People can see themselves in me: Dolly Singh On How She Stays Relatable

Dolly Singh can be seen basking in good lighting wearing the brightest clothes and the most quirky earrings. She flashes her unique smile and tells off trolls in the comments. In the past few years, Singh's followers have reached over a million and it is not just because of the entertaining skits and short format videos she posts on her Instagram. She tries to be real with her followers.

Singh has now graduated from social media content creation with her new acting roles in popular films and shows on OTT. She played the role of a friend in Dhruv Sehgal's short I Love Thane in the Modern Love Mumbai series. Currently, she can be seen in a new web show named Feels Like Home. 

During a conversation with SheThePeople, the actor and social media influencer spoke about her new characters, content creation, creative block and more. When asked about how she can relate to an ever-changing audience on social media, Dolly Singh said, "I am generally a laid back person and I think people are generally like that. I am also an introvert and I often talk about my mental health struggles." Singh feels that she is a lot more open to her followers as a content creator than a celebrity would ever be.

She added, "People know me, they can see themselves in me." Singh belongs to the quaint town of Nainital in Uttarakhand. She moved out to pursue graduation at the University of Delhi and then she went on to do a Fashion Management course at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in the national capital. Many of her fans first saw her in the 'South Delhi Girls' video series and got floored by her comic timing. It was as if Singh during her college years was studying the mannerisms of Delhi's posh society and churning out character sketches. She still comes out with impressive character sketches for her audience on Instagram by writing, directing, editing and performing them.

Acting and Content Creation

Although she hopes to be more occupied with Bollywood projects in the future but believes it would not stop her from making social media content. She says, "I have always worked by myself so much in life, so working on content allows me to do everything from scratch. I am mostly not satisfied if I don't do everything from writing to editing by myself."

Singh like most creative people faces creative blocks. The only way she can get past it is by trying "a lot".

"I am very bad with myself, I beat myself up a lot. The first few days you feel bad and then the next few days some wisdom comes and you feel maybe it is okay. Creative block is supposed to happen because the internet changes every day and it is very hard to keep up and impress the audience every day. I used to feel bad about it but now the pace has changed, and video durations have changed. I just try to be gentle on myself," she added.

Dolly Singh sharing screen with Swara Bhasker in Bhaag Beanie Bhaag

Talking about how she prepares for her acting roles for her Instagram videos and on sets of web shows, Singh shared, "Process is simple for the characters I do. I write them and there is always a background story and a character sketch. I want to establish what kind of family the character is from, what they are like as a person and everything. On sets also the work goes into knowing your character better. " 

She added, "Acting is still shaping up I am still trying to figure out. As an actor, the process is so different. I am been able to create that balance between acting and content creation." Currently, she can be seen essaying the role of a "typical Delhi girl" Biba in Lionsgate Play's Feels Like Home directed by Sahir Raza. Talking about her character, Dolly Singh said, "On some level, I relate to the character. She lives by her own rules, she is caring, but she is much more herself than I am. I want to be like her. "

"For my parents, Shah Rukh Khan and people like Rani Mukherjee are actors. I don't think they tell people that their daughter is an actor yet."

Proud Parents

Dolly Singh has surely come a long way making her parents proud. Talking about her parents' reaction to her popularity, Singh said, "For my parents, Shah Rukh Khan and people like Rani Mukherjee are actors. I don't think they tell people that their daughter is an actor yet, but they watch every day what I do and they are proud of me. "

The actor further added that she has stopped sharing pictures and posts on her parents like she used to earlier. She blames the dark side of content creation for it. "I have taken some steps back like I don't share about my family so much or my boyfriend and friends. I have stopped sharing things which involve other people in my life. They might not be okay with me putting everything about them out there for everyone to see, " she said. 

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Dolly Singh: Best Friend On and Off Screen

Since her acting debut in big projects, Singh can be in seen many roles of a best friend. She played the role Swara Bhasker's best friend in Bhaag Beanie Bhaag then she was the same to Masaba Gupta's character in Modern Love Mumbai. One might say that she is believable as a friend. As an influencer, she has also openly talked about body shaming and how it impacts her and other women. Singh shared that she did not always believe in sisterhood but she swears by it now.

"I do get best friend roles because I play them well. When I was growing up I wouldn't say that I was a feminist. I used to think that girls are always jealous of each other and boys have a "bro code". I grew up with very few friends. I believed that girls can never be good friends. After college and all these years, I have realised that there is nothing better than having many, many girlfriends. It's comforting, and fulfilling. "