With more than 11 million subscribers on video streaming site YouTube, Canadian-born Lilly Singh -- who traces her roots to the Punjab and would be quite over the moon if paired with Bollywood star Ranveer Singh -- is quite a sensation.
Hailed by her followers as "Superwoman", Lilly is known for her quirky takes on social issues and pun-intended videos with a touch of sarcasm.
"There is a saying - girl should be two things -- who and what she wants. You need to have a voice and I think that's the key thing to become a superwoman," Lilly told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.
The 28-year-old comedian and vlogger is currently touring India to promote her book "How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering" (Penguin/Rs 599/pp 304). Singh's journey on YouTube began in 2010 under the "Superwoman" pseudonym and in no time had managed to establish an identity of herself.
"You need is to be unapologetic to yourself. Take a stand for yourself, believe in what you are and who exactly you want to be," Lilly suggested
A memoir by nature, the book is an inspiration for many as she talks about her personal journey to superstardom. As she climbed the stairs of success, she thought of sharing the abstracts from lessons learnt and what could have been a better way than penning these down as a book?
"The idea of book came because I thought I was in a really good stage of my career and personal life and putting all this on paper can help others. I think a book is a better format because you can thoroughly talk about things and readers can feel a physical presence," Singh mentioned.
With video series like "Battle of Sexes", "The Parents Lols", "My Parents React", "#GirlLove" or the very recent "Awkward Message Thoughts", Singh has managed to nail it every time with her humour and satire.
"I think it is easier to talk about anything when you do it with humour. I think people accept things easily when it is kept humorous and gives the least chance to offend," Singh contended.
"People are more willing to receive any type of serious topics in humour. I think being comic is a really good way of conveying a message as it takes away the awkwardness and seriousness," she added.
From women's right to workplace behaviour - topics for her videos come naturally to her. It is her observational power that helps to absorb the humour that happens around her.
"I usually just talk about things that happen in my life. There are often many naturally funny incidents that happen but nobody talks about them but I extract those topics. Hopefully, funny things will keep happening around me and I will continue to get video ideas," the YouTuber felt.
She has interviewed a lot of celebrities and collaborated with the likes of Michelle Obama and Dwayne Johnson for #GirlLove and strongly believes that the digital space is soon going to be the future of entertainment.
"The digital space is getting bigger and better. Almost all the shows are now available on online streaming. A lot of actors have started their channels and its growing and definitely good news for me," Singh explained.
Though she is among the top 100 most subscribed channels on YouTube and bagged the third spot on the Forbes list of the world's highest paid YouTube stars, she is open to the idea of working in television.
"I grew up watching television. Though am so proud about the digital space and never want to leave it, but would love to try. It is different and it will be interesting experience," she noted.
Any Bollywood dreams?
"If someone asks me, then ofcourse I would love to be a part of Bollywood movies and would want to be paired opposite Ranveer Singh. I love the way he dances and his high energy level," Singh concluded.
