Woman on the verge: How Sahiba Bali is working her way to the top
When asked where home is, Sahiba Bali finds it hard to answer. Bali, 30, is part-Kashmiri, part-Punjabi, but was born in Kolkata. She spent her early years in Indonesia (the Bali jokes write themselves), but returned to Delhi to complete school and attend Delhi University. Then, she flew to the UK to complete her Masters in marketing, and did an extra business course at Oxford, just because she could. Then, she moved to Mumbai.
But the reason someone would ask her that in the first place is because Bali is everywhere. She started off as a brand manager for Zomato, was an associate director at Unacademy, and found time to be a lifestyle content creator. She ended up hosting S4 of Shark Tank India, is now a sports broadcaster and an anchor at Disney Star, and has been in three movies and several web series. She played Kashmiri student Ambreen in Laila Majnu (2018), an Inter-Services agent Abida in the Netflix series Bard of Blood (2019), and an exacting journalist in Amar Singh Chamkila (2024). For this season's IPL, Punjab Kings brought her on as their marketing and digital curator, making those viral fun Reels with cricketers. While you catch your breath, she's now in a music video too: Haqeeqat, sung and composed by Akhil Sachdeva.
None of this, she says, was part of the plan.
Early start
As the only child of a banker and a production-house director, Bali recalls watching both parents hard at work, every day. She ended up excelling in her studies simply because she didn't know any other way. But being an only child meant more than academic excellence. 'My parents were working through the day, so I would be left to my own devices,' Bali recalls. 'I had only myself to entertain and motivate.' Cue the extracurriculars: Bharatanatyam, keyboard, jazz, debating, theatre. 'I was doing so much, and a lot of it was competitive. It just inculcated this behaviour of trying to excel in different things. That stayed with me.'
It also helped chart a multi-pronged path to the spotlight. Acting was never meant to be more than a side hustle, Bali says. But perhaps the roulette of auditions and rejections didn't hit as hard. 'During the weeks when I wasn't acting, instead of sulking about the lack of work and feeling bad about rejection, I took a marketing job on the side.'
Bali originally auditioned for Triptii Dimri's role in Laila Majnu, but got the part of her sister instead. She auditioned for Kiara Advani's role in Kabir Singh, as well as Anushka Sharma's role in Sultan, opposite Salman Khan. She recalls a Netflix show that fell through. 'I had this great role — a woman from Delhi who lives in Gurgaon, a complete girl-next-door. But unfortunately, after we signed the contract and everything, they went ahead with someone else because they wanted to package it differently.'
She just kept auditioning until the tide began to turn. Audiences noticed her small part in Laila Majnu. She began to be recognised for the videos she'd do with Zomato; her fresh vibe resonating with viewers on YouTube and Instagram. People began watching her vlogs (each video now has more than 20 lakh views).
Speak easy
Bali is often cast as Kashmiri. 'Maybe I look and talk the part.' But she's eager to break that stereotype. 'I want a typical Yash Raj filmi, over-the-top romantic drama,' she says, and quickly adds that she'd also do 'a very natural, Piku-type role'. But she's aware that her big break is yet to come. Until then, she's not shying away from being herself in public.
Last year, Bali was invited to an Indian billionaire's son's wedding, a much-spotlighted event that was dubbed The Shaadi Of The Century. She skipped it, telling interviewers that she didn't want to attend it just for the attention. In April, she was one of the few people in entertainment to speak up against the erasure of Mughal history from grade 7 NCERT textbooks. As a star-in-the-making, she knows the cost of speaking her mind. But she knows how fickle fandom is too. 'It's the small things,' she says. 'I don't talk about something, people start forming opinions about me. If I do say something about an issue, then there are questions.'
Of course, like all young people, she yearns for simpler times. 'There are days where I really wish we had gone back to analogue life and didn't have smartphones,' she admits. The constant scrutiny means 'whenever I'm saying anything, I have to think twice'.
But years of putting in the effort, competing and coming out shining are helping her battle online negativity and public opinion. 'I tell myself that this is for two hours, that people are going to forget, that there are bigger problems in the world, that nobody cares about you in the grand scheme of things,' she says. 'I don't worry about what I can't change.' We'll be seeing more of her on screen. Let's hope she keeps that fighting spirit intact.
From HT Brunch, June 21, 2025
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