In 2020, YouTuber Prajakta Koli interviewed Vidya Balan for her streaming channel, MostlySane. Starstruck, she had expressed a desire to act with the Parineeta actor. Three years later, the influencer-turned-actor seems to have manifested the dream with her new film Neeyat.
The Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, which released on on July 7, sees Balan stepping into Miss Marple’s shoes to investigate the death of a billionaire. Koli is one of the suspects. “She (Balan) is extremely giving and so patient. Sharing a frame with her was just so special,” says a visibly gushing Koli, who also has a solo scene with The Dirty Picture actor in the film.
Balan was definitely the biggest incentive. But starring in a film by Anu Menon, who is known for films such as Shakuntala Devi, London Paris New York and Waiting among others, was an opportunity of a lifetime, admits Koli. “When I was approached for the film, I didn’t have to think twice. I was just glad that she (Menon) knew of me,” she says.
An equal privilege was working alongside the rest of the cast, comprising the talented Neeraj Kabi, Shashank Arora, Rahul Bose, Shahana Goswami and Ram Kapoor. “On the sets of Neeyat, even when I was not in the shot, I used to constantly hang around the monitor or watch the rest of the actors perform to just absorb and learn as much as I could,” she adds.
Koli landed her first acting gig in 2020 with Netflix romantic-comedy series, Mismatched, where she played an ambitious college student, who wants to develop a gaming programme. The extremely popular show has been renewed for the third season. That bagged her a ticket to Bollywood two years later with family entertainer, Jugjugg Jeeyo. Starring alongside Varun Dhawan, she was nominated for the Filmfare (Best Female Debut) award.
While the 30-year-old’s acting career is still in a nascent stage, she is a much bigger influencer. One of the first in the country, Koli started her YouTube channel in 2015. Her comic videos about relatable issues of middle-class families have earned her a subscriber base of over seven million followers on both YouTube and Instagram.
It was, in fact, her social media presence that got her a spot in the Creators for Change documentary in 2020, along with two other YouTubers from across the globe. The film, where they were in conversation with Michelle Obama, won the Daytime Emmy awards.
Her continued popularity can be attributed to how she has managed to strike a balance between her roles as an actor and influencer. Notwithstanding her expanding acting portfolio, she continues to keep up her role as a changemaker. Last year, she was appointed India’s first Youth Climate Champion by UNDP. Even while she is travelling for film shoots, Koli consistently generates content for her social media.
Ask her how she has managed to stay relevant all these years and she credits her audience for it. “The comment section on my channel is where I look for direction,” she says, adding, “My viewers are brutally honest. That has always been my guiding light towards creating content. They are also my biggest vote of confidence when I am trying to do something new.”
Next on the horizon for multifaceted Koli are two new acting projects, which she refused to divulge details about. Besides that, she is all set to add another feather to her cap, as she has finished writing the first draft of her debut romance novel. “It is my favourite genre to watch and read. It started out as a script. I wanted to pitch it to an OTT platform, but then it turned into a book,” she says.
