The BBC World Service has announced a brand new podcast series for young listeners in India, presented by the acclaimed Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin.
Launching in August, Kalki Presents: My Indian Life is the BBC’s first English language podcast aimed specifically at audiences in India, and is about being young and Indian in the 21st century.
Kalki Presents: My Indian Life is about extraordinary real-life stories featuring young people from around India. The podcast is based on amazing storytelling and Kalki will be tackling some challenging subjects along the way. The series is about young people, for young people, and Kalki will be asking listeners to respond to the stories they hear.
The new podcast will not shy away from tackling some pretty tough subjects, including family conflict, sexual abuse, harassment, caste discrimination, victim shaming, body insecurities and the often controversial subject of sex education. There will be amazing uplifting stories about young people, including a woman who talks to Kalki about the crucial role she had in India’s ‘Mars mission’, and a musician and his determination to succeed. Although aimed first and foremost at young Indians, this podcast will appeal to anyone interested in strong stories about issues facing young people around the world.
Kalki Koechlin says: “I’m so excited about this podcast. If you are young and Indian, this is your podcast. And even if you aren’t, I still think you will love it.
“I’m bringing you the most amazing stories about young Indians for young Indians. Some of the stories are uplifting but some are pretty raw. I won’t be shying away from tackling some pretty tough subjects – sometimes ones that you or people you know might consider to be taboo. I’ll be lifting the lid on some issues that matter to young people in India today. And I want to get lots of people in India podcasting – because listening to podcasts is such a fantastic way of spending your time.”
Jon Manel, Podcast Editor for the BBC World Service English, who commissioned the podcast, says: “It is brilliant that Kalki Koechlin is presenting our new podcast. Together with our producers in India she’s been working very hard on this important project for the BBC.
“This is the first time BBC World Service English has made a podcast aimed at a particular audience in a particular country. Putting on your headphones and listening to a podcast is a superb way of hearing some great storytelling. I’m hoping Kalki Presents: My Indian Life will attract people who have never downloaded podcasts before and that it will create a community of podcast listeners who can then share and discuss the stories on social media.”
The Preview Episode of Kalki Presents: My Indian Life will be released in mid-July. The first episode will be launched on Saturday 4 August 2018, with a new episode released each week.
There will be ten episodes in this series.
The podcast will be made available on as many platforms as possible. Further information about where and how you can listen to the podcast will follow.