantage of video technology by being filmed in high definition. "At this point in time, I think I can safely say that this is the ultimate television series on dogs," concluded Osborne. With a sterling cast including the likes of Yorkshire Terrier Poppy, Labrador guide dog Tommy and Napal, the black Labrador Retriever, among others, it would be hard to disagree. Eukanuba Extraordinary Dogs screens every Saturday at 1.50pm on National Geographic (Astro Ch 553). Related Story: |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 03:14 PM PDT THE coming weeks will see some truly clever canine friends, from those trained to rescue people on snowcapped mountains to detecting pirated DVDs. June 25 – Kaya, the black Irish Labrador, works with handler Lori Spence as part of the Avalanche Rescue Program in Aspen. She helps locate people trapped on the mountain, and assists in lift and gondola evacuations. She is also an excellent swimmer and in winter, rides on the chair lift and on the shoulders of Lori when she skis. July 2 – The Sussex Police Working Dogs unit in Britain is responsible for patrolling a population of over 1.5 million people. In this episode, find out what goes into the training of a "general purpose dog" and witness how these training methods are put into practice. July 9 – This episode focuses on dogs' extraordinary sense of smell and features Paddy, a Black Irish Labrador, and part of Malaysia's first ever K-9 unit specially trained to detect pirated DVD's. Follow Paddy on patrol as he sniffs for polycarbonate, a key material used in the manufacture of pirated discs. His previous work has seen him uncover 35,000 pirated DVD's in an operation involving a raid on six warehouses. July 16 – Labrador Lola is a real canine heroine. Together with her handler, Cristian, she helps find victims of earthquakes all over the world, as well as people who have gone missing in the wilds of her native Argentina. Lola can detect living and dead bodies hundreds of metres away. Her speed and agility also mean that she can be much quicker at finding people in trouble than humans ever could. Related Story: |
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