Kalki Presents: My Indian Life

Kalki is interviewed on Dear Daughter!

Kalki Koechlin, Bollywood star and host of My Indian Life, joins the Dear Daughter podcast to read the letter she has written for her young daughter. She chooses to pass on advice for navigating beauty standards, after her daughter came to her admitting that she didn’t feel pretty. Kalki discusses the expectations on women to conform to a certain appearance, particularly as they age, and the pressures she has faced in her acting career to remain youthful. What advice can she give her daughter for navigating a world obsessed with beauty?Dear Daughter is an award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service about love, life, family, and raising children. It is the brainchild of Namulanta Kombo, a mother on a quest to create a ‘handbook to life’ for her daughter, through the advice of parents from all over the world. Each episode, a guest reads a letter they’ve written to their children (or their future children, or the children they never had) with the advice, life lessons, and personal stories they’d like to pass on. Expect extraordinary true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising daughters.In the current season, Dear Daughter: Stars, Namulanta hears from parents who are all ‘stars’ in their field. Why did TikTokker Mama Seebz go from telling her children to stop scrolling to becoming a content creator herself? What can The Receipts podcaster Audrey Akande teach her daughter about friendship break-ups? And why exactly did Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh lurk around building sites while pregnant?For more episodes like this one, search for ‘Dear Daughter’ wherever you get your BBC podcasts or go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter

Special: Savita

“I’m in love with the mountains.” Savita was an inspirational climber, who had scaled Mount Everest. At the age of 26, she was tragically killed in an avalanche in the Himalayas. She was interviewed by Kalki Koechlin before she died. This special episode tells Savita Kanswal’s story – of the girl who had to hike to and from school, who realised her dream of climbing the world’s highest mountain. #MyIndianLife

What happened next

A male belly dancer, a theatre artist who performs nude and the man who wants to go to Mars. It’s the My Indian Life reunion. They all appeared in previous episodes of My Indian Life - what happened next in their lives? Is Gadhadar Reddy any closer to reaching Mars? Is Mallika Taneja returning to the stage with Thoda Dhyan Se, or Be Careful? And how has Eshan Hilal’s career progressed? How did they all cope with the Covid pandemic? They all join Kalki and talk about their plans for the future. #MyIndianLife

River man

Siddharth is walking India’s longest river - taking it slowly to understand the way water and people flow differently. He follows India’s rivers for thousands of kilometres on foot, to gain a deeper understanding of environmental change and the lives of people who live nearby. For him, slow travel is the best travel. #MyIndianLife

Climate warrior

Fighting for a better world. Archana Soreng was raised respecting the forest and living sustainably. She’s now a tribal activist and UN youth leader. After her father’s death, she vowed to carry on his work to make a difference in their community. #MyIndianLife