'I want to be someone who has a voice,' says actor Neha Dhupia in Bengaluru

You may know her from 2000s comedies like Chup Chupke or Singh is Kinng, from her time as a model representing India in the Miss Universe pageant, or perhaps more recently, playing Vidya Balan's boss in 2017 hit Tumhari Sulu or an unabashedly sexy librarian in Lust Stories. Add to that her much-loved stints as a gang leader on several seasons of Roadies and her podcast-cum-YouTube show No Filter Neha, it's no stretch to call Neha Dhupia a beloved household name.
Visiting the city as the showstopper for Max Kids Festival, she reflected on this gradual shift in focus from model-actor to reality TV star and popular host, saying, 'It's not a transition; in 2025, any number of mediums that you can explore – whether it's a podcast, television, fiction or non-fiction, whether it's playing characters in films – you should. After being in the business for over two decades now, I have to put myself in a box and at the same time, be out of the box. I want to be someone who has a voice and exercises it when necessary.'
This confident and outspoken demeanour is evident than ever in Dhupia's return to Roadies for its Roadies Double Cross season after three years. 'My biggest victory has been coming back to the show and get ting the amount of love that I have.It makes me want to keep coming back,' she says, adding, 'I'm always fighting for what I want to try and at no point do I want to hurt or harm anybody. The intention is always to encourage people.'

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