Since she will be exchanging places soon — the interviewee will become the interviewer—we ask actor Soha Ali Khan what she considers the best ice-breaker. “I make a lot of goofy jokes,” she says. “But it is always better to not cold-start with questions. Maybe gauge the mood of a person?” We take note and improvise. “So, how have you been?” we ask. Soha gives a hearty laugh. “Good one.”
The actor, who was last seen in the role of an evil witch in the horror-drama Chhorii 2 (2025), has launched All About Her, a podcast where she brings together both celebrities and experts to talk about women’s bodies and the changes they undergo with age. The guest list includes Malaika Arora, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Smriti Irani, Patralekhaa and Sunny Leone, amongst others. For Soha, the idea came from a personal space, “I turned 45 and things started happening,” she shares. “There were changes in my body, in my hormones, my hair, my skin, my mind, my work, my family, and my marriage. I realised I could use some help. So, I made a list of 10 experts that I wanted to consult with, ranging from a therapist to a nutritionist to a gynaecologist to a hormone expert. And I felt that I wanted to share what I learned.”
So, what were her findings? “That a lot of us is just biology,” she says. “Women have a 28-day hormonal cycle; did you know men have one too?” she asks, before answering. “It lasts just 24 hours. Guys peak in the morning and reset conveniently while sleeping at night. For women, we need the latter half of our hormonal cycles to reset. As a feminist, as somebody who always says men and women are equal and are the same, our bodies actually are not. And I have really understood how we are different and how we need to be sensitive and kind towards ourselves.”
Soha remembers the first time her body underwent a change. It was during her teenage years, when puberty often hits like a wrecking ball. “I actually attained it quite late in my class,” she says. “I was waiting, thinking, ‘when will all this happen to me?’ and then it did, I was like ‘why was I waiting for this to happen?’ It was a complicated time.” She also revealed how, at the time, her mother (veteran actor Sharmila Tagore), had become a “handwriting expert”. “She used to say, ‘your handwriting has become smaller,’ which means you are hiding things. Luckily, I grew up in a close-knit family, so I could discuss ‘growing up confusions’ with my mother and my elder sister. These days, however, we live in nuclear families and both parents are almost always working and expect that the kid will learn everything in school. It can’t be like that.”
Soha and her husband, actor-director Kunal Kemmu, have an eight-year-old daughter, Inaaya, and the actor shares that watching her offspring growing up often reminds her of her own childhood. She says she can hear her own parents speaking through her when she reprimands Inaaya. “I have observed myself taking her full name when I am being strict with her,” she says. We ask Soha, if she thinks Inaaya is growing up to be more like her? What are the similarities or differences? “I think she is completely unique,” says Soha. “But of course, all the qualities are from me and the more ‘challenging’ bits are from Kunal,” she says with a chuckle.
The actor’s sister-in-law, Kareena Kapoor Khan, also hosts a podcast called What Women Want. Any trade secrets she shared with Soha? “If you know Kareena, you know, she's not the one to sit and give you advice. But she’s incredibly supportive and has shown her support by coming on an episode that we have done, on positive parenting,” says Soha. On the film front, we ask her if she has anything lined up? “I am not getting as much interesting work as I would like,” she confesses. “But I have done a feature film with R Madhavan, with whom I am collaborating after about 20 years (They played a couple in the 2006 film Rang De Basanti). It’s a thriller and also has Raashii Khanna in it. I am excited for it.”
