Creators first, and now actors, Prajakta Koli and Dolly Singh talk about humble beginnings, the hustle of celebritydom and fighting new social media talent
Dolly Singh and Swara Bhasker share screen space in Netflix's Bhaag Beanie Bhaag
Dolly Singh and Prajakta Koli have never met. Yet, they catch up like old friends when we set up a meeting on Zoom. The Instagram, and now Netflix stars, are riding high. Singh has amazed audiences with her natural talent in the Swara Bhaskar-starrer film Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, and Koli has been all over social media in a magical career where people can't get enough of her. In the recent series, Mismatched, she makes her OTT debut. Koli started her YouTube channel, Mostly Sane, in 2015, and Singh debuted in the South Delhi Girl videos on iDiva in 2017. The last few years have then been life-changing—in a recent post to celebrate her Netflix debut, Singh's celebratory cake said, "Nainital to Netflix", a hark back to her humble beginnings, when her parents used to run a gift shop, and live in a tiny house (she recently bought them a new home). Ask them if their success is a result of being in the right place at the right time, or hustle and hard work, they say, both. "When I started my career almost six years ago, nobody saw this coming, right? Who knew this was going to blow up. Back then, my biggest dream was to have 30k followers. That's it! But so many avenues opened up—I can now act, write, edit, write songs. Nobody saw this coming. The audience is also more accepting of newer content," says Koli, 27, who managed 2.9 million followers. Singh, who has 1.1 million followers, says it is them, the first generation of social creators, who are figuring out the medium as they go along. "We may be driving the audience to watch us now, as we already have big followings. But when we started, we had to audition for everything—multiple times. It's not only because you got famous that you got a show. It's a lot of hard work," she says.
The two are naturals, making good use of the training they received while playing different characters on their Instagram and YouTube videos. One of Singh's most loved characters has been Raju ki Mummy, whose typical Indian middle-class ways will have you in splits. Koli's videos which would feature her playing the dad and daughter, were also full of slice-of-life humour and wisdom. "I always had the Bollywood ka keeda. I loved performing. But when I started doing YouTube, it was so empowering, since we are not dependent on anyone. I could play whoever I wanted to. Maybe because of that, I wasn't looking at auditioning every day, but I did take up every opportunity I got." For Singh, even saying that she wanted to be in Bollywood was like asking for too much. "I didn't even have the audacity to say it. But yes, TV pe aana tha. On my first day on set, I was overwhelmed, with so many people around. You had to now act with people, not just by yourself," says the 27-year-old. Koli seconds her, adding that the "acting is reacting" bit hit her hard, especially on the first day she went on the sets of Mismatched, and had to shoot a scene with co-star Rohit Saraf. "That's when I realised, this was a whole different ballgame."
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Prajakta Koli and Dolly Singh
They may have now started the superstardom journey, but they still get creator anxiety when they see all the new talent emerge on social media. "You always have to be relevant—I have been feeling old seeing all the new creators. But you just have to be true to yourself, or the fakeness will shine through." Koli feels there is enough space for everyone given India's vast audience numbers. "There are so many people in India, so as creators grow, the platforms will grow." Singh insists that there isn't as much jealousy, as mutual respect within the community. At this point, Koli says she remembers watching Singh's first home tour videos, where she gave her audience a look into her Nainital home. "I watched her new home-tour video now, and I am so proud of Dolly. We all know where we have come from, and the struggle we have gone through."
For now, they are focused on moving upwards and onwards, with better content and maybe new shows. But as they both say, every day is still a challenge, and they are constantly trying to rise above their own insecurities. "I am very shy. So every time, I am in front of the camera, I have to let my inhibitions go. It's my place to be outgoing," shares Singh. For Koli, the challenge is to fight anxiety over running out of content ideas. "Earlier, I would get upset and think, 'oh, I will have to shut my channel now'. Now, I just relax, and let it [the ideas] come to me."
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