Interview with Deepali Sahay: From Patna to Mumbai to Meet a Rising Star

Karm karo phal ki chinta mat karo.

Without having this famous excerpt from the Gita in mind, I sent an email to Deepali Sahay asking if she would like to have a telephonic conversation about her journey.

I did not expect a reply.

It was for one of my articles on the page. I casually shared 5-6 ideas with Rachit, our founder, and the Deepali Sahay interview stood out to him. I emailed her right after, forgot about it, and started working on the next article.

We received a reply from her.

Things moved pretty quickly. Just after a few calls with her manager, it was clear I was going to Mumbai to shoot a podcast with her 4 days later. What!?

This wasn’t my first time with celebrities. I have shot ads with cricketers before and had a chance to meet seven of them playing for the then cricket team (including Shikhar Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh, and Australian Captain Pat Cummins).

Somehow, this was more special. It felt closer to my calling, rather than making ads. There I found a part of myself after being lost in the race for attention. Definitely something I would like to stick around for longer. At the same time, it felt personal, like something I had cracked myself.

My laptop remained open; white space covered the majority of the screen while the cursor kept blinking in the corner, waiting to be written. I walked back and forth in the room, refusing to sit.

The next two hours went into scanning Deepali’s interviews, discovering her story and little details in between. Soon enough, I had my not-to-ask questions list ready. It included the chapters of her life she had already discussed in detail.

By evening, I had a rough show flow ready. An introduction with a set of questions and follow-ups were in place.

The next day went into revisions and refining the flow even more, and I still had the luxury of two days for preparation and practice. If you were around me during these two days, you would have spotted me either murmuring to myself or talking out loud to… nobody. Or watching and observing podcast hosts I love. I noticed the kind of questions they ask, the way they carry a conversation forward, and their reactions whenever the guest shares a story.

Well, these were the controllables I was training myself to get better at. But there were other factors I knew I would certainly falter at: hair and makeup. I never wear makeup, so I barely own anything. At best, I tried to tame my curly hair in this humid weather, the most difficult of all weather conditions to maintain a frizzy hair type. Oh, I wish they listened to me!

To my surprise, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would (although now I wish to push myself to learn a little makeup for shows like this). I found myself sitting with somebody strange. Someone I don’t hang around with very often.

The confidence.

Confidence and I had a difficult relationship growing up. We always revolved around each other in the same room, but rarely sat with each other on the same bench. We knew of each other, but never each other. We were like those two classmates who were in the same section since nursery, but somehow they never happened to become friends in their entire school life.

‘Tum kabhi confident mat hona’; the Senior Editor taunted sarcastically during my first internship at a media house. He had spotted my discomfort with confidence. Many like him noticed the tea between us.

Strangely enough, this time I saw confidence hanging around comfortably close. He was ready to go to Mumbai with me. Not to hide somewhere in the corner of the room, but to greet everybody before I could greet them.

I welcomed him wholeheartedly; I put aside the bitter feelings I had towards him, only to head on to a new journey together.

When you accept somebody as your friend, you accept them with their flaws. My newfound acceptance of him also helped me see his flaws as human. So, instead of expecting the gesture from the other side, I decided to mold myself around confidence.

He would still be left behind while I walked too fast. Whenever I noticed that, I waited for him to catch up with me. Old habits take longer to leave after you’ve waved them goodbye. I reminded myself that I was the one taking him to Mumbai, so it was my responsibility to take care of him, not his. Confidence and I walk together now.

This friendship wasn’t the only new thing that happened.

I have spent my last 4 years away from home, working in other cities. Lately, I haven’t had the chance to witness the excitement on my parents’ faces whenever I stepped out to do something new, challenging, or exciting in my career. Yes, I would hear their words of encouragement over a call, but seeing their facial expressions light up the entire day was something I had missed for years. Perhaps distance takes away the joy of witnessing those immediate, lasting reactions.

They would catch up with me throughout the day, asking about my preparation and would not hold back from showering their wisdom and precious tips.

On D-Day, my father dropped me off at the airport. He reminded me to keep confidence in myself. I did not forget. I waved him goodbye and headed off to board my flight to exciting opportunities. The first work trip from Patna to Mumbai is always special (every Patnaite would agree).

As soon as I sat on the plane, I found myself in the lap of someone familiar.

Anxiousness.

He is a foe, but I guess he considers me a friend. It always surprises me how often he visits unannounced. He has expertise in racing my heart at a speed where I can’t decide which is faster—the pace of the plane or my heartbeat. I tried the OG breathe-in and breathe-out method, but no, he seemed to have clutched my body hard enough to have gone with a breath.

I turned a blind eye towards his behaviour, pretending he only belonged to the shadows. And started practicing. I diverted myself to record the view outside the window. Put all my attention into eating the plane food and watching some downloaded videos, oblivious to his annoying presence. After two hours, he and I landed in Mumbai together.

At Mumbai airport, I noticed I had forgotten to wear earrings, and a few other things I thought were essential. He probably greeted me much before I noticed him on the plane.

Confidence came to my rescue. He stood in front of me, drew a big, wide smile on my face, and made me believe I felt amazing. Feeling amazing is stronger than looking amazing.

Soon after, I got a call from Rachit. And I wondered if he knew what to say to his teammates before their big moments.

He asked me if I was nervous. I laughed. A little bit, I said. Then he told me something that stood out and might stay with me for life.

‘Isha, you were born to do this.’

Really? Am I born to do this?

I am not sure if I was born for this. But it definitely showered me with a strong sense of belief in myself, and that was enough to enter the room with three cameras, three lights, two mics, and carry an hour-long podcast. It was enough to screw away little bouts of doubt in my head and carry with me only gratitude and happiness. It was enough for me to be myself in a room full of people I was meeting for the first time.

And, oh, remember the foe who considers me his friend? He disappeared without me noticing when or where. Gosh, see you never.

I was dropped off at the studio in a media van (screaming in my head), and there I did not get any time to look at my face in the mirror before Deepali arrived. She entered the room with an aura full of life. She greeted everyone and even recognised somebody from our production team. She struck up a conversation with everyone right away. It flew naturally from her.

At first, my introverted self took the steering wheel. But I reminded myself not to be hard about it. I knew I would gel into the conversation once it started to flow naturally, and it did. In a blink, everything was going smoothly on record.

You can check out how the conversation went here. Two Patna girls talk about cities and dreams.

Every day, thousands of people visit or move to Mumbai to find their dreams. And, somehow, Mumbai makes a space for everybody’s dreams to find them, too. And as I leave after the shoot, I also leave a part of myself in the city to return to. A part that knows how to dream and the city that knows how to fulfil it.

Till then, I write from the city that knows its best to keep you prepared. The city that makes you believe in karma more than the phal.

PS: FULL EPISODE WITH DEEPALI SAHAY RELEASES SOON ONLY ON GTK.