The Outlier

With some highly anticipated projects under her belt, Sobhita Dhulipala couldn’t feel more optimistic about the New Year. In her free-spoken spirit, the young actor talks about her time of reflection and breaking new ground

- TANYA MEHTA

Huddled in the back-seat of a car, I sit across from actor Sobhita Dhulipala as she shares a bar of chocolate with me. Celebrity interviews in moving vehicles can often be awkward – the conversation almost always ends earlier than expected and as you escape the bubble of dialogue you become acutely aware of your role as an interviewer. There’s an air of lingering silence and small talk as you scramble through bottle-neck traffic. But, with Dhulipala, there’s a familiar sense of ease. It always feels like a session of catch-up without the added effort of trying to navigate a questionnaire. I’m meeting the young actor a year-and-a-half after her first cover shoot with Grazia. And while she’s had many note-worthy outings on the big and small screens, while also having to steer through the ongoing pandemic, her humility is unfettered. “It’s been a rewarding time. I think the lockdown has catalysed my understanding of ambition. Because I was just so hungry to do work, every thought was directed towards the pursuit of professional betterment. I had no life beyond that. To stop by and smell the flowers was an act of guilt. Now, the more work I get, I recognise that if I have no life experiences outside of professional pursuits, then I have nowhere to draw from,” she tells me.

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