Kalki Koechlin

Kalki Koechlin (; born 10 January 1984) is a French actress and writer who works in Hindi films. Known for her unconventional body of work, she is the recipient of such accolades as a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, and two Screen Awards. Although a French citizen, she has been brought up and lived most of her life in India.

Born in Puducherry, India, Koechlin was drawn to theatre from a young age. She studied drama at Goldsmiths, University of London, and worked simultaneously with a local theatre company. After returning to India, she made her screen debut as Chanda in the drama ''Dev.D'' in 2009, and won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Subsequently, she starred in two of the highest-grossing Hindi films of their respective release yearsthe romantic comedy dramas ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' (2011) and ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' (2013), both of which garnered her Best Supporting Actress nominations at Filmfare. Koechlin expanded her career into screenwriting with the 2011 crime thriller ''That Girl in Yellow Boots'', in which she also played the lead role.

Koechlin's continued association with such commercial films as the supernatural thriller ''Ek Thi Daayan'' (2013) and the musical drama ''Gully Boy'' (2019) sustained her success, as she continued to draw praise for her performances in independent films, including the comedy drama ''Waiting'' (2015) and the slice of life film '' Ribbon'' (2017). She won further acclaim and a National Film Award for her role of a young woman with cerebral palsy in the coming-of-age drama ''Margarita with a Straw'' (2014). Beginning in late 2010s, Koechlin made a transition to web content and appeared in a spate of successful web series. She drew particular praise for her portrayal of a lonely socialite in Amazon Prime Video's ''Made in Heaven'' and a self-styled godwoman in Netflix's '' Sacred Games'' (both 2019).

Koechlin has written, produced, and acted in several stage productions. She co-wrote the drama '' Skeleton Woman'' (2009), which won her The MetroPlus Playwright Award, and made her directorial debut on stage with the tragicomedy ''Living Room'' (2015). Koechlin is also an activist and promotes various causes ranging from health and education to women empowerment and gender equality.

Early life and background

Kalki Koechlin was born in Pondicherry, India, on 10 January 1984 to French parents, Joël Koechlin and Françoise Armandie, who came to India from Angers, France. She is a descendant of Maurice Koechlin, a French structural engineer who played an important role in the design and construction of the Eiffel Tower. Koechlin's parents are devotees of Sri Aurobindo, and she spent a significant amount of her early childhood in Auroville. The family later settled in Kallatty, a village near Ooty in Tamil Nadu, where Koechlin's father established a business designing hang-gliders and ultralight aircraft.

Koechlin was brought up in a strict environment in Ooty where she spoke English, Tamil, and French. Her parents divorced when she was fifteen; her father moved to Bangalore and remarried, while Koechlin continued living with her mother. She has described the time that she spent at Kallatty between the ages of 5 and 8, before her parents' divorce, as her "happiest". Koechlin has a half-brother from her mother's previous marriage, and a half-brother from her father's subsequent marriage.

Koechlin studied at Hebron School, a boarding school in Ooty, where she was involved in acting and writing. She has admitted to being shy and quiet as a child. Koechlin aspired to study psychiatry and become a criminal psychologist. After completing her schooling at the age of 18, she moved to London and studied drama and theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London. There, she worked for two years with the theatre company Theatre of Relativity, writing ''The Rise of the Wild Hunt'' and performing in plays such as David Hare's '' The Blue Room'' and Marivaux's '' The Dispute''. She worked as a waitress on weekends.

After completing her studies, Koechlin moved back to India and lived with her maternal half-brother in Bangalore. Unable to find work there, she moved to Mumbai, where she worked with theatre directors and with Atul Kumar and Ajay Krishnan, the founders of a Mumbai-based theatre company called "The Company Theatre". They were looking for actors for a theatrical festival, ''Contacting the World'', to be held in Liverpool.

Film career

Early work (2009–2010)

After moving to Mumbai, Koechlin auditioned for Anurag Kashyap's ''Dev.D'' (2009), a modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 Bengali novel ''Devdas''. In the film, Koechlin plays the role of Leni, a young woman who turns to prostitution after a leaked sex tape scandal. The character was based on Chandramukhi, a pivotal character in the novel, a prostitute who fell in love with the titular character. Kashyap initially rejected Koechlin as she was not Indian, and did not match his visualisation of the character. But he changed his mind and offered her the role after seeing her audition tape. The film met with generally positive reviews and was a box office success. Koechlin garnered praise and a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, which was described as "imbued ..with a touching fragility" and "astonishingly ppropriate. Others were more impressed by her character's complexity, but thought of Koechlin's performance in the film's first half as amateurish.

Koechlin played a supporting role in the black comedy ''The Film Emotional Atyachar'', her only film appearance of 2010. Co-starring Ranvir Shorey, Mohit Ahlawat, Abhimanyu Singh, Vinay Pathak, and Ravi Kishan, the production opened to mixed reviews. Her performance as Sophie, a manipulative woman who is abducted by two corrupt policemen, garnered mixed reviews from critics. Komal Nahta of Koimoi labelled her performance as average, while Blessyy Chettiar of ''Daily News and Analysis'' felt that she was underused. Koechlin had committed to star in ''I am Afia'', one of the four short films of Onir's anthology ''I Am'', but it went into production with a modified plot for the segment. In an interview with ''The Telegraph'' Onir said, "as we discussed the subject more and more, both Kalki and me felt that the narrative was becoming too hurried in the 25-minute limit". Koechlin, who was to play the role of an NGO worker in the film was ultimately replaced by Nandita Das, after the change of plot.

Breakthrough and commercial success (2011–2014)

After facing some early struggle for film roles, Koechlin had four releases in 2011, garnering widespread recognition for her performances in them. The first was Bejoy Nambiar's '' Shaitan'', a crime-thriller with an ensemble cast that included Koechlin, Rajeev Khandelwal, Gulshan Devaiya, Shiv Panditt, Neil Bhoopalam, and Kirti Kulhari. She played the role of a disturbed teenager and called it an exhausting experience, saying that she felt drained while trying to, "get into a psyche of someone who does a lot of drugs and booze, has lost her mind a little bit and is very vulnerable". While the character was inconsistently described by film critics as "nightmarish" and "engaging", Koechlin was praised for her performance, with Raja Sen calling her "an increasingly striking actress". Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics, and earned Koechlin a Screen Award for Best Actress nomination.

Koechlin then starred in Zoya Akhtar's coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara''. Akhtar had expressed her wish to work with Koechlin in a prior interview with NDTV, having seen her in ''Dev.D'' and the then-unreleased ''That Girl in Yellow Boots''. She played the role of Natasha, a South Bombay girl who works as an interior designer. Koechlin, who took diction classes for the role which required her to speak accented Hindi, revealed that she was keen to do the film because her work in such projects as ''Dev.D'' and ''Shaitan'' had led her to being typecast in dark roles of prostitutes, troubled teenagers, and misfits. With the worldwide collections of , ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' was a blockbuster and became the ninth highest-grossing Bollywood film at the time of its release. Koechlin's performance was positively received by critics. Gaurav Malani of ''The Times of India'' deemed her "excellent", and Raja Sen in his review for Rediff.com noted her as "histrionically strong enough to manage varied roles". Koechlin also received her second Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance in the film.

Koechlin expanded her career into screenwriting with Anurag Kashyap's 2011 thriller ''That Girl in Yellow Boots''. She said that Kashyap asked her to write the script for the film as he was looking for a woman's perspective for the story. Co-starring with Naseeruddin Shah, the film had her play a British woman name Ruth, who travels to Mumbai in search of her biological father. The role was partially based on her own experience as a 'white-girl' in India. Shot in a short duration of thirteen days, the film was screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and the 67th Venice International Film Festival, among other venues. It opened to critical acclaim, with Koechlin being widely praised for her performance. Giving the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, Roger Ebert wrote that Koechlin "creates a memorable woman who is sad and old beyond her years". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com described Koechlin as "unrestrained and uncorrupted". NDTV film critic Saibal Chatterjee also lauded the film and deemed her performance as "absolute perfection". Koechlin's final release of the year was the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-produced comedy '' My Friend Pinto''. She played the role of an aspiring dancer in the film.

Koechlin was cast opposite Emraan Hashmi and Abhay Deol (her third collaboration with Deol) for Dibakar Banerjee's political-thriller ''Shanghai''. The film, which was based on the Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos's 1967 novel ''Z'' (made into a movie of the same name), premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. Koechlin found the role of a political activist, which she described as vulnerable and awkward to be challenging. She said that the character was, "someone who is not an accepted person ..an outsider". ''Shanghai'' received positive reviews from critics, and was a sleeper hit at the box-office grossing over worldwide. Koechlin garnered mixed response for her performance in the film. While Russell Edwards noted the "biting edge" she brought to the role, Aniruddha Guha thought of her as the "weakest link" in the film.

Koechlin's continued association with commercial films sustained her success as seen, in varying degrees, with both of her 2013 releases, the supernatural thriller ''Ek Thi Daayan'' and the romantic comedy-drama ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani''. The former was based on ''Mobius Trips'', a short story written by Mukul Sharma, the father of Konkona Sen Sharma, who also starred in the film. Koechlin's role was that of Lisa Dutt, a Canada-based music teacher who is suspected of practising witchcraft. For her role in the film, Koechlin learned to play the guitar, and lip synced "Yaaram", one of the film's track. On its release, the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and had a decent run at box-office, grossing over . Praising Koechlin in her review for the film, critic Anupama Chopra remarked that she was, "an interesting actor but the film doesn't know what to do with her".

''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'', which also starred Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur, was her second film appearance of 2013. She played the role of tomboy, Aditi Mehra. Koechlin, who was nursing her hospitalised mother and simultaneously filming for the project called it a "really tough time". Nonetheless, she described her time on the film sets as "fun", and developed a close friendship with Padukone. The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films with earnings of . Koechlin was lauded for her performance and comic timing, with '' News18''s Rajeev Masand writing, "Koechlin invests heart and spunkiness to the part". She earned her third Filmfare Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance in the film.

Later in 2013, Koechlin appeared in a video entitled '' It's Your Fault'', along with VJ Juhi Pandey. Dealing with the issue of sexual assaults on women, the video mocks the mindset that blames women for provoking rapes. It was created by All India Bakchod, and was released on their YouTube channel. ''It's Your Fault'' went viral, with over 150,000 views in two days. Koechlin's sole release in 2014 was Saif Ali Khan's ''Happy Ending'', where she plays a comic role of a girl obsessed with Khan's character. She credited her performance in ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' for landing her the role. She said that people noticed her comic timing in the film, and that worked in her favour. The film, which Koechlin described as "spoof on our film industry and on all the romantic comedies", opened to mixed reviews and was a box-office failure. Despite the film's mixed reception, she garnered praise for her performance. Saurabh Dwivedi of ''India Today'' wrote that "Koechlin steals the show with her perfect portrayal of a nagging girlfriend", and Rohit Vats of ''Hindustan Times'' noted that, although her character in the film felt a bit forced, she delivered a "charming" performance.

Critical acclaim (2015–present)

Koechlin starred in Shonali Bose's drama ''Margarita with a Straw'', playing Laila, a young woman with cerebral palsy who leaves her home in India to study in New York City, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Her character was inspired by Malini Chib, Bose's cousin. Bose first approached Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice", for the role when the latter was shooting for ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani''. Due to the clashing schedule Bose went on to audition other actresses to substitute Koechlin, but felt that "something was missing" in each one, and she eventually decided to push the filming for three months to accommodate her. In an interview with the ''Times of India'', Koechlin acknowledged that the role was the most challenging of her film career, and she took six months off her filming schedule to prepare for it. She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor Adil Hussain. The workshop aimed at making her "body language seem natural", while also focusing on the speech pattern of patients with cerebral palsy. Koechlin spent considerable time with Chib and her physiotherapist and speech therapist. She also attended a month-long workshop in Delhi, where she worked on the movement of the body parts. Although the film covers aspects of physical disability, Koechlin dubbed it "a romcom with some hurdles".

''Margarita with a Straw'' premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, and was also screened at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, 19th Busan International Film Festival, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The film garnered positive reviews, and Koechlin widespread attention and critical acclaim for her portrayal of a disabled person. While Leslie Felperin of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' made a detailed note of her "bravura performance in both physical and emotional terms", Saibal Chatterjee deemed her "implybrilliant". ''Firstpost''s Deepanjana Pal ascribed her screen appeal to her lack of acting pretense, and wrote " oechlinhas done a good job of miming the physicality  ..but what is truly remarkable is the lack of artifice in her expressions". John Beifuss compared her performance to Eddie Redmayne's act as Stephen Hawking in the biographical drama, '' The Theory of Everything'', in his review for ''The Commercial Appeal''. He gave Koechlin the highest praise writing that her performance would have attracted Academy Award notice in a major film studio production. The view was echoed by ''Variety'' critic Guy Lodge, who was particularly impressed by her range. Koechlin won several accolades for the film, including the Best Actress Award at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the Screen Award for Best Actress, and the Jury Award at the 63rd National Film Awards. Additionally, she had garnered nominations for Best Actress at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Asian Film Awards.

Koechlin appeared alongside Parineeti Chopra, Richa Chadda, and Bhumi Pednekar in Y-Films's mini web-series ''Man's World'', a satire on gender roles. The series was released on YouTube in April 2015. She then starred in Anu Menon's ''Waiting'', an independent film about the relationship between two people who befriend each other in a hospital, while nursing their respective comatose spouses. Koechlin played the role of Tara Deshpande, a young and brash social media-savvy. She dyed her hair black for the role, as Menon wanted her to look more "earthy". The film had its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in December 2015, and had its theatrical release in India on 27 May 2016. The film and her performance received positive critical reviews. Sukanya Verma of ''Rediff.com'' called the film "absolutely riveting", and also lauded the "stunningly unhindered" Koechlin writing that she used her aura, "in the most mesmeric fashion to create a woman we sympathise with and wish well for". Film critic Kunal Guha thought that film belonged to Koechlin who, "impresses by managing to wordlessly convey her character's state of mind in every scene".

Koechlin appeared in two documentary films in 2016''Freedom Matters'', a project aimed at spreading awareness on human trafficking, and ''Living Shakespeare'', a BBC
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