From dancing on ‘Chik Chik Zig Zig’ to enacting ‘Parlour Wali Aunty’, Dharna Durga can make anyone laugh. Her rise to fame as a content creator has made her an icon in the Instagram world and an inspiration to many budding artists. Dharna’s friends found her videos to be great and forced her to post one of them on IGTV. That’s how her content creation journey started and there was no looking back after that. Presently, she has a whopping base of more than 800K followers on Instagram.
In a conversation with ABP Live, Dharna shared her experience of meeting Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor during ‘Bawal’ promotions. She also talked about the inspiration behind some of her funny characters.
Here are some excerpts from Dharna Durga’s interview:
Which one is favourite character of yours?
I think my favourite character is Simpy ki Taiji because I personally enjoy writing the dialogues of it.
Which character does the audience love the most?
People love to hear the gossip from Simpy ki Taiji and apart from that Asses and Neesha’s videos are also loved by the audience.
What is the inspiration behind Asses and Neesha’s sketch?
This was a collective thought that Anmol (content creator Anmol Babbarr) and I had. We made the video randomly and had no idea if we would make parts of it. We had no idea that this video would be loved by people. This is one of those videos that we had no clue while making but it clicked with a lot of people.
We have seen one such couple in the park who keeps fighting, so, we thought why not we create them? Then, we started building more stories.
Your ‘Fortune-teller Aunty’ videos are pretty famous. How did you get the inspiration to create this character?
Here’s how Dharna explained her character.
Who are the kids in your videos?
Actually, they are my neighbours. They are equally cute and naughty. So, it’s hard to make videos with them. The elder one knows that we are recording a video, but the younger kid has no clue and she acts candidly. I have to control them behind the cameras.
I needed kids in one of my videos, so I talked to them. When I shot the first video with them, it was more than 50% impromptu. I had no idea how they would act. When I sat to edit it, I was sure that nothing would be useful – it was very rough. But, it turned out to be funny by chance. So, I started making more videos with them.
Now, I call their mother during the shoot. She sits behind the camera so that the kids can sit and make videos.
Can you share your experience of meeting Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor during ‘Bawaal’ promotions.
How hard was it to convince your parents about becoming a content creator?
Initially, they didn’t know what “content creation” meant. So, when people asked, they would say she makes videos, but let’s see what she would do in the future. They knew that I’ve done theatre so I have an interest in acting. They used to think that it was my hobby.
My family has been very supportive although they think that content creation doesn’t convert into big income. They were like ‘Do whatever you like’ – it is not important how much money you are making.
My mom reads all the comments at night. She puts my videos on her status.
What’s your future plan? Do you want to act in movies?
I have a dream to take my mom to the theatre to show her my scene on the big screen. This is my ultimate goal. Apart from that, I want to do a show in India. Obviously, acting is my goal but it is not that easy. I do funny stints in my videos but I want to learn how to do serious roles.