Exclusive - Soha Ali Khan: 'Kareena and Sara are not on my show because they’re famous, they’re on it because they’re authentic'

Soha Ali Khan

Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan is going to soon launch her podcast, 'All About Her', a show that brings together candid conversations with family members like mom Sharmila Tagore, sister-in-law Kareena Kapoor and niece Sara Ali Khan, while also addressing sensitive subjects such as mental health and suicide.

In an exclusive chat with Moneycontrol recently, Soha Ali Khan spoke about why the project feels so personal.

"Actually, it's something I've been thinking about for the past year, because I feel, I'm in my mid-40s now, and I really feel like I'm going through something, like my body is going through something, my mind is going through something. It's empowering, but it's also unsettling.  And I ended up having a bunch of conversations with a lot of experts in the past year, whether it was my financial advisor, whether it was my nutritionist, whether it was my therapist, whether it was my gynaecologist, I met a hormone expert for the first time, and I felt like all of those conversations were really, some of them were expensive, but they were informative and they were enriching, and I used to come home and talk to my friends about it, and I would give them some of the takeaways that would apply to them," she explains.

Soha explains then she decided to document these experiences and make it available for the general public.

"And I thought, why not actually invite some of these experts, make them have conversations with some phenomenal, real, non-expert women, who are perhaps going through a certain theme, a certain subject, record this, and then it obviously landed itself to the medium of a podcast and then disseminate it as a podcast. So that's where the genesis of this idea really came from. And then I sort of made a list of various subjects that I want to explore. And then now I've made them broader to things that other people might be touched by it. And then accordingly, we've chosen people who would be good fits with those subjects," she adds.

Kareena, Sara to be a part of the show 

Kareena, Sara , and other members of the family will join Soha on episodes that promise to be both candid and entertaining.

"Kareena, Sara will be there. We've already shot those episodes, and we all have a very clear sense of self, and it's wonderful to see, because there's no right or wrong. You are shaped by so much more than genetics, because some of us share the same genes as well. But, we're shaped by experiences, our families, our education, work, friends, and all of that makes us individuals," she says.

Soha agrees that those episodes will stand out because they don't look or feel like interviews.

"And the real idea is to get people who have a sense of self, who are comfortable sharing. They're not on the show because they're famous, they're on the show because they are authentic, really caring, also out of a sense of love for me. Being their authentic selves on the show, and being supportive, but also because they have the confidence to be able to speak what's in their heart and minds," she added with a warm smile on her face.

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With Kareena, there is a natural comfort, one that audiences will recognise instantly. The two have often shared easy camaraderie in public, but here the conversation turns personal, even playful.

With Sara, it’s a younger, curious energy that makes the exchange sparkle.

Her mother and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, will also be one of the guests in the show.

When we asked her about her mom's reaction to the talk show, Soha said: "She is very excited. She's a big fan of me when it comes to non-fiction, especially in my writing books and my speaking, she keeps asking ‘you write well and have a good mind. So where are you using that?’ So I told her, I'm using it. She said, when you're going to write another book, so at least now I can tell, OK, I'm not writing another book, but I'm scripting and writing interesting content for a variety of issues for these podcasts. And, she came on the show as well and it was lovely to have that and it was nice to be on camera with her. We've done a film together many years ago, I think, especially now, as I see her becoming more and more senior, I think it was valuable for us to document that.”

Beyond family banter, 'All About Her' tackles subjects that weigh heavy but are necessary to discuss.

Soha and Saif

Focus on Mental Health

Mental Health, the pressure of expectations, and even suicide will be discussed during these conversations on her podcast.

Soha says that it was crucial to not shy away.

We were fortunate enough to meet a psychiatrist on a work-life balance episode that we were shooting. And she said, I've written a book called Death is Not the Answer. And she gave me the book and I read it from cover to cover. And it talks about the alarming rates of suicide in India, especially amongst the youth and the pressures of various things.  And she said why don't people talk about these things? When we hurt our, you know, our bodies, we go to doctors. When we hurt our minds, we can also go to doctors, but we don't. So the, we've already shot an episode on suicide prevention, which was, I think, again, a very important subject to talk about," she said.

Motherhood is another thread which is going to be running through the series. Soha also spoke about how becoming a parent reshaped her priorities.

“As a parent, there are phases where your child needs you more. For me, those first few years were very precious, and I wanted to be there for her. Work was still important, but I was clear that I wouldn’t regret missing those milestones.” That awareness, she says, is also why she wanted the podcast to make space for women’s voices — their choices, their guilt, their joy.

Talking about how her husband Kunal Kemmu and brother Saif Ali Khan reacted to the idea of her podcast, Soha said they were supportive from the start. “I think that both of them think that I'm good in terms of that I have a good head on my shoulders and that I speak well and that whatever I do, I make an effort to do it. As I said, with integrity and hard work and I wanted to be reflective of my personality. So you know, they've all been kind. They said nice things,” she explained, adding that their encouragement meant a lot to her.

Soha also revealed that she wants both Saif and Kunal to be on the show once. “In fact, I want to have them both on the show as well because it's about her, but as I said, we will have men on the show when they speak about women, yes, I would like them to speak about the women in their lives, so we're scripting that one as well as we think of it. But they've been very encouraging,” she said, hinting that future episodes might give listeners a glimpse into Kunal and Saif’s personal views on the ladies in their life.

Her podcast is going to be launched on YouTube and the actress says it was a conscious decision as didn't want to monetise it rather put that information out for women to consume.

"I think for me, the motivation was not really monetizing this. The motivation was, now that I have these episodes, and I think that they're interesting, how do I ensure that I get the widest possible reach? And that is YouTube. Because it is information that I feel has improved my life, and I have paid some of these experts to get that information in terms of I've had consultations with them. And then very kindly, every single person has come on this episode for free. There's no sponsor, there's no brand associated with it. So, in terms of it's not that I don't enjoy making money, but I have other avenues of making money," she says.

"I want to underline that this is not sponsored content. As of now, none of the episodes are sponsored. That's not to say in the future, one may not, but I will always, I will always underline what content is sponsored and what is not, because I want it to be authentic and reliable and relatable to people.

Soha has shot 20 episodes till now and the show All About Her will go on air  from August 22.