Kavya Trehan lets us in on the method to her madness

Days before Mumbai-based multidisciplinary artist Kavya Trehan—who goes by the mononym Kavya—turned 32, I jumped on a Zoom call to ask her what’s the most Gemini thing about her. A selective astrology believer, she relates to a few traits. “As a true blood Gemini, I don’t know if I’m two-faced,” she laughs, “but I do feel I’m a different version of myself every single day.” 

Maybe it’s astrology, or maybe it’s just Kavya, but if you know her, you would know that she doesn’t want to—or rather, can’t be—boxed in. ‘Multi-hyphenate’ isn’t enough of a word—she’s an actor, singer, model, and painter, among other things. When I ask her if there’s one hat she would choose to wear forever, a question I preface by saying, “This is going to be an annoying one,” she says, “None; I’d die. It’s like asking a colour-blind person to choose between blue and red. They’re genuinely the same for me. It’s my modus operandi.”

Trehan is no stranger to the stage. Though she goes around telling everyone (in jest) that she made her debut with Netflix series The Royals (2025), she’s been an actor since she was eight. For her, all of it is symbiotic. “I often say that I’m in a polyamorous relationship with the industries that I work in, because they really do cross-pollinate,” she shares. “I’ve learnt how cinema has a graph of conflicts and then there’s resolution, and I utilise that in my instrumental work.”

Much like her debut EP 'Know Me Better' (2021), her latest EP 'hyperreal' is extremely experimental (emphasis on ‘extremely’)—a lot of which has to do with the fact that this is her first time being the producer. While her musical genre could be defined as electronic, R&B, and indie pop, this time she has tried a few new things, like going on a country-wide, immersive, and theatrical live tour before the EP’s release, and using her voice to mimic that of a bird. The EP runs through archaeological discoveries across time, and creates a retro-futuristic world. “We’ve really gone to the depths of world-building. By we, I mean, Sanchit Sawaria (her brother-in-law) and Khyati Trehan (her older sister)”.

And, are there things in the Indian music industry she would like to change? She answers earnestly: “All businesses think about numerics, and not the craft. But I would like to see a better infrastructure in place.” By this she means more venues that can host what musicians want to do now, which is not just to have studio equipment, but light equipment and the capacity of modular stagism too (a staging system that is customisable and lightweight. It can be assembled and disassembled without much hassle). “I would also like to see a community that holds studio sessions; because I think during the pandemic, we became super self-reliant and went into this whole bedroom production space. But good music is made when there’s genuine collaboration. Also, it would be nice if there’s a music studio every 100 kilometres.”

Making Of Kavya

Growing up in Delhi with her mother and sister, Trehan discovered her love for theatre, dancing, singing, and painting at Delhi’s Mirambika, an alternative ‘free progress’ school. She went on to study psychology at Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR)— our shared alma mater. “I still read my college books based on (Martin) Seligman psychology,” she tells me. “Some may find this controversial, but I’m not a (Sigmund) Freud fan.”

When I tell her how LSR taught me to question everything, she grins. For her, it made her realise that being multifaceted is okay. “I was part of the drama and music society. I was heading a design space whilst pursuing psychology. And I wasn’t made to feel like I was behind if I wasn’t the best at all of them.”

Trehan has always carried this mindset. “When I first shifted to Mumbai (in 2023), I was (like most Delhi supremacists) extremely dramatic about it. Everybody just wanted to talk about work!,” she says. But she soon realised that this was a place where she needed to take action and make plans—and so she did. After performing at Lollapalooza in 2023, the success of The Royals, and an EP on the way, Trehan has some exciting fashion and music collaborations lined up as well. “I’m not my best PR, but that’s totally cool with me; I like to have my work speak for itself.”

Given how transient success in Bollywood can be, she has made sure not to close all doors. “Tomorrow, if nothing works out, I’ll be like, ‘Academia, here I come’. I feel, if I have a proper doctoral thesis that I want to contribute towards—and want to work for five years with a great professor—then yeah, I might just do that,” she adds.

Contrary to her real-life personality, Trehan presents a serious version of herself online. “Instagram is my Behance. It’s my website,” she tells me. This often leads people to perceive her as intimidating and “a rich b**ch”. “I think I’m kind, funny, and throw great parties. Oh also, I’m a pretty good collaborator—something that will be written on my tombstone.”

Photographs: Simone Gandhi

This article first appeared in Cosmopolitan India's July-August 2025 print edition. 

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