Kalki Koechlin Calls Herself 'Less Successful,' Reveals Not Receiving Films For 2 Years After Dev D

Kalki Koechlin is recognised as one of the most talented actresses in Hindi cinema. The actress is well known for her performances in Dev D, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. However, the road to success was not as easy as it looked. In a recent interview, the actress revealed that despite garnering rave reviews for her performance in Dev D, co-starring Abhay Deol, the actress didn't receive any offer for two years.

While her filmography shows that she featured in three movies after the release of Dev D, the actress claims it was ZNMD that came her way after two years of no offers. In a chat with After Hours with All About Eve, Kalki said “Right after Dev D, I didn’t have another film for about two years. I think the next film was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.”

However, in those two years, she did a play that she conducted putting together after winning a prize of ₹1 lakh. When asked how she used to manage her finances during this low phase of her life, the actress said that she lived on vada pao and travelled in local trains.

What do we know about Dev D?

Upon release, Dev D earned rave reviews from the audience and critics. The movie opened at ₹15 million at the box office. However, owing to the positive word-of-mouth, the collection spiked since the second day and was able to recover the budget of ₹60 million in a few weeks. The net collection in its first four weeks was nearly ₹150 million. Dev D's final domestic gross was ₹215.0 million with a distributor share of ₹65.5 million.

Kalki Koechlin calls herself a 'lot less successful'

In the same conversation, the actress admits that she is well-known among her fans and everyone believes she is a successful actress but is not. The actress shares that she leads a simple life and her fans often get surprised to see me on public transport, for instance.

"I'm a lot less successful than people think I am. In the sense that I am famous, but I live a very simple life. I spend a lot of time not working, being at home, and now living in Goa and raising a child. It's a choice. I do a lot of theatre, and I produce theatre, which is not a very business-oriented approach. It's very much art for the sake of art. People know me, and everyone is really familiar with me, but they are really surprised to see me on public transport, for instance. They're like, 'How can you not be with bodyguards?'. Somehow, I have an image bigger than who I really am," she said.

Kalki was last seen in a supporting role in the 2023 Netflix film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. The same year, she had a special dance number in Vicky Kaushal starrer Sam Bahadur.