Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film and stage actress, producer, playwright and screenwriter, of French descent who is pre-dominantly known for her work in Bollywood

Kalki Koechlin
directed by Ajay Krishnan. Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film and stage actress, producer, playwright and screenwriter, of French descent who is pre-dominantly known for her work in Bollywood. Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted with Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed Hindi film Dev.D. For this movie she eventually won the Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actress (2009). She has featured in the movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" which was a Blockbuster and for which she earned her second nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress category (2011). She has also worked as a co-screenwriter with Anurag Kashyap. She was born on January 10, 1984 in Kallatty, a village near Ooty. Kalki Koechlin studied at Hebron School, Ooty and attended university because of her parents passion. She studied drama and theatre in Goldsmiths, University of London. There she also worked with a theatre company called "Theatre of Relativity" for two years. In this two years duration, she performed in various plays like David Hare's The Blue Room, Marivaux's The Dispute and a devised play The Rise of the Wild Hunt. After her two years performance with the "Theatre of Relativity" group, Koechlin moved to Mumbai to try her luck in the Bollywood movies. She has done many modeling assignments for television commercials after being shortlisted for the movie "Dev.D". For her performance in Dev D, she was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2010.

Koechlin was paired with the actor Imran Khan for a Coca Cola advertisement. She subsequently featured in the commercially successful movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, both of which earned her nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Kalki bagged The Best Actress Award At The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for her role in Margarita, with a Straw. It was the only Indian film to be screened at the festival. She is also going to share screen space with Naseeruddin Shah in an upcoming Anu Menon film titled Waiting. The dazzling actress Kalki Koechlin, was born to Joel Koechlin and Francoise Armandie, in Kallatty, a village near Ooty. Her father came to India from France, 38 years ago. Her parents are devotees of Sri Aurobindo. Eventually they settled in Kallatty, a village near Ooty, where they established a business designing hang-gliders and microlight aircraft. Her ancestor Maurice Koechlin, is a French structural engineer, played an important role in the design and construction of the Eiffel Tower. Kalki Koechlin married to a filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on April 30, 2011 in a private wedding ceremony in Ooty. The two started dating since the release of Dev.D. She was unemployed for a year and a half after Dev.D and was seen in her husband's film That Girl in Yellow Boots, which was produced by Kashyap and directed by Bejoy Nambiar. But, the couple is now officially separated after their divorce by mutual consent came with minimal fuss and the maximum cordiality. Kalki Koechlin will be paired up again with actor Shiv Pandit. Mantra has given both a chance to reconnect after a long time. The movie is helmed by debutant director Nicholas Khargonkor, "Mantra" also features Adil Hussain and Rajat Kapoor. It's a drama which shows the social and political changes in the county since 1991. Margarita, with a Straw is a Bollywood film directed by Shonali Bose, starring Kalki Koechlin. Kalki has played the character of a girl named Laila. Laila is a girl wheelchair user with cerebral palsy. The film also starred Revathi, Sayani Gupta, Kuljeet Singh, Hussain Dalal, Malhar Khushu, Jacob Berger and Tenzin Dalha. Kalki recieved a national award for her role in this flick. Kalki opened up about going through sexual abuse at the age of nine. She is now helping bring the difficult subject of child sexual abuse by speaking out about being abused herself as a little girl. Kalki has always stood up for women empowerment and important issues that many stars do not like to take up. She also featured in the epic 'It's your fault' video made by the AIB group which went viral and sent across an important message to the youth. Alia Bhatt's mother Soni Razdan is all set to make her comeback as a director has recently roped in Kalki Koechlin to play the female lead in her next film. Film is largely based on the Nanavati murder case of 1959, Razdan was looking out for an actress who could essay the role of a British woman. So Razdan felt that Kalki suited the role. Kalki Koechlin will soon be seen in a film based on travel and a coming-of-age story "Jiah aur Jiah". It is being directed by Atul Kumar. The actress will be seen playing the main lead role. It is not new for Kalki to give stage performance. She has a good bonding with stage acting. Kalki Koechlin was born to French parents in a small village in Pondicherry. Her parents had come to India as hippies in the 1970s and settled there after they fell in love with the country. Her parents are devotees of Sri Aurobindo.

Kalki was studying in Ooty when her parents insisted that she attend university. She studied drama and theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she also worked with a theater company called Theatre of Relativity for two years. She performed in various plays, including David Hare's "The Blue Room," Marivaux's "The Dispute," and a devised play called "The Rise of the Wild Hunt" during her two-year stint with the theater group.

Kalki later decided to move to Mumbai to try her luck in Indian cinema. She was doing modeling assignments for television commercials before being shortlisted for the role of Chandramukhi (Chanda) in Dev D (2009). Kalki, who can speak Tamil, English, and French, had to learn Hindi to prepare for her role in Dev D (2009). She was apprehensive about how people would judge her after seeing her in the role.

She won The Hindu's 2009 MetroPlus Playwright Award, along with Prashant Prakash, for their co-authored entry "Skeleton Woman." Kalki also acted in the play "Hair"