Amid the outpouring of hate against Koffee With Karan, Neha Dhupia on launching the latest season of podcast with similar treatment
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 26, 2020)

Neha Dhupia, who is gearing up to launch the fifth season of her celebrity podcast series No Filter Neha, says it will stand out from previous editions. "We are recording on Zoom, with 20 people working on the back-end. A face-to-face conversation is more intimate, but we have to adapt," says the actor-host, who will open the series with Saif Ali Khan.

A breezy show that has stars spilling the beans on their professional and personal lives, No Filter Neha shares similarities with Koffee With Karan in terms of theme and treatment. With Karan Johar's chat show being slammed amid the ongoing insider-versus-outsider debate, Dhupia believes her podcast has always employed an empathetic gaze. "Harmless banter on shows has been widely dissected, but that can't be the reason to change our format. In this season, the conversations will revolve around celebrities making sense of the new world we are living in and will focus on their time with family."

Recently, the actor was trolled on social media after Suchitra Krishnamoorthi alleged that she got a talk show because of her "chamchagiri" to Johar. Dhupia, who responded to her claims with a strongly worded post, reflects, "[It's strange that] people who don't know me have an opinion on my life! [Ideally] they shouldn't get away with sitting in front of a laptop and taking jabs at others. Or one must not pay heed and move on."