From South Delhi to Bollywood, Billi Maasi aka Kusha Kapila is a hit

Kusha Kapila

Watching Kusha Kapila as Billi Maasi makes this writer nostalgic about Delhi, the city she grew up in. The hilarious Billi, a no-filter South Delhi aunty, spills the secrets to high society shenanigans, making her a massive star with a following of 756k. Kapila, 30, who grew up in Pitam Pura and now lives in Gurgaon, became popular enough to catch the eye of Karan Johar, who cast her in the just-released Ghost Stories on Netflix. "I was aware that Karan knew about me, but we met on the sets of a chat show, and then the casting director called to say, 'He wants you to do this small part'. It wasn't a small part from any angle. The character I play is also very close to the person I am in real life," Kapila says over the phone from New Delhi.

A fashion writer until just a year ago, Kapila decided to launch her content creator journey in collaboration with fellow creator Dolly Singh and creative director Santu Misra, making videos about humorous, but relatable, South Delhi girls. "It was all about being in the right place at the right time, and making most of the opportunities that came my way. We tried a whole lot of videos, but the South Delhi trope picked up. It was the truth na, that's why! Some people tell me, you exaggerate, and I say, 'if I truly show you the deepest, darkest secrets, you will be blown away'."

Once the videos picked up, there was no looking back. As Kapila says, the comment to look forward to was "max relate". The team started strategising about how the characters would shape up, what words and hashtags to use, which dialogues would make it to the videos. But other than South Delhi girls, Kapila says she also started using the platform to say far more than she needed to. And that's how the character of Ma WokeAnand and Monday Aunty were born. "Monday Aunty was a way in which I could put out political content in a humorous way, and get away with it. Ma WokeAnand slams sexism and patriarchy. I am a writer first. I know what issues to put out for discussion."

Popularity meant that Kapila soon found herself at a point where she had to decide whether she wanted to continue doing this for the rest of her life, because as she says, the Internet demands everything of you. "If you slack, your numbers slip. So, you have to make a video every single day of your life. That's just how it works. You have to be at it all the time. There is nothing settled about this job. I had got married, and wanted to find my centre. But then this is what I love [to do],"

For 2020, she plans to rule YouTube. And of course, present sharper opinion and conceive fiercer content. "I don't think I am anywhere close to saturation point. I want to create shows, and take my YouTube channel to the level my Instagram account is. In the end, what I do is also about entertaining people. This past year turned out to be one where I figured that this is what I was good at. The next one will be the year to take it to fruition."

756k
Kusha's Instagram followers

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