Of ‘talking’ words, Pocket FM and writer Arati Bhatt making parents ‘feel proud’

A girl from Jhulaghat becomes a known writer across the hinterlands of India after Pocket FM turns her novella into an audio series

Like all of us, Arati Bhatt too, had read the famous line ‘Talking brought me here’ of the universal folktale — The Talking Skull that teaches how constant chattering ends up in disaster.

Is it just a story, or does it happen in reality? As a child, Arati too wondered like many of us. Little did her parents know that the inquisitiveness instilled by a folktale could eventually be the foundation of their daughter’s success.

Arati too, perhaps, did not know ‘talking’ in some form would actually bring her the fame she deserved, until one of her writings — Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaaye — was streamed on Pocket FM as an audio series a year and a half ago.

For Arati, Pocket FM was not the launchpad. Before she started her stint with Pocket FM, she had already entered Bollywood — as an assistant director for films like Bhaagte Raho (2018), as the writer director for 100 Dresses (2022), among others. At a time when she was working with screenplay writer Raghuvir Shekhawat, she got to know about Pocket FM from a friend who was already writing for the audio series start-up.

Initially, she wasn’t keen. But, curiosity took her to explore the App. Her interest grew seeing the massive reach that Pocket FM had across the Hindi-speaking diaspora. She wanted to give it a try and Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaaye was born.

Working in Bollywood did give her the opportunity to understand the psychology and consumption behaviour of the Hindi native speakers. Arati made her debut with Pocket FM with Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaaye — a line she picked up from Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s timeless romantic song used in the 2005 movie Kalyug, directed by Mohit Suri.

In Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaaye, Arati narrates the self-discovery of a regular Delhi girl Jiya. The core concept, somehow, resonates with Arati’s journey of becoming a writer. Growing up in Doli, a small village in the Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand, Arati, like every other girl in the last Indian village before we enter Nepal, never dreamt of making writing her profession. Neither did she think of becoming a doctor or an engineer. That’s not how families wanted or encouraged their daughters to become.

Arati grew up in the tranquil of Himalayan forests full of Pine and Chir trees just about six kilometres from Jhulaghat — a village on the Indo-Nepal border named after a narrow hanging bridge on the Kali River, built for for only pedestrians, cyclists and bikers can use to enter Nepal’s Julaghat.

Life was simple, but dreams weren’t. Since childhood, Arati aspired to see the world and make a mark in the larger society. And, her parents, unlike most Indian parents who live in villages, were very supportive. They wanted her daughter to make a name for herself.

From a village that houses less than 500 people, to making her mark in the City of Dreams that houses close to 2 crore people, Arati’s journey has been an expedition of self-discovery.

Arati always loved reading, and she developed a knack for writing at a very young age. With time the flair came naturally, and she desired to make writing her profession. As she started digging deep to understand every nuance of writing as a career. The more she dug deep, the more her motivation derailed. Articles on endless struggles of people as professional writers to meet ends of daily life, lack of opportunities and diminishing reading habits, et all only made her doubt the prospects.

But, her outlook changed drastically after she reached Mumbai. While exploring her options in film direction, she realised the reality was opposite of what she had read about writing as a career. That brought back her hopes.

She started as an assistant director and received appreciation. Later she wrote and directed a movie with very limited resources that received a 9.2/.10 rating on IMDB. But inside, the writer-self of Arati was craving for an outlet.

That’s when Pocket FM happened. It gave her the scope to write in Hindi with full passion that finally established Arati as a writer, making her parents “feel proud”. Today, millions of people have heard what Arati has written through Pocket FM.

For Arati, it indeed is ‘talking’ that brought her success as a writer.