Witcher's Anya Chalotra on her Indian heritage

Anya Chalotra, the 26-year-old British-Indian actor talks to Vogue about embracing her multicultural heritage.

Rishika Bhardwaj

Anya Chalotra, a 26-​-old British-Indian, who rose to fame in the Netflix series ‘The Witcher’ where she plays the character of a powerful mage “Yennefer of Vengerberg” has established herself as one of the pivots of the storyline in the recently released season.

Chalotra has starred in other projects like No Masks, the sci-fi podcast The Cipher, Wanderlust, The ABC Murders, and Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas among others.

In a recent interview with Vogue, Chalotra, who is born to an Indian father and an English mother opened up about her journey of self-discovery, bridging the gap between her Indian and English heritage. She stated that her multicultural family was the "guiding force" in her life.

Despite never being in India, Chalotra's deep fascination with her Indian roots and found fulfilment in 2019, when she accompanied her father on a trip to his native, Pathankot in Punjab. “It completely got me. It was very special to go with my dad," the actress told Vogue.

“Even though we’d never met, we became so close so soon. It was everything I had expected Indian culture to be—where your cousins are actually like your siblings,” she said.

In the interview, she shared her fascination with Bollywood and Indian cinema that her father introduced her to. She revealed that at some point she would learn songs from iconic films such as "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...," "Kal Ho Naa Ho," "Main Hoon Na," and "Veer-Zaara" and present them to her family. In conclusion, the actress said she was currently taking Hindi classes to connect more with Indian culture.


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