Kalki Koechlin

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Kalki Koechlin was born in the Union Territory of Pondicherry to French Parents; Joel Koechlin and Francoise Armandie who relocated to India from Anger in France, who later on relocated to Ooty. After her parents’ divorce when she was Fifteen, after which she stayed with her mother. She did her schooling from Hebron Boarding School In Ooty, where she took part in Theatre activities in acting and writing plays. As a child she aspired to be a criminal psychologist. Kalki graduated in Drama and theatre afterwards from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she went on to work in many plays as Blue Room and The Dispute where she performed for masters. After which she moved back to Mumbai to take part in theatre workshops of directors like Atul Kumar and Ajay Krishnan which led to her entry into cinema in the year 2009.

Kalki Koechlin was in a relationship with acclaimed director Anurag Kashyap; with whom she made her debut in his Dev.D, but the couple parted ways in the year 2015 bringing an end to a four year married life.

Film Debut in Anurag Kashyap’s Devdas ( 2009) After taking up modelling assignments for TV commercial Kalki got her long overdue break after she got shortlisted for the character Chandramukhi in Kashyap’s modern day retelling of Sarath Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Devdas; Dev.D starring Abhay Deol in the title role. After being selected in the audition after Kalki got to play a flamboyant and dark interpretation of the prostitute from the novel in the gritty and Charismatic film version, where she came up with a hard-hitting performance of a girl who falls in love with the title character Devdas. Koechlin’s riveting performances ensured fabulous was enhance by the commercial and critical acclaim the movie garnered, which incidentally also got her A Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in the year 2009. Kalki followed up with the washout black comedy The Film Emotional Atyachar which incidentally borrowed its title from the famous song in Dev.D, but Kalki could not fetch favourable reviews this time around. Beginning of Star Phase (2011- 2014) Kalki began her 2011 with Bejoy Nambiars 2011 thriller Shaitan along with an ensemble cast, her portrayal of the character with shades of an alcoholic and substance abuse, received unanimous praise for her performances which led to her winning the Best Actress Awards at Star Screen Awards. Zoya Akhtar was next in line to cast Kalki in her ensemble coming of age movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; where Kalki was paired again with Abhay Deol in the film which also starred Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Katrina Kaif in the lead. ZNMD was a blockbuster, one among the top grossers of 2012 and it also garnered Kalki spectacular reviews for breaking away from her usual character traits to come up with a more soothing and charming role which also led to Kalki’s instant fame in the commercial mainstream Hindi cinema which had been foriegh to her due to her previous off beat outings which also won her a Filmfare Award In Supporting Actress category. Kalki stepped in to the boots of a writer in the 2011 Thriller That Girl In Yellow Boots, joining hands with her husband Anurag Kashyap for the second time, also co-writing the screenplay with him starring alongside Naseeruddhin Shah in the critical hit movie which also got premiere releases in many acclaimed film festivals around the globe shooting her to international acclaim with many citing her performances as one of the major highlights of the movie. Kalki had a commercial setback in the comedy My Friend Pinto, although she received encouraging reviews. Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai was her next release which was also had a terrific run amongst the critics and a moderate box office run but got her serious criticism from some referring to her performance as the ‘Weakest Link’ in the otherwise engrossing movie although some were in favour of the cutting edge instincts she brought to the character. The year 2013 saw her in an under used character in the horror thriller Ek Thi Daayan , for which she had to perfect her Hindi to sing for a song for the very first time , but the makers could not use Kalki to her full potential despite the movie having a moderate run. Later the same year Kalki was cast in a major role in Ayan Mukharjee’s romcom Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani starring Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Aditya Roy Kapoor in the fore front cast. The movie was also Kalki’s return to the winning ways in the mainstream, which opened up a whole new stream for Kalki as she was seen in a more casual easy going role which again fetched her yet another Filmfare Award and the movie emerged as Bollywood’s biggest grossers. Saif Ali Khan starrer Happy Ending which had her in a comic role but had a pretty low run even though she was praised for her Career best performance(2015) Kalki bounce back strongly in the year 2013 in Shonali Bose directorial Margarita with a Straw; where she appeared as a girl with cerebral palsy who finds it hard to adjust to the fast changing world around her. Kalki swept away all the honours with her scintillating show with her highly emotional and sensitive depiction of the traumatic phases that the character goes through, Kalki received widespread acclaim. Kalki had undergone rigorous research and training to pull off the character, which she considered as the most challenging outing in her career till date. Kalki’s minute observations of the mannerisms and body languages led to the movie being referred to as her career best performance. The hugely acclaimed movie was premiered at prestigious film festivals like Toronto film festival, BFI London festival and 19th Busan Film Festival. Kalki’s latest outing as the emotional drama Waiting alongside Naseeruddin Shah. Her upcoming movies are Love Affair alongside Ali Fazal and Gulshan Devaiah, which is a fictionalized version of the famous 1959 Nanavati Murder Case and also Konkana Sharma’s directorial debut A Death in the Gunj, which had its release in film festivals to rave reviews but is all set for release in Cinema halls in the near future.