There Are Two Kinds of Directors: Those Who Lead and Those Who Follow. I Don’t Work with Followers.” — Divya Dutta

The atmosphere buzzed with excitement as the inaugural ‘Women of Impact’ stage by Barkha Dutt welcomed a stellar lineup of guests for some high-octane discussions. Actress Divya Dutta, along with Ruchira Jaitly and Hardika Shah, graced the stage, sharing enlightening anecdotes from their personal journeys across diverse fields. Speaking on trying to fit in during her early days and losing oneself in the moment, replying to Barkha’s question on whose approval was she seeking, Divya shared “I guess everyone’s approval but mine. The time I came in was a time of multi-starrers and also I had come against the will of everybody at home except for my mom, so I had made a huge decision.”

She added “If I did a ‘Veer-Zaara’, I was flooded with offers, it wasn't that there was any dearth of work but that's not the work I want to do, I want to wait. I want to do something different. I want to excite myself and hence my audience is going to get excited. Hence, I waited for a year-and-a-half for ‘Delhi-6’ to happen to me.” Sanya Malhotra, the power-packed performer, widely acclaimed for her meaningful roles, too joined Barkha for a heartfelt conversation. The actress shared candidly about her mindset at the time of starting out, experiencing imposter syndrome and her family’s support along her journey.

Recalling an instance post her film ‘Mrs.’, Sanya said “Especially after Mrs., people were upset with Richa’s journey, a lot of people got triggered. I dealt with it because I was oblivious. I chose her truth, I chose to be part of the film because the story really spoke to me. I wanted to tell Richa’s story which a lot of women related to. If that triggers you it's not my job to make you feel better.”