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| Edited By: Sohini Das Gupta |Source: DNA |Updated: Jan 29, 2018, 11:29 PM IST
"It's true what they say about nepotism in Bollywood — it exists. But then, so does the big Bombay dream!" pronounces Malini Agarwal, her voice turning a shade dreamier. It makes sense. Who has lived this dream better than Agarwal, who traded her surname for the snazzier moniker of MissMalini, when she swept into the world of lifestyle blogging after a string of media assignments in 2008. "I'd already been a back-up dancer, a radio jockey, and a digital content head when my hobby of blogging turned into a full-fledged career, stoked and encouraged by my then business-school returned husband (Nowshad Rizwanullah) and co-founder Mike Melli," she recalls.
The career, barely considered one in India a decade ago, involved two of Agarwal's pet delights — gossip and social networking. But "gossip, the way I approached it, didn't follow the typical tabloid format of slander and rumour-mongering," clarifies the 40-year-old, whose recently released book #To The Moon: How I Blogged My Way To Bollywood has been announced a bestseller. Gossip, for the digital entrepreneur, was another name for wholesome conversations and fun games offering insights into the lives of celebrities. Luckily for Agarwal, it turned out there was a market for non-invasive entertainment reporting, where the positives of the industry were celebrated, and the entertainers' perspective, taken into account.
"It is all rooted in a relationship of trust" explains MissMalini, whose career shifted gear after she asked Imran Khan (actor) to join her on her radio show, following an exchange on Twitter. This instinct, of being open to possibilities and approaching people up front, distinguished MissMalini's business and ethics from existing sources of Bollywood news. "I was going in for a fresh, fly-on-the-wall perspective. The only way to be not around, but inside the party, was for these people to know that I won't abuse our relationship," Agarwal explains. And breach trust, she didn't. Scroll down her website, peppered with funky graphics and the occasional MissMalini thought bubble, and you come across beaming testaments from warring Bollywood camps, earned over years of treating entertainment as the "shiny, happy place it's meant to be". In the process, Agarwal also became an "aspirational, never condescending BFF" to her followers.
Of course, strong strategies accompanied strong ethics when it came to Agarwal's portal. "The Internet can be a lonely place, with limited scope for interactive experiences," notes the blogger. "My blog was to change this —to be like a personal letter to a friend," she says. To her credit, Agarwal seems to have achieved the right balance of personal and commercial, with a burgeoning website, 652.1k Followers on Instagram, a pride of place in the inner sanctum of Bollywood and now, her book. But why write a book — going back to print — when her digital empire continues to thrive? "It felt like the right time to share with others some of the knowledge on digital brand building that I've collected along the way," she explains, emphasizing the need for "young women to seek out their passion and pursue it with reckless abandon."
In Agarwal's own life, passion has never been restricted to the professional sphere. It was before the era of social media, when she met the love of her life at one of her own parties, thrown under the banner of 'Friday Club'.The club, arguably Agarwal's maiden project in the city, was essentially network of young, ambitious media friends who met on weekend eves to reaffirm the collective rush of their 'Bombay dream'. Rizwanullah, "someone's last minute plus-one", went on to woo and marry the hostess in an idyllic beach wedding, and share responsibilities of MissMalini, where he continues to be the CEO. "It was never a single's club, but so many people got hitched there," laughs Agarwal, hinting at an upcoming reunion of the clique that kick-started the crazy ride.
Crazy it'd be, to wrap up the interview without spilling some of that gos she's got us hooked to, I suggest. Like the stars she coaxes into friendly surrender, Agarwal obliges.
Miss Quoted
