Early work (2009–2010) After moving to Mumbai, Koechlin auditioned for
Anurag Kashyap's black comedy-drama
Dev.D (2009), a modern-day adaptation of
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 Bengali novel
Devdas. Starring alongside
Abhay Deol and
Mahie Gill, Koechlin plays the role of Leni / Chanda, a young woman who turns to prostitution after a leaked sex tape scandal. The character was based on
Chandramukhi, a pivotal character in the novel, a
prostitute who fell in love with the titular character. Kashyap initially rejected Koechlin as she was not Indian, and did not match his visualisation of the character, but he changed his mind and offered her the role after seeing her audition tape. The film opened to positive reviews from critics upon release, with particular praise for Koechlin's performance, which was described as "imbued [...] with a touching fragility" and "astonishingly [appropriate]". Critics were more impressed by her character's complexity, but thought of Koechlin's performance in the film's first half as "amateurish". Moreover, it emerged as a commercial success at the box-office, earning ₹208 million worldwide. Koechlin's performance in the film earned her the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Koechlin's only film appearance of 2010 was in a supporting role in the black comedy
The Film Emotional Atyachar. Co-starring
Ranvir Shorey,
Vinay Pathak and
Ravi Kishan among others, the film opened to mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, as did Koechlin's performance as a manipulative woman who is abducted by two corrupt policemen.
Komal Nahta of
Koimoi labelled her performance as "strictly average", while Blessyy Chettiar of
Daily News and Analysis felt that she was underused. Koechlin was next committed to star in
I am Afia, one of the four segments of
Onir's anthology film
I Am, but it went into production with a modified plot for the segment. In an interview with
The Telegraph, Onir said, "as we discussed the subject more and more, both Koechlin and me felt that the narrative was becoming too hurried in the 25-minute limit".
Breakthrough and commercial success (2011–2014) After facing some early struggle for film roles, Koechlin had four film releases in 2011, garnering widespread praise for her performances in them. Based on the 2007
murder of Adnan Patrawala incident, the film told the story of five friends who get embroiled in a crime. She played the role of a disturbed teenager and called it an "exhausting experience", saying that she felt drained while trying to, "get into a psyche of someone who does a lot of drugs and booze, has lost her mind a little bit and is very vulnerable". The film opened to positive reviews from critics upon release, with high praise for Koechlin's performance, with
Raja Sen calling her "an increasingly striking actress". It emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹390 million worldwide. Koechlin's performance in the film earned her a first nomination for the
Screen Award for Best Actress. '' at
Chandigarh|alt=Koechlin posing for the camera with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara co-stars Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif Koechlin next starred in
Zoya Akhtar's ensemble
coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara alongside an ensemble cast of
Hrithik Roshan, Deol,
Farhan Akhtar and
Katrina Kaif. Akhtar had expressed her wish to work with Koechlin in a prior interview with
NDTV, having seen her in
Dev.D and the then-unreleased
That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011). Revolving around the story of three childhood friends who take a three-week road trip in
Spain, the film saw her portray a
South Bombay interior designer, who is slightly possessive of her fiancé. Koechlin, who took diction classes for the role which required her to speak accented
Hindi, revealed that she was keen to do the film because her work in such projects as
Dev.D and
Shaitan had led her to being
typecast in dark roles of prostitutes, troubled teenagers, and social misfits. The film received to widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards Koechlin's performance. Gaurav Malani of
The Times of India deemed her "excellent", and Raja Sen in his review for
Rediff.com noted her as "histrionically strong enough to manage varied roles". With worldwide collections of ,
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara emerged as a major blockbuster at the box-office, ranking as the
fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year and
one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of all time. The film earned Koechlin her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Koechlin expanded her career into screenwriting with Kashyap's crime thriller
That Girl in Yellow Boots. She said that Kashyap asked her to write the script for the film as he was looking for a woman's perspective for the story. Shot in a short duration of thirteen days, the film was screened at the
2010 Toronto International Film Festival and the
67th Venice International Film Festival, among other venues. It opened to critical acclaim, with Koechlin receiving high praise for her performance. Giving the film 3.5 stars out of 4,
Roger Ebert wrote that Koechlin "creates a memorable woman who is sad and old beyond her years". Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com described Koechlin as "unrestrained and uncorrupted".
NDTV film critic Saibal Chatterjee also lauded the film and deemed her performance as "absolute perfection". However, the film emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office. Koechlin's final release of the year was as an aspiring dance in the
Sanjay Leela Bhansali-produced musical comedy
My Friend Pinto opposite
Prateik Babbar. The film emerged as a critical and commercial disaster at the box-office. The following year, Koechlin starred alongside Deol and
Emraan Hashmi for
Dibakar Banerjee's political thriller
Shanghai. Based on the Greek writer
Vassilis Vassilikos's 1967 novel
Z (made into a
movie of the same name), the film premiered at the
2012 Toronto Film Festival. Koechlin portrayed the role of a political activist, which she found challenging. She said that the character was, "someone who is not an accepted person [...] an outsider". It received positive reviews from critics upon release; however Koechlin's performance received mixed reviews. While Russell Edwards noted the "biting edge" she brought to the role, Aniruddha Guha thought of her as the "weakest link" in the film. Koechlin's commercial success continued with both of her 2013 releases, the supernatural thriller
Ek Thi Daayan and the ensemble coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
Ek Thi Daayan was based on
Mobius Trips, a short story written by Mukul Sharma, the father of
Konkona Sen Sharma, who also starred in the film. Koechlin played the role of a Canada-based music teacher who is suspected of practising
witchcraft. For her role in the film, she learned to play the guitar, and
lip synced "Yaaram", one of the film's tracks. The film received positive reviews from critics upon release, with Koechlin's performance receiving mixed reviews, with critic
Anupama Chopra remarking that she was "an interesting actor but the film doesn't know what to do with her". It emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office, grossing over worldwide. |alt=Koechlin looking away from the camera
Ayan Mukerji's coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, saw Koechlin star alongside an ensemble cast of
Deepika Padukone,
Ranbir Kapoor and
Aditya Roy Kapur. She portrayed the role of a
tomboy, who unrequitedly falls for her best friend, but later moves on and marries someone else. Koechlin, who was nursing her hospitalised mother and simultaneously filming for the project called it a "really tough time".
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani opened to widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards Koechlin's performance and comic timing, with
News18s Rajeev Masand writing, "Koechlin invests heart and spunkiness to the part". The film emerged as a major blockbuster at the box-office, ranking as the
fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year and
one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films, grossing worldwide. Koechlin's performance in the film earned her a third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later in 2013, Koechlin appeared in a video entitled ''
It's Your Fault, along with VJ Juhi Pandey. Dealing with the issue of sexual assaults on women, the video mocks the mindset that blames women for provoking rapes. It was created by All India Bakchod, and was released on their YouTube channel. It's Your Fault'' went viral, with over 150,000 views in two days. Koechlin's only film appearance in 2014 was in the romantic comedy
Happy Ending opposite
Saif Ali Khan, in which she played the comic role of an obsessive girlfriend. She credited her performance in
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani for landing her the role, and stated that people noticed her comic timing in the film, which worked in her favour. Described as a "spoof on the film industry and on all the romantic comedies", the film opened to mixed-to-positive reviews from critics upon release, with Koechlin's performance receiving praise. Saurabh Dwivedi of
India Today wrote that "Koechlin steals the show with her perfect portrayal of a nagging girlfriend", and Rohit Vats of
Hindustan Times noted that, although her character in the film felt a bit forced, she delivered a "charming" performance. Despite positive reviews, it emerged as a below-average grosser at the box-office.
Critical acclaim and streaming projects (2015–present) In 2015, Koechlin starred in
Shonali Bose's drama
Margarita with a Straw, playing a young woman with
cerebral palsy who leaves her home in India to study in
New York City, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Her character was inspired by
Malini Chib, Bose's cousin. Bose first approached Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice", for the role when the latter was shooting for
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Due to the clashing schedule, Bose went on to audition other actresses to substitute Koechlin, but felt that "something was missing" in each one, and she eventually decided to push the filming for three months to accommodate her. In an interview with the
Times of India, Koechlin acknowledged that the role was the most challenging of her film career, and she took six months off her filming schedule to prepare for it. She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor
Adil Hussain, aimed at making her "body language seem natural", while also focusing on the speech pattern of patients with cerebral palsy. Although the film covers aspects of physical disability, Koechlin dubbed it "a romcom with some hurdles". While Leslie Felperin of
The Hollywood Reporter made a detailed note of her "bravura performance in both physical and emotional terms", Saibal Chatterjee deemed her "[simply] brilliant".
Firstposts Deepanjana Pal ascribed her screen appeal to her lack of acting pretense, and wrote "[Koechlin] has done a good job of miming the physicality [...] but what is truly remarkable is the lack of artifice in her expressions". John Beifuss compared her performance to
Eddie Redmayne's act as
Stephen Hawking in the biographical drama
The Theory of Everything (2014), in his review for
The Commercial Appeal. He gave Koechlin the highest praise writing that her performance would have attracted
Academy Award notice in a
major film studio production. The view was echoed by
Variety critic Guy Lodge, who was particularly impressed by her range. Koechlin won several accolades for the performance, including the Best Actress Award at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the
Screen Award for Best Actress (Critics), and the
National Film Award – Special Jury Award. Additionally, she garnered Best Actress nominations at the
Seattle International Film Festival and the
Asian Film Awards. Koechlin appeared alongside
Parineeti Chopra,
Richa Chadda, and
Bhumi Pednekar in
Y-Films's mini web-series ''Man's World'', a satire on
gender roles. The series was released on YouTube in April 2015. She next starred in Anu Menon's comedy-drama
Waiting (2016), which depicted the relationship between two people who befriend each other in a hospital, while nursing their respective comatose spouses. For her role of a young and brash social media-savvy, Koechlin dyed her hair black, as Menon wanted her to look more "earthy". The film had its world premiere at the
Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in December 2015, and had its theatrical release in India on 27 May 2016. It opened to critical acclaim upon release, as did Koechlin's performance. Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com called the film "absolutely riveting", and also lauded the "stunningly unhindered" Koechlin writing that she used her aura, "in the most mesmeric fashion to create a woman we sympathise with and wish well for". Film critic Kunal Guha thought that film belonged to Koechlin who, "impresses by managing to wordlessly convey her character's state of mind in every scene". Despite positive reviews,
Waiting emerged as a below-average grosser at the box-office. Koechlin appeared in two documentary films in 2016
Freedom Matters, a project aimed at spreading awareness on
human trafficking, and
Living Shakespeare, a
BBC production where she drew parallels between
Ophelia and Indian women. She was invited to be a part of the jury presided by Hungarian director
Béla Tarr, at the 2016
Marrakech International Film Festival. The 2016
Mumbai Film Festival saw the release of two of Koechlin's films—the acclaimed
A Death in the Gunj and the panned
Mantra. In the former, she played Mimi, a Kolkata-based
Anglo-Indian woman, who seduces a younger disturbed teenager. To prepare for the role, she attended an acting workshop conducted by the film's casting director, Atul Mongia, and also learnt an Anglo-Indian accent. She thought of it unlike anything that she had done before, calling it "a very sexual, beautiful character".
A Death in the Gunjs release was delayed on multiple occasions due to varying reasons. Critics, who were appreciative of Koechlin's performance, called her "ever dependable" and "a perfect fit". Both
Mantra and
A Death in the Gunj released theatrically in the first half of 2017in the months of March and June respectively. Koechlin's following release, Howard Rosemeyer's delayed buddy
road film Jia Aur Jia co-starring
Richa Chadha, focused on two strangers of the same name who embark on a road trip together. Critics such as Sweta Kaushal of
Hindustan Times and
Anna M. M. Vetticad of
Firstpost, singled out Koechlin's performance for praise, while negatively reviewing the film. Her final release of the year was the drama
Ribbon alongside
Sumeet Vyas. Directed by Rakhee Sandilya, the film told the story of a couple living in Mumbai and the problems that they face with an
unplanned pregnancy. Koechlin portrayed a sales executive who faces discrimination at the workplace, which was regarded by critics as the most mature performance of her film career. Saibal Chatterjee from
NDTV was particularly impressed by her "star turn in one of the meatiest roles that she has ever played on the big screen". Koechlin played a French immigrant in
Siddharth Sinha's short film
The Job (2018). Produced by Kushal Shrivastava, the production was a psychological thriller that was meant to be a critique of the corporate sector and its treatment of employees. Her performance in the film received praise, with writers ascribing the film's appeal to her persuasive performance. In 2019, Koechlin starred alongside
Ranveer Singh,
Alia Bhatt and
Siddhant Chaturvedi in Akhtar's musical drama
Gully Boy as a record producer who has an affair with the titular character. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹2.22 billion (US$31 million) worldwide, ranking as the
ninth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. The same year, she ventured into
OTT with the
Amazon Prime Video romantic drama
web series Made in Heaven (2019–present), which was a dark take on the Big Fat Indian Wedding, human nature and greater social dynamics in Delhi. Starring alongside an ensemble cast of
Sobhita Dhulipala,
Arjun Mathur,
Jim Sarbh,
Shashank Arora and
Shivani Raghuvanshi, Koechlin played the role of a woman deeply lodged in her insecurities under the guise of a confident socialite. The series received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards Koechlin's performance. She reprised her role in the second season which released in 2023. Later that year, she starred in the second season of
Netflix's
neo-noir crime thriller web series
Sacred Games (2018–19) as a self-styled godwoman alongside
Saif Ali Khan,
Nawazuddin Siddiqui,
Pankaj Tripathi and
Ranvir Shorey. The second season received mixed reviews from critics upon release, but praise was directed towards Koechlin's performance. She followed it up with the
ZEE5 psychological horror thriller
Bhram. In 2022, Koechlin starred in the English-language drama
Goldfish, as a daughter attempting to confront the traumas of her childhood whilst tending to her mother suffering from
dementia (played by
Deepti Naval). The film premiered at the
27th Busan International Film Festival to critical acclaim. In her review for
The Indian Express,
Shubhra Gupta praised Koechlin as "arresting [and] unvarnished [...] through the film". She then had a supporting role in the coming-of-age drama
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023) which starred Chaturvedi,
Ananya Panday and
Adarsh Gourav in lead roles. Directed by debutant Arjun Varain Singh, and written by Singh, Akhtar and
Reema Kagti, the film was released on Netflix. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, and Koechlin's portrayal of a photographer who engages in a relationship with a younger man received praise. ==Other work==