Archie Panjabi made an immediately provocative impression on “The Good Wife.” As In House Investigator Kalinda Sharma, she arrived at a crime scene in the first episode and decided to coax some information out of a night watchman. She opened two buttons on her blouse. “What are you doing?” asked Alicia Florrick, the attorney played by Julianna Margulies. “These,” said Archie, nodding at her breasts, “are better than subpoenas.”
The shocking and certainly unprofessional move made the unknown Panjabi, an unknown British actress of Indian descent, the babe on the high-minded, topical drama which has been renewed for a second season on CBS.
What’s it like being told you’re the sexpot on a show known for its pedigree of New York theater actors (Christine Baranski) and Golden Globe-winning stars (Margulies)?
“I just give a silly smile, I feel a bit shy about it,” says Panjabi, 37.
Creators Robert and Michelle King intended Kalinda to be the show’s scary siren. With her tight clothing, dark, upswept hair and beguiling British accent, she has her own mystique.
“We knew we wanted her to be sexual, using her beauty and ability to inject sex into almost anything,” says Robert King, who based the character onfemale investigators his lawyer sister knew. “We didn’t know how hard she would spin it her own way. To a certain degree, Kalinda’s someone who doesn’t give a s–t. It feels like a breath of fresh air. Kalinda could have been dragged into the world of cliché very easily, but Archie makes it pop.”
They’d first seen Panjabi play a small role as Russell Crowe’s assistant in the forgettable film “A Good Year” King says, “She was so extraordinary. Tough, confrontational but not rancid.”
On “The Good Wife,” Panjabi’s Kalinda shows Margulies’ Alicia the ropes at the law firm as Alicia re-enters the work force after her politician husband is sent to jail. King says it’s an uncharacteristic move. “Kalinda’s out for herself, but her Achilles heel is Alicia. She cares for her,” he says.
Archie Panjabi, whose real first name is Archana, was born in London and educated at Brunel University. “It’s near Heathrow airport,” she offers, then giggles, thinking the school’s location makes it sound silly, even though she adds that its proximity to Heathrow made it attractive to international students. “It was easy for them to fly in.”
At Brunel, she pursued a degree in business management and did acting on the side. Her name, she says, means “to take an oath,” and one might say that Panjabi has taken an oath of secrecy. Ask her a personal question and she’ll say, “You’re very naughty.” She won’t reveal either the name of her husband, or what he does for a living and will only admit that he’s also Indian after some aggressive cajoling.
Despite her penchant for privacy, Panjabi evidently provides plenty of mischief off-screen and on. On set, she immediately struck up a friendship with Margulies, whose work she’d seen in the film “What’s Cooking.” Margulies was long gone from “ER” by the time Panjabi was aware of it; still, Panjabi says, Margulies’ performance in “What’s Cooking” made Panjabi think “I’d like to work with her.”
When they’re not filming a scene, the two actors do improv skits where they play two British girls in a pub.
“She’s so good at the accents, it just makes me cry with laughter. My makeup runs,” Panjabi says. “The accent changes up north. Becomes deeper. We improvise. Even the crew gets distracted.”
“Archie’s fantastic. She and I grew up in England,” says Margulies, who lived there, on and off, as a child. “We do this whole routine.” She switches to a rough Cockney accent. “These girls, Jack and Julie. They’re very tacky girls.”
Even though Kalinda seems to have already made a strong impression with viewers, the creators plan for her to explore her sexual boundaries.
“We want to reveal this slowly,” says Robert King. “You’re going to see Kalinda have strong friendships on both sides of the fence and we’re not sure which way it’s going to go.”