Welcome to Celebrate The Podcast Season Two: Flip The Script

[This episode has been released on the auspicious occasion of Parakram Diwas (Birth Anniversary of Indian revolutionary leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose).

In 2026, this day also happens to be Basant Panchami -the day that marks arrival of spring in India by celebrating the Goddess of Knowledge.]

Accomplished and British Film and television actor and author, Leena Dhingra is a name, voice and face recognised worldwide as ‘Nani Umbreen’ from the ‘Demons of Punjab’ episode of Doctor Who but for Indians from pre partitioned India, she is the personification of strength and courage of one who has shown that it is still possible to reclaim personal, filial and generational identities through writing and find closure even if they had been forced to be hidden and be unspoken due to adverse political and social circumstances. She is also Auntie Bindu from the comedy show, Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, Mrs Shah from the movie ‘East Is East’ and most recently, she was Zainab Hyatt in the Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge.

Both her debut novel, ‘Amritvela’ and recent book, ‘Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra’ focus on the pain, dislocation, confusion and heartbreak that come from being denied the basic human acknowledgement of having existed and held an identity.

In this episode, Leena ji shares how writing and publishing Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra, part memoir part biography that helped her put to rest lifelong questions of who she was beyond being a constantly displaced child who carried the pain of her parents displaced by the Partition of India, much like her great uncle Madan Lal, the son of a privileged, anglicised Indian family, who while on a quest to find out what he is was destined for ended up being the first Indian freedom fighter to be executed in London.

Who Was Madan Lal Dhingra?

On July 1, 1909, Dhingra assassinated Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, a British official and political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, during a public meeting in London. Madan Lal Dhingra was executed on August 17, 1909, at the age of 24. He had arrived in London in 1905 to pursue engineering. A staunch nationalist since his young days, during his trial, he expressed no remorse instead expressed pride in his actions. His daring act continued to inspire many young Indians until independence, however, along with the marginalization of patriotism of Indian revolutionaries, his contribution too has been pushed to the back seat.

Episode highlights:

1) What ‘exhumation’ means here: waiting to go home, sense of non-belongingness & not talking instead carrying pain as a huge burden

2) Similarities in life patterns with her great uncle despite being separated by a generation

3) Reading book excerpt: on how she first came to know about her great uncle

4) Writing the book being on a self quest- his quest: where did they both belong?

5) The story behind getting his photograph

6) About Pentonville and Indian Sinn Féin-ists

7) How shooting for ‘Demons of Punjab’/ Doctor Who helped her disidentify from the family trauma she had internalised

8) Re-looking at great uncle 's life and times from the present.

9) Visit to the mazhaar of her uncle who had become a sufi saint jumpstarted her acting career 30 yrs after she left drama school

10) Her path to publishing the book

11) How telling her great uncle’s story and her own has now brought dept to her writing and brought healing

12) When will this book be released in India

13) Why she now identifies better as a writer

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1.Leena Dhingra: Author and British Film & television actor.

Leena ji has appeared in Doctor Who, Coronation Street, East Is East and Ackley Bridge. She also has a Ph.D in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and is the author of Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra, part memoir, part biography of her great uncle, Madan Lal Dhingra, the first Indian freedom fighter to be executed in London.

2. Dr Enakshi Sengupta : scholar, author, founder & CEO of Borders Without Barbed Wires

She was serving as the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the American University of Afghanistan when the Taliban rose to power in 2021. Her book, ‘Escape From Kabul’ is based n her experiences during this period. Her debut book was, ‘The Silk Route Spy: The True Story of An Indian Double Agent’ based on the life and times of her grandfather-in law, Nandlal Kapur.

3. Dr Biman Nath : Cosmologist, Astrophysicist & author

Dr Biman did his Postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, Germany and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics and taught at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore for nearly three decades. His debut book, ‘Nothing is Blue’ was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award for Fiction in 2009. ‘The Whisleblower’s wife’ is his latest book.

4. Deepak Thawani: engineer turned businessman from the F &B industry who debuted as an author in 2025 with his novel ‘The Silent Thread’.

5. Tvisha Banerjee : Emerging Gen Z Indie Pop singer and LFW Model who won a Gold and Silver medal for her debut single ‘You’ll Be Mine’ at the Season 4 of the World Artistry Music Award 2025.

6. Pragyan Bezbaruah: computer engineer, graphic artist & photographer turned chef

He co founded Café Yummy Banh Mi with his wife, Barsha Deka, that is the only café in the whole of India’s north east that serves authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

7. Mouli Mehrotra: Visual Artist & Animal Protection Law Expert

She is the founder of The Kind Hour that assists sick and abandoned animals and uses art to teach empathy and responsibility towards animals.

8. Elena Jessup: Founder of Third Eye Sanskrit, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a faculty member of The School of Ayurveda, U.K.

9. Dr Ruby Makhija: Opthalmologist & Environmentalist

Dr Ruby is the Founder Director of Why Waste Wednesdays Foundation that promotes sustainable living that leads to Zero Waste generation. She is an Earth Day Network Star and brand ambassador for the Delhi Municipal Corporation against single use plastic.

10. Sudha Pillai: Media Professional & artist

After a successful career in media, publishing and marketing, Sudha ji launched her own art line ‘Lines By Su’ and jewellery line, ‘Thulya’.

11. Brinda Roy: Actor, Entrepreneur, Artist, Poet & Fitness Influencer

Brinda owns a state of art tennis academy & fitness facility, won many Bengali Reality Shows,has her own online art gallery and debuted as a poetess in 2025 with her collection of poems, ‘In Between Lines’.

12. Hitesh Bhatia: Past Life Regression therapist, Family Constellator, CEO & Founder of ‘Joining Hands’ a global healing community spread across 22 countries.

13. Danu Morrigan: Speaker and founder of the community- Daughters of narcissitic Mothers. She is the author of ‘You’re Not Crazy-It’s Your Mother’.

14. Dr. Ray Catania: Metaphysician & transformational coach, he is a distinguished faculty member of The Shift Network (TSN) and Lecturer for the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS). Both his autobiography ‘The Atheist and The Afterlife’ and his latest book ‘You are Still Alive, Now Act Like It’ have won numerous awards.

15. Suresh Ramaswamy: Technopreneur turned Light inspired transformational coach and founder of Radiant Field a non profit organization dedicated to raising the state of human consciousness with Light- a very sublime state of consciousness. His book, Just Be: Transform Your Life and Live as Infinity has been honored with over a dozen awards since its release.

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Welcome to Celebrate: The Podcast!

This is a 10 episode series that looks to honour, acknowledge and thank 10 Indian Authors whose writing has been positively impacting people by encouraging them to question, challenge, reflect and introspect on many aspects of our society and nation.

You are listening to Episode 10. I am your host ambalika and our guests for today are Sandeep Kochhar & Rishabh Iyer Kochhar, a rather fascinating father - son duo who are so passionate about inspiring change for personal transformation.

Sandeep is the Founder CEO of www.blewminds.com, an eclectic Leadership Consulting Practice with 30+ years of experience in poetry, storytelling & creative writing. His ‘Wabi Sabi’ StoryTelling Leadership series has helped people around the world make big and radical improvements in their lives & in their way of thinking. His goal in life is to Touch & Transform 5 billion humans by 2030.

Till date he has written more than 4500 stories, each with 500 millions of views and was declared LinkedIn top voice India 2019.

Rishabh is a grade 11 student with a passion for behavioral science, sports, gaming, public speaking and psychology- a combination that has led to his book on parenting, Parenting is a two way street '.

What a delight to welcome Sandeep & Rishabh to the show and heartiest congratulations on the excellent writing performance.

Episode Highlights?

Nah, not this time 🙂

Just a father - son duo talking about what makes them write; how their habits of reading and writing and perspective on these shapes their bond 👏🏽✨

So what I doing in there, then? 😁

Listening in and getting my doubts on reading and writing cleared, what else! 😃

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