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When 25-year-old theatre artist Kalki Koechlin auditioned for the role of Chanda in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D, all she knew was that the character was Indian literature’s most talked about courtesan. “It wasn’t quite the role
one would choose for their debut but the script was so rivetting that I had no hesitations,” she recalls.
It’s a move Koechlin has, in fact, been congratulating herself on. The film’s critical acclaim has extended to her portrayal of Chanda, the schoolgirl caught in an MMS scandal who goes on to lead a double life as a sex worker. “When the promos started, my parents were a little worried because Chanda’s image was very explicit. At the premiere, my mom was crying and my dad said I had done a good job portraying the innocence of the character,” she smiles.
Koechlin though has hardly had a very conventional upbringing. Born to French parents who moved to Pondicherry three decades ago, her childhood was spent in boarding school in Ooty, and then at home in Bangalore, followed by a course in theatre and drama in London University. “That’s why I speak Tamil and French so well, and my Hindi’s got a Tamil twang to it,” she laughs. She’s gearing up for a career in tinsel town, but is quick to admit that she doesn’t quite fit into typical Bollywood mould. “Let’s be honest, things will work for me if it’s an alternative script,” she says. When we ask if her relationship with director Anurag Kashyap has given her a headstart, Koechlin emphatically denies it. “I’d rather keep my professional and my personal life separate. My outsider status never hampered my entry into Bollywood, I hardly think it will matter now,” she says.
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