Kavita Rajwade, a pioneer in the music and podcast scene of India, opens up on the future of podcasts in India, What the hell Navya, and more.
The podcast boom is well and truly here in India, or at least the beginning stages of it. What began as just a random collection of people talking on scattered platforms has now become a legitimate industry with a platform that is respected. Among those at the forefront of this change is Kavita Rajwade, co-founder of IVM Podcasts. Over the last few years, she has greenlit and produced many hit pods and observed the changes in the industry. Kavita speaks with DNA in an exclusive chat about the past, present, and future of podcasting in India.
The biggest change in podcasting in India has been the emergence of celebrities as hosts, be it Cyrus Broacha or Navya Naveli Nanda (both incidentally had their podcasts produced by IVM). Explaining what draws stars to podcasts, Kavita says, “For stars, this is another platform. They have a certain kind of strong presence on Instagram but while that makes you money, it’s not substantial. Plus, Instagram can just switch the button on you, changing the algorithm and you may not be the most popular person there anymore. Is that the end of your career? They want to create an authentic look. Plus, many were looking to diversify so that you don’t pack all your eggs into one basket.”
Among the most successful podcasts for Kavita and IVM in 2023 was What The Hell Navya, hosted by Navya Naveli Nanda, the granddaughter of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. Jaya herself was a presenter on the podcast, along with her daughter (and Navya’s mom) Shweta Bachchan Nanda. “The Bachchan family is very protective. The idea to get all three generations came later. But the idea of a podcast for Navya was something that came from her and Shweta. She is a very big podcast listener. When I did some initial meetings, we bounced off the idea of Navya talking to other 25-year-olds, or changemakers from her generation. But in the end, we figured that having Shweta there would really sell the idea. I felt that if we really wanted to have a launch pad together and we are allowed to have people from within the family, then let’s get the ladies of the house together. There was the three-generation idea there,” recalls Kavita.
Eventually, during the lockdown, the whole idea came together, says Kavita. “It was all conceptualised in the lockdown through Zoom sessions. It was easier because they were all in the house and we could have them all on the call. And while they were telling all these stories, we figured this could be it. The idea of a family podcast excited them,” she tells us.
Globally, Kavita says there is already a course correction when it comes to celeb pods. “There is already a correction happening around celebrity podcasts. Spotify did not renew Michelle Obama and Meghan Markle’s podcasts. The fluff will be filtered,” she says.
In India, however, the opposite is true, she believes. Talking about where this trend will go in 2024, she says, “You are going to see a lot more popular people doing this in 2024. This was something that was not available to us before the lockdown. And that’s not just the film industry but across spectrum. And that’s because YouTube integration allows you to do data analysis in a way that not a lot of audio platforms could do. Brands are also more willing to spend on that.”
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