Wow! These 10 Women Changed Kalki Koechlin's Life

She may be the poster-girl for women’s rights, but this inspirational live wire says she got it from her momma...and nine other figures that shaped her into the powerhouse she’s become.

- Saumyaa Vohra Photographs By Abhay Singh

Asking Kalki’s views on feminism is like asking a mechanic to talk shop—it comes so naturally and eloquently that everyone wants to do it. She’s been more than vocal about the dire need for feminism, what we need to get about the concept (“once and for all—it’s equality, please!” she sighs) and what we ought to be fighting for. But we couldn’t help but wonder how Kalki grew up to be the fierce and feisty force she is. Turns out, there’s a small army of women that share credit...

“My Mother”

Kalki fondly describes her mother, Francoise, as a ‘fiery, French woman’ who taught her how to self-analyse. “She instilled in us this idea that self-improvement is organic, and it has to be an ongoing process. She made sure I studied Tamil and French rigorously—despite the fact I’d been enrolled in an English medium school.” She also attributes her founding introductions to cinema through her mother. “I watched a lot of (François) Truffaut and (Jean-Luc) Godard because of her, and so I grew both acquainted with, and deeply fond of, French cinema. She Oed on films like BDandit Queen and Salaam Bombay and “‘alternative’ cinema like that,” she smiles. She tells us that her mother’s opinions always stood out in the house, and that she, herself, was encouraged to have an opinion. “Whether you were a boy or a girl didn’t matter. I had to partake of everything. My parents split up when I was 12, and when there’s no man in the house, you learn to do it all,” she says, divulging that this is why she learned to change car tyres, amongst other skills. “It was just the way she raised us,” she says, matter-of-factly.