Kalki Koechlin

Kalki Koechlin’s story isn’t your typical Bollywood origin tale. Born in a quiet Pondicherry village to French parents who’d rolled into India as hippies in the ‘70s—yeah, those freewheeling types who just couldn’t get enough of the place—she grew up surrounded by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo thanks to her folks’ spiritual leanings. Growing up, Kalki bounced around, eventually landing in Ooty for school, where her parents basically told her, “You’re going to university, no arguments.” So off she went to Goldsmiths, University of London, to study drama and theatre. Not exactly a slacker, she spent two years in the thick of it with Theatre of Relativity, performing in a wild mix of plays—think David Hare’s “The Blue Room,” Marivaux’s “The Dispute,” and a totally original piece called “The Rise of the Wild Hunt.” Anyway, London only kept her for so long. Next stop: Mumbai. She jumped into the modeling scene, doing those classic TV commercials, but then came the big break—she got shortlisted for Anurag Kashyap’s “Dev.D” as Chandramukhi (Chanda). Here’s the kicker: Kalki already spoke Tamil, English, and French, but had to cram Hindi to nail the role. She wasn’t exactly sure how people would react to her performance, but she went for it anyway. And it paid off. She bagged The Hindu’s MetroPlus Playwright Award in 2009 (co-writing “Skeleton Woman” with Prashant Prakash), and even kept up with theater—like acting in Ajay Krishnan’s “Hair.” Not too shabby for a Pondicherry kid with a French passport and a suitcase full of languages.