On Our Radar: Meet the trailblazers who are shaping the future of content creation.
With content creation turning into a full-fledged profession and industry today, a large number of youngsters are opting for this creative field. It is an opportunity to give their innate skills a reach and an audience that will catapult them to success, like it has for many creators out there. Ruchika Lohiya a.k.a Chikka is a prime example. She is gifted with the art of poetry. Her Hindi and Punjabi poems are loved across social media.
Ruchika is a Writer, Director, and Performer with a passion for crafting compelling content and a keen interest in poetry. She enjoys finding creative solutions for brands and hopes to bring a touch of beauty and inspiration to everything she does. Ruchika studied filmmaking, then worked as a theatre artist, stylist, set designer, and actor in the film industry, along with writing. She rose to fame when her poem on her friendship heartbreak went viral on Instagram, garnering her thousands of followers overnight.
Also Read: 5 Poets To Follow On Instagram Who Weave Magic With Words
Ruchika has been creating content ever since she was 14 years old across platforms like YouTube, her blog page, Instagram, and more. From fashion blogging to comedy sketches, she had tried her hands at everything until she found her true love: poetry. And the rest is history. She loves love and found inspiration in heartbreak. This rising star has also taken upon the role of an ad film director and actor with her new venture “Chikka On Roll.”
The Social Nation Team had the opportunity to sit down with the incredibly talented poet, Ruchika Lohiya for an insightful conversation about the world of poetry and her creative journey.
Ruchika, can you tell us a bit about your background and content creation journey?
“I’m from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I’m a complete Marwadi but I’m very passionate about Punjabi so people think I’m Punjabi. I studied filmmaking in Bombay, I wanted to be an actor. I gave so many auditions and did advertisements. But poetry happened to me, and that’s how content creation happened, and people started liking my work.“
“Last year I had 5000 followers. I had a breakup with one of my best friends and I wrote a poem that I randomly posted on Instagram. It was a Hindi poem that went viral overnight. In 7 days, I had 100k followers. That was quite crazy! From that time to now, I have not stopped posting poems.”
Which moment or person ignited your passion for crafting these poems, pushing you to start this creative journey?
“One of the major things that made me write poems is heartbreak. I started writing after my first break-up and all my poems are somewhere related to my heartbreaks. I write whenever something bad happens in life. It’s like inner work. I feel writing a poem is healing to me because if I’m unable to speak and share something with anyone, then I can write a poem. I also seek inspiration from the environment around me I observe what people are going through and write on it.“
Your videos carry diverse emotions and themes. Could you tell us how you select your topics/ subjects that resonate deeply with your audience?
“When people ask me how I choose topics, I say I don’t really choose them, they come to me. I don’t have any particular creative process to select subjects to write on, I just pick what I feel. When people drop topics in my comments or send me their detailed stories, I do pick emotions from there, and have written many poems from what they have shared with me.“
We also noticed your recent endeavor @ChikkaOnRoll. Tell us all about it and how did you step into the world of directing and producing impactful ads?
“So with Chikka On Roll, I started casting myself as an actor in advertisements when no one was. I started making ad films by pitching to brands and they really liked my work. And most of my ads are very poetic and soothing, which is a very new concept for the brands – poetic advertisements.“
Can you describe your process and the logistics when making these videos?
“I work as a freelancer. So, whenever a brand comes to me with an idea, I create everything from scratch to building a set. Everything is done in Jodhpur. All my team members are in Jodhpur so if we have to travel we do, otherwise we do it all in Jodhpur itself.“
How do you manage to balance your work profile, content creation, and writing?
“It can get very tough. I’m not an organised person at all! I’m quite a mess. People find my poems to be very motivating. They say ‘Didi you’re so motivating’ so I tell them that I write whatever I want to listen to at that moment. So if I have to get up and work, I write according to that.”
Given that your poems motivate people, what are the 3 things you would have liked to tell your inner child and younger self?
“I think I’ll tell myself that I’m beautiful – first thing. Because for the longest time, I’ve never thought that I am beautiful. The second thing I would like to tell myself would be do not compare yourself to others! And the third thing is be yourself!”
Your poems have this intensity and depth while being emotional too. Is that also how you are as a person or do you have different sides to your personality?
“I think I have two sides like split-personalities, haha. I’m very very bubbly in reality. When people see me in person they realise I’m quite young. I’m just 22, but sometimes I end up writing things that are beyond my age. I’m laughing right now but in the next 2 seconds, I can cry as well. So there’s this inner mature person who wants to hug that child in me and say, baby everything will be alright, and that mature person writes a poem.“
What is your family’s response to your creative journey? Are they supportive?
“There’s this one thing that is very terrible about me. Since I seek inspiration from around me, sometimes if I have a fight with my father I write a poem on him the next day and post it. My parents just get all hyper saying what are you doing why do need to tell everyone, haha. They are shocked basically about my content creation since they’ve seen me as a bubbly person all my life and whenever they listen to my poems they wonder ‘Where is this coming from?’. It’s like they can’t recognise only. But they are my biggest supporters and cheerleaders!“
Tell us about your upcoming show in Bombay! How has your past experience been?
“This is basically like a storytelling and poetic performance, like the shows I’ve done at NCPA earlier. And my show is sold out! It’s just unreal to meet your followers in real life. Whenever they meet me, they are really emotional with tears in their eyes and they hug me saying we really love your content. That feeling is just unreal. Beacuse when you write, you don’t think that you want to motivate or inspire people, you are just writing what you’re feeling. But when you see that people are watching it too, it’s very motivating!“
Since you act as well, can you tell us which are your favourite movies and who is your Bollywood crush?
“My favourite movie would be ‘La La Land‘ and ‘Ram Leela‘ since it is a love story and I love love stories. I don’t really have an actor crush but my biggest crush of all time is Darshan Raval! I love him so much and I really want to write music for him. That is like my dream! Because he writes about heartbreaks and love, which is something I also really enjoy.”
We had a great time chatting with Ruchika and hope you also enjoyed watching and reading about it!
