Happy Birthday Kalki Koechlin

Kalki Koechlin has been recognised for her impactful roles as well as her chic sense of dressing. As the Bollywood diva turns 29 today, here's looking at her life so far and wishing her another great year ahead. Aditi Caroli writes.

Kalki Koechlin, 29, comes across as a sweet and affable person sans any starry attitude or tantrums. With three years in the film industry, she has a fair amount of success to her credit. From off-beat films like Dev D and That Girl In Yellow Boots to commercial ventures like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Shaitan, she has certainly evolved as an actor.

Right from her debut film Dev D, for which she also won Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, Kalki made sure she was here to stay. Not many actors will dare to play prostitute at the very beginning of their career.

The last year was quite eventful for the star. She played a mentally disturbed girl in Shaitan and grabbed headlines for kissing co-actor Kirti Kulhari. "I'm still recovering from the trauma of it. I have been going to a psychiatrist. I'm going for marriage counseling and trying to get out of it. It's tough being an actor as we have to do these things. It's terrible with the kind of demands the directors have," she had then said wittily.

An over-possessive girlfriend in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or a helpless daughter in search of her father in That Girl In Yellow Boots, Kalki can pull-off any character convincingly.

Kalki walked the ramp for designer Rina Dhaka with My Friend Pinto co-star Prateik Babbar.

On fashion forefront, she sizzled in a silver halter gown at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Spring Summer 2012. She walked the ramp for designer Rina Dhaka with My Friend Pinto co-star Prateik Babbar.

"We were natural on the ramp. It wasn't planned, so there was no pressure and it was a lot of fun," she had said. Clad in an off-white lehenga choli and heavy kundan jewellery, she turned showstopper for Kays Jewels at India International Jewellery Week.

Her style is casual yet impactful. She doesn't seem to put too much effort into dressing but still manages to turn heads every time.

Kalki is hoping for a bright 2012 starting with political-thriller Shanghai: "I'm part of Dibakar Banerjee's next film Shanghai and looking forward to it." The film also stars Emraan Hashmi and Abhay Deol. Other films in her kitty are Happy Journey and Prague.

Kalki has a long list of directors she's keen to work with in the future: "I'm a director's person. There are so many directors I want to work with- Vishal Bhardwaj, Navdeep Singh, Vikramaditya Motwani, Imtiaz Ali, Manish Sharma and many others."

She's particularly amazed by Imtiaz for obvious reasons: "Rockstar was the best film of 2011 and Ranbir is an actual Rockstar. I can't say ZNMD as you'll think I'm being biased, but Zoya is a rockstar herself."

Kalki has worked with her filmmaker husband Anurag Kashyap in Dev D, That Girl In Yellow Boots and Shaitan. Kashyap plans to direct Kalki again in a romantic film in 2013. However, Kalki doesn't buy that: "I think when he will be on his death bed, he'll be saying the same thing. When's it going to happen? Romantic film coming from Anurag will be one helluva, leaps and bounds for mankind."

Kalki with director-producer husband Anurag Kashyap.

When asked about their love story, Kalki couldn't stop blushing: "Anurag had taken me for a date to a fancy place. He had ordered huge champagne to impress me. As soon as we cheered, he broke his glass. That was the moment I knew this is the guy whom I want to marry."

The duo dated each other since the release of Dev D and moved-in together after six months of courtship. The celebrity couple tied the knot on April 30, 2011 in a private wedding ceremony in Ooty. Not only professionally, on personal front, too, 2011 was a memorable year for the actor.

Kalki seems a decade younger than she actually is. She is in love with her talented hubby just like a teenager would be. She is full of youthful vigour and vibrance. Most importantly she isn't afraid to experiment with different kind of roles across genres.