Bollywood filmmaker, choreographer and now web star Farah Khan says her surprising second innings as a digital creator has not solely reshaped her public picture but additionally change into one among her most rewarding ventures — creatively and financially.
In a brand new dialog with actor Soha Ali Khan on a podcast, Farah revealed that her YouTube channel, launched in April 2024 and anchored largely round humorous cooking classes together with her prepare dinner Dilip, has grown into one among her greatest earnings sources.
The channel’s huge following — practically 3 million subscribers on YouTube and 4.5 million followers on Instagram — has turned her informal vlogs right into a full-fledged phenomenon.
“I don’t know what to say… huge is relative,” she instructed Soha, admitting even she was surprised by the size of earnings. Farah mentioned she has made extra in a single 12 months on YouTube than she did throughout a number of years of directing movies. “Possibly in my total profession, I’ve not made a lot cash,” she mentioned, calling the platform’s returns “shocking however welcome.”
For Farah, nonetheless, cash isn’t the primary takeaway. What actually issues is the freedom she has by no means skilled in movie or tv.
“There will likely be someone who has the cash who’s calling some photographs,” she mentioned, describing the standard filmmaking ecosystem. YouTube, in distinction, appears like an area fully managed by her: “That is yours and also you get to name the photographs… it’s 100% artistic freedom.”
That spirit of independence defines her total course of. Farah mentioned she shoots her movies with out scripts, plans or retakes. “We actually don’t script,” she mentioned. Whether or not she’s cooking, chatting with visitors, or just bantering, she insists the spontaneity is what audiences get pleasure from. Her humour, she added, works as a result of it’s “with out malice.”
She additionally takes care to guard her visitors on digicam. If a second appears more likely to go viral in a method which will hurt somebody, she merely removes it. “In contrast to different channels that can make that your headline,” she mentioned.
Farah’s method to collaborations is equally unfiltered. She does her movies with out hair or make-up groups and buys most of her outfits on-line — usually from small sellers who later uncover her movies have boosted their enterprise. “They’re utilizing my full YouTube content material as an commercial,” she joked.
In the case of sponsorships, she is selective. “I would like to make use of that model. I must be okay with it,” she mentioned, including that there are classes she refuses altogether. “I don’t do medicines… if I’ve not used it, I can’t do.” Her message to companies is constant: “That is my channel.”
Even model integrations on her vlogs stay spontaneous. She recalled how a Cashify point out was an unscripted gag when her driver mistakenly known as it “Spotify” — a second manufacturers later appreciated for its authenticity. Farah famous that movies underperform principally when manufacturers try and micromanage content material, diluting the very persona that pulls viewers in.
Together with her unfiltered humour, unscripted course of and fiercely impartial philosophy, Farah Khan has constructed one among Bollywood’s most unconventional — and profitable — digital empires, proving that generally probably the most easy content material comes from merely being oneself.
