The afternoon sun at Storii by ITC Hotels Devasom Resort & Spa feels indulgent without being overpowering — soft, honeyed, almost forgiving. Koel Mallick is seated across from us in a baby pink shirt and beige trousers, the colour catching the light as effortlessly as she does. Lunch arrives quietly: Red Thai Curry with a choice of steamed chicken, steamed fish, and Asian garden greens, served inside what looks like a small coconut shell. It is delicate, thoughtful, almost ornamental.
“This is very nice,” she says, smiling, before the conversation drifts to the colour pink. “Why pink? Because I love this colour. It’s such a day colour. I like happy shades, and I think pink is one of the happiest colours. It just lifts your mood.” When we tell her it suits her, she laughs, momentarily caught off guard. “Has the interview started?” she asks. It has — and that unguarded moment sets the tone for the afternoon.
Blessed Bonding
When Koel looks back at the year, she does not begin with work, releases or milestones. She begins with mornings. “Last year, towards the end, Kavya was born. So this entire year has been about watching both my children grow together,” she says. “My day starts with them. Kabir, being Kabir, keeps teasing her, and Kavya makes these exaggerated sobbing faces — she knows exactly how to get attention.” She smiles, lingering on the image. “That bonding is such a blessing. God has been very kind to me that way.”
Kavya turned one on December 14, a fact Koel shares with unmistakable pride. “She has six teeth now and gives me these big, bright smiles every morning. She knows how to wave goodbye; she blows flying kisses. And Kabir — he’s such a good big brother. He loves teaching her things.” Watching them together, she says, takes her back to her own childhood — a return to simplicity, curiosity and innocence. “There’s so much to learn at that age. They explore everything, every single thing. Being around that energy changes you.”
Wisdom, Unlearning and an Internal Shift
This year, Koel believes, has brought a quiet transformation. “I think I’ve gained wisdom over time,” she reflects. “Not just as a mother or as an actor, but as a person. With age, you start seeing life from a particular perspective.” She pauses slightly to articulate the shift, but insists it is real. “There has been a change within me. I’ve started reinventing a few things about myself. I’ve unlearned many things too — and that unlearning has been very important.” She added, “This year has been very kind — personally and professionally. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve tried to absorb everything with gratitude.”
Trusting the Gut
That internal evolution, she feels, has reflected in her professional choices. The films she takes on today are instinct-driven rather than strategic. “As an actor, I obviously want to explore characters I’ve never explored before,” she says. “And I’m extremely thankful to the audience for accepting different kinds of content and subject matter. That acceptance gives us the confidence to trust our gut.” She speaks at length about Sharthopor, a film released towards the end of the year that resonated deeply with viewers. “It’s a film very close to my heart,” she says. “I have received such a warm response about the film, and in today’s time, when the audience has so many options, I started hearing that they were going back for a second time, a third time. As an actor, as an artiste, what else does one need?” She lets out a quiet laugh of disbelief. “You have everything today — OTT, television, endless options at your fingertips. But making the effort to go back to a theatre and watch a film again? That’s huge. All I could say was thank you.”
Carrying a Legacy, Creating an Identity
Coming from a legendary cinematic lineage was never something Koel approached casually. “When I started, I was in college. I was very young,” she says. “I didn’t think too much about identity then. The only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to be a face loss for my father. Like any daughter, I just wanted my parents to feel proud.” Working with her father again on Sharthopor after nearly 15 years was emotionally layered. “We had to behave like strangers on screen — like we were meeting for the first time. That unfamiliarity was interesting for me,” she says. “Off screen, during the shoot, I kept asking him, ‘Baba, am I going right?’ And he kept telling me, ‘Yes, you’re absolutely right.’” She smiles softly. “Getting that reassurance from him — along with the praise I’m receiving now — it means a lot.”
Discipline Over Motivation, Always
Koel is unequivocal when the conversation turns to fitness. “I believe in discipline. I really swear by it,” she says. “If I have a cheat meal, I cannot have a cheat day.” Sundays are reserved for indulgence — family lunches where Kabir decides what everyone eats. “That’s the day we all say yes to whatever he wants.” She does not believe in restriction. “If I want pizza, I eat pizza. If I want biryani, I eat biryani. But I know how much to eat. Discipline helps you understand limits.” Fitness, for her, is not about chasing a particular body. “I don’t work out just to look a certain way. I work out because I want to be fit. Discipline helps me go to the gym even when I don’t feel like it. Feelings have nothing to do with discipline.”
Gratitude as a Family Language
Gratitude, Koel says, is something she absorbed without realising it. “I remember Baba praying every night — saying thank you for everything we already had. This was much before the whole manifestation theory became popular,” she recalls. “I didn’t understand it then, but it stayed with me.”
Today, she carries that practice into her own home. “Yes, we pray every night. I chant a few mantras for my children. It calms their mind after a long day.” Above all, she hopes to raise children who are empathetic and honourable. “Everything else comes later.”
Friendship and date nights
Marriage, she believes, becomes simpler when it is rooted in friendship. “When you marry your best friend, you don’t have to be anything else but yourself. That’s the most important thing in a relationship.” Their days run on routine. Koel is in bed by 9.30pm, watching television before drifting off. “Date nights happen sometimes — maybe after the kids are asleep. Nothing dramatic. But it works for us.”
Becoming Mitin — Again
With Mitin – Ekti Khunir Sandhaney (which releases on December 25), Koel Mallick steps into Mitin’s shoes for the third time — a milestone that still surprises her. “Mitin returning for a third instalment feels quite surreal,” she says. “That we are now on Mitin – Ekti Khunir Sandhaney says a lot about the love the character has received.” For Koel, Mitin remains deeply satisfying. “She’s an extremely attractive character — a winner, someone who walks into a case already knowing she will crack it. That confidence is her spirit,” she explains. “She’s sharp, instinctive, highly intuitive, and almost always a step ahead. She can read people’s minds, adapt to any situation, and change colours like a chameleon. She’s determined, strong-willed, and knows exactly how to get information from people without them realising it.”
Koel believes every woman carries a bit of Mitin within. “For some, she’s awake; for others, she might be sleeping for a while. But that power is always there.” Her journey with the character began in 2019, and over three films, Mitin has grown alongside her. “This third one is more layered, a murder mystery full of intrigue. You don’t want obvious answers — you want tension, discovery, fascination.” Working with Arindam Sil has become almost instinctive. “In the first film, we were still figuring out Mitin’s reactions. Now, the understanding is almost unspoken. She’s a private investigator, a writer, grounded and relatable, yet extraordinary when needed.” Koel’s preparation remains the same: repeated readings of the script, discussions with the director, and attention to every nuance. “At her core, Mitin is polite and composed. But if pushed, she knows how to respond — that contrast is compelling. My Mitin is definitely not sleeping. She’s alert, instinctive, intuitive, always awake. I can read situations, sense things — almost smell what’s coming.”
Responding, Not Reacting
When asked what she would change about her 22-year journey, Koel answers without hesitation. “Nothing,” she says. “I’ve never been impulsive. Even as a child, I wasn’t.” She explains, “If something doesn’t go my way, I process it. I don’t shout. I don’t react. I respond.” Every experience, she believes, has served a purpose. “Even the things that didn’t go my way taught me something. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have learned grace.”
As the afternoon light fades, Koel Mallick remains exactly as she has been throughout the conversation — composed, thoughtful, quietly assured. There is no performance here, only presence. And perhaps that is what lingers longest — a life shaped not by noise, but by discipline, gratitude and time.