I refuse to shrink myself to fit into a box: Lekha Washington
TNN | Aug 17, 2026, 11.24 PM IST
Lekha Washington, a woman with strong opinions, has never shied away from calling a spade a spade. In town to meet Jaipur women, the artist-actress, who is also a poetess and is in a committed relationship with actor Imran Khan, spoke to us about her convictions, life choices and more.
‘There’s no need to stick to just one thing’
Lekha, who began her career as a sculptor, is also a trained product designer. She later ventured into theatre and films down south and also did a couple of Hindi films. For now, though, films have taken a back seat. Lekha says, “I never want to close off my choices simply because I have reached a certain age. My mother, who wanted to explore and learn, learnt Japanese and travelled to Japan. We need to constantly evolve and learn, and that’s the beauty of life: there’s no need to stick to just one thing. People tend to have the desire to put you in a box because it’s easier for them, but I refuse to shrink myself to fit into one. While my brain is writing a script, I am thinking of sky installations in the back of my mind or thinking of words that I want to say out loud. I find my sanity in doing as much as I can.”
‘Our society likes to control women’
Calling herself a “wild child”, she says, “I call myself a ridiculous version of myself for choosing myself, which is a very hard thing to do. Our society likes to control women. It is important to give your feelings a space. We spend all our lives pleasing others, especially girls in families, who are often told to comb their hair in a certain way, walk in a certain fashion, wear long dresses, etc. A newly married girl is always expected to behave in a certain way, living life as per others’ whims and fancies. And we don’t even realise it; we make it sound like it’s normal. Women in general, and Indian women in particular, are controlled by a mechanism that works against them. We tend to let those internal forces control us.”
‘Don’t think I’ll return to commercial Hindi cinema’
Apart from south films, Lekha also did Bollywood projects like Peter Gaya Kaam Se (2014), before she quit the industry, and she is not interested in making a comeback. She says, “I walked away from the film business almost a decade ago. After doing the Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Saadham in 2013, I took my money and invested it in setting up my studio. I decided to never meet any producer or director. I was not happy because people were trying to push me into a corner. People in the industry are patriarchal and not interested in my opinions. I am clear that I would like to be the creator of my destiny, so it’s better to do what I want to do. At this point, it’s unlikely that I’ll return to commercial Hindi cinema. But never say never, I feel I want to tell the stories I see that need to be told to the world.”
‘There’s no need to stick to just one thing’
Lekha, who began her career as a sculptor, is also a trained product designer. She later ventured into theatre and films down south and also did a couple of Hindi films. For now, though, films have taken a back seat. Lekha says, “I never want to close off my choices simply because I have reached a certain age. My mother, who wanted to explore and learn, learnt Japanese and travelled to Japan. We need to constantly evolve and learn, and that’s the beauty of life: there’s no need to stick to just one thing. People tend to have the desire to put you in a box because it’s easier for them, but I refuse to shrink myself to fit into one. While my brain is writing a script, I am thinking of sky installations in the back of my mind or thinking of words that I want to say out loud. I find my sanity in doing as much as I can.”
‘Our society likes to control women’
Calling herself a “wild child”, she says, “I call myself a ridiculous version of myself for choosing myself, which is a very hard thing to do. Our society likes to control women. It is important to give your feelings a space. We spend all our lives pleasing others, especially girls in families, who are often told to comb their hair in a certain way, walk in a certain fashion, wear long dresses, etc. A newly married girl is always expected to behave in a certain way, living life as per others’ whims and fancies. And we don’t even realise it; we make it sound like it’s normal. Women in general, and Indian women in particular, are controlled by a mechanism that works against them. We tend to let those internal forces control us.”
‘Don’t think I’ll return to commercial Hindi cinema’
Apart from south films, Lekha also did Bollywood projects like Peter Gaya Kaam Se (2014), before she quit the industry, and she is not interested in making a comeback. She says, “I walked away from the film business almost a decade ago. After doing the Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Saadham in 2013, I took my money and invested it in setting up my studio. I decided to never meet any producer or director. I was not happy because people were trying to push me into a corner. People in the industry are patriarchal and not interested in my opinions. I am clear that I would like to be the creator of my destiny, so it’s better to do what I want to do. At this point, it’s unlikely that I’ll return to commercial Hindi cinema. But never say never, I feel I want to tell the stories I see that need to be told to the world.”