She sits in our offices at 1 World Trade Center, dressed down in sweats, no makeup. Kaur, 29, who is Punjabi, asked everyone who wanted to speak to her in Punjabi to do so in Urdu because she wanted to practice. Between filming scenes, she immersed herself in language study and spent her weekend nights on Zoom, training in her acting classes for hours. At the end of filming, Kaur made a pilgrimage to Sikh heritage sites in Punjab, Pakistan.
While there, she met with a priest to create order of the threads in her life. The film was literally about my mandate β to do art that will teach girls, particularly South Asian girls, that they don't have to live a life of oppression.
Taking on an indie after a major breakout role in an HBO show created by comedy veteran and television darling Mindy Kaling is not a choice most young starlets would make.
Instead, Kaur lives in Toronto, where she grew up and attended York University for theater. She has lunch with her parents every week or two, grounding herself artistically and creatively at Gracemoon Arts, an acting studio she attends. Kaur plays the actor and the mother during her younger years. As a child, Kaur was angry, passionate, casting an eye toward justice at home and within her culture. She told jokes and stories the way her character did.
Now, though, Kaur possesses a sense of serenity that she attributes to a new project and working with her acting studio. Kaur describes an acting method she uses in which she allows a character to get into her body. But right now, I have no desire.
