WATCH: Amitabh Bachchan’s granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda talks about women empowerment and privilege

Navya Naveli Nanda hails from one of Bollywood’s top acting families, but she’s much more than a Bachchan. The 26-year-old granddaughter of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, is a passionate women’s rights advocate and is keen to use her influence and celebrity status for the greater good of society. Her video podcast and show, What The Hell Navya, which ran for two seasons, brought together three dynamic women from the Bachchan family – her mother, author/columnist Shweta Nanda, her grandmother, actress Jaya Bachchan, and herself – to discuss a range of topics from women empowerment to financial independence and parenting. The women across three generations discuss complex topics in a fascinating way without trivialising them. And Navya never lets us forget that she is always fighting for women.

“For a long time, the idea was that women empowerment meant being a CEO of a company. If you get to the top position, you are considered strong and independent. But being a housewife is just as strong. Women empowerment is all about the freedom to make your own choices,” Navya told Gulf News in a Zoom interview.

The founder of Project Naveli, an initiative that fights gender inequality in India by helping women achieve economic independence, legal awareness, and mental and physical health through education, believes the definition of a superwoman is one in which a woman has the right to choose.

“Housewives are often not thought of as strong, independent women… but in fact they are much stronger and more independent than anyone else because they see and face a completely different life from that of the home, one that we don’t value enough. Housewives are responsible for raising an entire generation that will one day change the world. Their job is to: [tough] “Women like CEOs and women heading companies of 1,000 people have a huge responsibility. The concept of women empowerment is about respecting women and giving them the freedom to make the choices they want,” she added.

She has already made her decision: she says she never considered acting as a career, but charity work excites and inspires her.

“I definitely don’t consider myself a celebrity. I’ve just been lucky to be in the position I am in and to have the family I have. They’ve allowed me to have this platform and I want to use it for the right things,” Navya said.

Excerpts from an interview with Navya, who talks about privilege, working with family and more…

When I was in journalism school, we were cautioned about writing stories with families…but you seem to have cracked that elusive code with three generations of women speaking to issues ranging from masculinity to privilege.

The idea for this podcast was born during the lockdown. We were able to spend a lot of time with each other. My mum, my grandma. [grandmother]and I sat on the couch and chatted about life and different topics. An idea suddenly struck me: what if we made these conversations in a public forum into a podcast, giving three different opinions from three different generations? We each have different thoughts and perspectives, and often agree and disagree on many things. The topics we curated for each episode are also relevant to today’s youth and today’s situation in general. We felt it would be good to have some of the conversations on these topics and be able to add our thoughts to the ever-growing conversation.

Your mother, Shweta Bachchan, has a very sarcastic sense of humour and the life lessons she imparts in a borderline sarcastic tone are refreshing to watch.

After this podcast, she gained her own fan base because people love to hear her talk and she always has very insightful and entertaining stories to tell.

Navya Naveli Nanda, Jaya Bachchan and Shweta Nanda to appear in Apple’s “What The Hell Navya” video podcast series

This podcast series is also a portrait of three women living in a world of privilege and access, something you all seem to feel keenly about, but were you worried that many might see the podcast as a vanity project?

We have always been very conscious of our privilege. This is something I have been talking about since the beginning. It is something I have been aware of at each stage of my professional life and I am where I am today mainly because of privilege and the opportunities I had at a very young age. The three of us are very conscious of that and feel responsible for the privilege we have. Some of our conversations, which are touched upon in the podcast, may only be relevant to us, who have come from a very different life path than the majority of people who listen to the podcast, but I think the overall themes of women, health, financial independence, masculinity, resonate with a lot of people. Our opinions may also coincide with people’s beliefs. That’s what’s great. No matter where you come from, everyone stands for what’s right and everyone believes in what’s right. For us in particular, the big theme of women’s empowerment is something that all three of us believe strongly in, regardless of background or privilege. We as a society, we all agree on these topics. We wanted to share our own personal experiences through the show, but the podcast also gives us a larger unified voice on certain topics and themes.

There is a lot of pressure in the modern day to appear and speak as woke… Do you face pressure to appear politically correct and speak as woke?

I’ve spent the last three and a half years working in the development and nonprofit sectors. For me, my work there is my life, and every conversation I have is the same, whether at home or in public, because it’s the work I live and breathe every day. In my chosen profession, being progressive comes naturally to me, and to my grandmother, too. [Jaya Bachchan]has a wealth of experience in the film industry. She started her career as an actress at the age of 16, and as an actress, she has seen the changes in the industry since it began in the 60s. So she has her own opinions on women’s rights and has a keen understanding of today’s situation. My mother is an author and an entrepreneur, and a housewife. She has her own opinions on what and how is spoken about women in today’s situation. So I don’t think it’s something that we actively tried to do. But I think it’s something that essentially comes very naturally because of the professions that we chose and where we are in life personally. We’re happy that our views apply to today’s situations and conversations, but I wouldn’t use the word “woke.” I would use the word “more conscious.” Today, people are much more conscious about certain things. As three women from the same family, we are also very conscious of the situation regarding what’s going on in the world today. I’m happy that we were able to address some of these issues through our podcast.

Your show is very female-centric – was that a conscious choice?

In season 2, it was mainly the three of us, but we had an episode featuring my brother, Agastya, where we discussed masculinity. I don’t want to exclude men from the conversation about women. I strongly believe that women’s empowerment cannot be fully achieved without the support of the men in our lives. Men play a very important role in our lives — as brothers, colleagues, partners, friends, etc. So, I think it’s very important to include men in the conversation about women. And Agastya stole the show. He got a lot of love in that episode. If there is a season 3, I hope they will invite more male guests to give their perspective on issues related to women, whether it be pay equality or women’s health. Their voices are equally important to achieve gender equality.

Navya Naveli Nanda with her grandfather, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan

Navya, you’ve always walked at your own pace. You didn’t enter the film industry like your famous uncles, grandmother and grandfather, but it must not have been easy being so comfortable in your own skin. Do you ever wake up wondering what to do next or with existential anxiety?

We all feel that way at some point. There is so much to do and achieve, just in terms of gender equality. Women are not given the opportunities they deserve and we see it all around us. We feel like we don’t have enough time to achieve, and that’s when existentialism kicks in. Questions like, “Will I be able to achieve all my goals in my lifetime?”, “What impact will I leave on society?”, “Will I leave society a better place than I inherited it?” come up one after another. But I always tell myself that impact is not always about the number, it’s also about the quality and depth of the impact. If I can impact one person and change their life, I consider it an achievement. If I can impact one person’s life, that’s great.

Don’t Miss It!

What The Hell Navya is available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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