From Spill the Sass to a Netflix star, here is the story of Instagram’s favourite Dolly Singh

Internet influencer Dolly Singh is best described in her Instagram bio: “I make funny videos for a living.”

Her content goes viral because she never projects herself as perfect and flawless. Dolly’s videos are inspired from the regular, mundane, and relatable stuff that we all go through, every day. 

The digital creator recently starred in Netflix series Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, in which she plays Kapi Kapadia, the protagonist’s (played by Swara Bhaskar) best friend. 

Dolly is funny and outspoken. And she is definitely more beyond her 1.1 million Instagram followers. In a recent conversation with YS Weekender, she defines herself as “dreamer”.

“I feel, the day-dreams that I once had, have finally been fulfilled for the hard work that I have put in and for the love that I have received,” she says.

Dolly gets candid about her ‘flaws’ as a child, and going down the road not taken: 

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A self-made woman 

Dolly has had her fair share of mistakes. Born and raised in Nainital, she has a rather humble background (of which she is very vocal about now). But, Dolly did not always ‘acknowledge’ that her family was not as affluent as her friends’.

“I would run away from reality and pretended to be well-to-do...Thankfully, I have some perspective now,” she says. 

Recently, Dolly gifted her parents a house in their hometown and the influencer says, “I have done so many bad things as a child that I am just trying to cover up for them; this is just me trying to fix my mistakes,” she adds. 

A topper in school, her parents and teachers were rather ‘shocked’ when Dolly decided to take up Humanities for higher education. Dolly attributes this decision to being inspired by Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken. 

“I was so inspired by it and decided that I will take the road less travelled...Everybody was so disappointed but it gave me the courage to not let people’s expectations of me guide me through everything,” she explains. 

Growing up, Dolly had one dream — “To be famous.” 

“Now that I am a little famous, it does feel like a shallow dream to have. But, I was obsessed with fashion, and Bollywood…I was very mesmerised by the industry,” she says.

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First taste of success 

Dolly has always had a deep love for fashion. 

Looking back at her childhood, she recalls while growing up, she only received two pairs of clothes every year that had to be worn all year round. 

“Market jana hai ya shaadi mein, sirf jeans aur top hi pehente the (Irrespective of whether we had to go to the market or a wedding, I would always wear a pair of jeans and top),” Dolly says. 

Thus, on every visit to the temple, she had only one prayer to offer: “To have a closet full of clothes and shoes.”

After graduating from the University of Delhi, Dolly went on to follow her passion and joined the National Institute of Fashion Technology to pursue a Masters in Fashion Management. 

When bloggers like That Boho Girl (Kritika Khurana), Santoshi Shetty, and Dolly’s best friend Komal Pandey were writing, talking (and walking) fashion, Dolly decided to give it a shot as well. 

She started her own blog Spill the Sass, which focused on pocket-friendly fashion and outfits that one can build from their existing wardrobe.

Content creator turned actor

In the early days of her career, Dolly joined iDiva, where she played the role of being a South-Delhi Girl in short, funny videos. 

South Delhi Girl “kind of blew up,” Dolly says. Her other famous character, Raju ki Mummy, is inspired by her own mother. In fact, for an iDiva video on ‘Types of Moms when guests come over’, Dolly’s character is based on her mother. 

“It came as a surprise...The character was very strong and when the video was released, most comments were about that one character, so we decided to try more. The next video of Raju ki Mummy featured Badshah and it gained us millions of views,” Dolly says. 

This gave her the confidence to start making videos on her own. Even as 15-second reels become popular among users, Dolly still prefers doing longer videos.

In her recent project with Netflix, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Dolly had to go through about seven rounds of auditions, including that of the lead role. “It is Netflix of all things…A dream for so many! There was no way I could say no to that,” she says. 

Dolly is now looking forward to making more out of her YouTube channel and hopes to write a show or movie, someday. “As much as I love being in front of the camera, I enjoy being behind it as well,” she adds.