The Good Wife' Emmy winning actress Archie Panjabi talked to SheWired about her character Kalinda Sharma, one of the most unique characters on television. Panjabi chatted about her nod to Angelina Jolie at the Emmy Awards, just why Kalinda is such a puzzle, how those signature leather boots fit in, her relationship with Lili Taylor’s Donna - is Kalinda bisexual? a lesbian? And does Kalinda ever actually flirt with Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies).
A breakout star of CBS’s juggernaut sophomore series The Good Wife, Archie Panjabi took home the Emmy this year for her portrayal of Kalinda Sharma, the show’s enigmatic, skirt and boot-clad investigator with the fluid sexuality. And while the taciturn Kalinda remains overarchingly a mystery – even to the actress who portrays her-- earlier this month it was revealed that Kalinda had indeed indulged in some sort of ongoing relationship with another woman, played by Lili Taylor.
An actress who kicked off her career in British films including the well-loved comedy East is East and the charming Bend it Like Beckham, about English girls making in-roads in that country’s world of football, Panjabi, 38, embodies Kalinda with equal parts mystery, resolve, sex appeal and humor, helping to create one of the most unique characters in television history.
While Panjabi’s résumé includes several films and appearances on British television, including an arc on Personal Affairs, she began to garner solid recognition from American audiences with her role in the acclaimed 1995 film The Constant Gardener, with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. But it was her portrayal of levelheaded journalist Asra Nomani alongside Angelina Jolie, as Marianne Pearl, the wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, in Jolie’s passion project A Mighty Heart, that really made American audiences begin to take note.
Within a few short years after A Mighty Heart was released, Panjabi nabbed the plum role on The Good Wife, and her portrayal of the sexy, resourceful Kalinda has since become Wednesday morning watercooler conversation.
Panjabi chatted with SheWired about her nod to Jolie at the Emmy Awards, just why Kalinda is such a puzzle, how those signature leather boots fit in, her relationship with Lili Taylor’s Donna and if Kalinda ever actually flirts with Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies).
I know that it’s been a few months, but can you talk about your Emmy experience in retrospect and if it’s still resonating for you?
Very much so. Everyday. It was such a special occasion because there really wasn’t an expectation of winning that prestigious award whatsoever. It was probably one of the best moments of my career so far. It’s in my New York apartment – it’s something that I look at everyday and if I ever feel tired or blue or just not great, I look at it and it just cheers me up a lot. Its still as special to me as it was on the day that it was given.
It was a really tough category, so congratulations.
Thank you very much.
I just realized in watching the clip of your speech again that you thanked Angelina and I am guessing that’s Angelina Jolie?
I did, yeah.
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I imagine the experience of shooting A Mighty Heart was intense. Did your time working with Angelina forge a friendship? Are the two of you in touch?
We filmed seven weeks in India together, and I was practically in every scene with her. We just got on very well, and she has been a huge inspiration to me. I believe, actually, my performance in Mighty Heart was seen by casting people after that, which I think definitely helped in me being cast as Kalinda.
Regarding Kalinda -- this fantastic character -- what did you think when you first read the script for her? It’s not often that a character like her comes along.
One of the things I always do when I read a script is look at the whole script, but I also pay careful attention to the character that I am reading for. I remember just reading the scene she was in and thinking, “This is a really exciting character. I would take a lot of risks with this character. She is certainly very edgy, and I don’t think that this character has ever been done. I feel I could definitely flush it out with some of my ideas. This is a character that I want to play.”
It was a smart move.
[laughs] Yeah, it just sort of screamed out of the page. I think sometimes you can read characters, and they can be great, but you may not be able to find a voice for them. I definitely felt that I could bring something to it. I was really chuffed -- really pleased when I got it.
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Were you living in England at the time?
I was living in England at the time. I actually put myself on tape, and sent it in thinking I might get a call to fly in. The casting process is quite a lengthy one, you know. You’re seen a number of times. Luckily they liked stuff on the tape so I was offered it based on the tape. It was very exciting for me.
That’s fantastic. Have you been living in New York while shooting The Good Wife?
Yes, I have.
How’s that been for you?
Fantastic. I wasn’t too sure at the time where it would be filming, but when I was told I would be moving here, I was over the moon. It is such a great city. It’s been such a great opportunity for me on so many levels.
Because Kalinda is such an enigma, I imagine you don’t even have much of an idea of what is happening for her too far in advance. In watching the show, it seems like they are probably very tight lipped about story lines. Do you have a backstory for Kalinda – for why she is so secretive?
I kind of created a rough idea, a rough backstory, when I did the pilot. The character has evolved so much from then, so her backstory is constantly changing.
I think its safe to say, she’s definitely been through a degree of hardship, which makes her the kind of woman that she is. She’s relatively young to be an investigator, because normally that’s a retired cop. You know, people that have a lot of contacts, and people that have been in the force for years. So I definitely think she had to grow up quickly and has sort of good friends in all places.
That’s a rough idea of her past. As to her being quiet, I definitely think she’s got a few secrets, but I also feel that by nature she is a very private person. I feel like its probably down to the fact that she was bitten very badly when she was young, or watched her family go through something, and she’s just not very trusting of people and is naturally very private.
Do you have any thoughts as to where she gets her killer fashion sense?
Her boots, did you say?
Her fashion sense in general. But yes, but the boots are an integral part of that look.
I actually wanted her to wear jeans. I could see her as being somebody who is comfortable in her own skin, and didn’t see clothes being a big deal to her.
The producers and writers wanted her to physically make a statement about the kind of woman she is. I guess for me, her clothes are just clothes that reflect her personality – private, very clean-cut, nothing messy, her hair is tied up. Its almost as though it’s her ready to get to work and face the world -- nobody is going to mess with her. I think even if you put her in jeans she would probably be the same person. I think that the boots went down so well with the leather jacket that they wanted to keep her in that.
Well it is a good look, that’s for sure.
It’s a fun look. And now I feel, when I put the boots on, and the leather jacket, it kind of helps me get into her character.
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Early this November there was this big revelation about Kalinda having been in a four-month long relationship with this character Donna played by Lili Taylor. Prior to that plot point, it was unclear if Kalinda’s fluid sexuality was just all about the job or not. How was it working with Lili?
I was very excited to work with her. The character was somebody that was mentioned in season one. There was one line about her and the audience was like, “Who is Donna? What’s their past?” The response of the audience actually gave birth to the creation of the role Donna.
When I knew that Lili Taylor would be playing it, I was extremely excited. I know her work well, and I thought that it was a really interesting choice, and something that felt right for Kalinda. I think people were not sure what to expect Donna would be, but I thought she (Taylor) brought something really interesting to her character. She is a strong, intelligent woman, and I think Kalinda was deeply attracted to that.
Based on Donna’s showing up at the offices of Lockhart, Gardner and Bond with Kalinda’s nemesis Blake, it would seem that her character won’t disappear from Kalinda’s life anytime soon. Can you say, or do you even know yet, if we will see Donna again?
The truth is, like everything else on The Good Wife, I don’t know. I don’t think even the producers, writers and creators of the show have an idea.
First of all, it’s a show mainly about Alicia and her firm, and they have to make sure when they bring a character back that it fits in with the whole jigsaw. I think at the moment they are unsure what they are going to do with my character, and who they are going to bring back and who they are not.
I get the feeling that the audience definitely wants to know more about Kalinda and her past. And they want to do characters who help reveal aspects of her history. I definitely do feel that we are going to see more characters connected to Kalinda. Hopefully Lili’s will be one of them.
It’s kind of a slippery slope to ever label, but as an actor, have you labeled Kalinda. Is she bisexual? is she just fluid?
What’s always been in the back of my mind, because I have never known 100% entirely what her sexual history is, I tend to look at Kalinda as just being a woman. An intelligent, strong woman. And in terms of who she’s attracted to and how she behaves is something I try not to analyze, and I just go with my gut instinct.
I don’t want to play a particular type of character in any respect. I don’t want to be described as “Kalinda the Indian woman, Kalinda’s bi, Kalinda’s this, Kalinda’s that.”
Kalinda is Kalinda. She’s a very private person and I think its kind of left to the audience to decide who they feel this woman is and what she is about. I think that is probably the nature of the show -- you’ve got characters rather than people put boxes, which I think is such a good way to play characters in television or film. It’s left up to the audience to decide what they make of those characters.
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Speaking of people making things up about the characters, or taking what they see and creating subtext where there might not be any -- there appears to be this admiration between Kalinda and Alicia that can occasionally come off as flirting. Has that ever crossed your mind?
[laughs] No, because sometimes people say Kalinda uses her sexuality to get work done. My response to that is “Have you never ever gone to a shop, and sort of been nice to somebody in order to get good service?” And that is interpreted as being flirting, but its very taboo when you label the word ‘flirting’ or using your sexuality, but people do it all the time. People are just not honest about it.
In scenes with Alicia and Kalinda, they do joke around with each other, they do kind of laugh around with each other. There is this really solid, good friendship there.
Of course, someone watching it could interpret that as being flirtatious. And it may just be subconscious, it may just be being polite and friendly and getting on with somebody. And that is what I like about The Good Wife, it’s never clear-cut. It’s really human behavior and you kind of leave it up to the audience to interpret what they want to make of it. You never really confirm it or refute it. I think that is the way that human behavior is.
I am obviously a big fan of The Good Wife, but I was looking back at some of your other works and I was not familiar with Personal Affairs. Was your character on that involved with a woman?
That was so long ago. It was so complicated that I couldn’t even remember, but I do know that she was, in that particular drama, she was about to get engaged to somebody and she was definitely straight, but found herself being drawn to another woman, and found it very difficult to accept that or speak about it publicly.
That’s the big difference between that character and Kalinda. Kalinda has no hang ups about her sexuality. She is very confident about who she is and what her sexuality is. If she doesn’t say anything, it’s more about her being private, than her ever feeling one ounce of embarrassment, which she definitely doesn’t feel.
You were in this great film that shows female athletes in a wonderful light – Bend It Like Beckham – which has quite a lesbian following. With that film, playing Kalinda and just playing strong women in general, like in A Mighty Heart, you have quite a loyal lesbian fan base. Are you aware of that?
No, I’m not, but that’s extremely flattering!
Well, lesbian fan bases tend to be wildly loyal, so we’ll follow you forever now.
That’s one of the nicest things I have ever heard a journalist say, so thank you! That’s very, very nice! I am honored to hear that, I really am. I’m speechless.
I am surprised you haven’t been out and about and had some woman screaming your name.
Well, our schedule is incredibly insane…
One of the reasons I have achieved any success with The Good Wife has very much to do with the audience full stop. The response has been so incredible. I kind of almost feel like I have to sustain the interest in this character, and I really want to give back to the audience what they have given to me. Winning the Emmy I think has completely come from the response of the audience.
So, I don’t tend to go out that much in the week when I am working, but hearing comments -- like what you’ve just said -- motivates me even more.
Is there anything you’d like to mention about Kalinda that we haven’t covered?
Its hard with this one, with Kalinda, because there was so much I learned about her when I watched the last episode, and we’re in episode six and we know a little bit more, but not a lot more. I hope in the following few episodes we will get to peel a few more layers away to give the audience a bigger insight into her.
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