Introduction
Every long-running show has a first conversation, and this is the one that started Deep Down Show. On 30 April 2021, host Barun sat down with Kheyali Paul Mukherjee, founder of Nritricks Dance Academy, for a talk with, as he puts it at the very start, no fixed questions and no script — just an open conversation, heart to heart. That founding intent shows up in how the episode ends too: Barun closes by thanking Mukherjee and his team, admitting he wasn't fully prepared, and asking the audience to forgive whatever went wrong along the way.
Mukherjee is introduced through her run on Rupashi Bangla's dance reality show Dance Pe Chance – Boudimoni, where she placed fourth. But the conversation spends far more time on what came before and after that moment on stage — a childhood push into music at age four that turned into a lifelong pull toward dance, a marriage that began with her husband falling for her dancing before anything else, a hospitalization brought on by the stress of being kept from dance, and a YouTube channel, Nritricks, that she says became known almost overnight after years most people never saw.
The episode takes its title from the question Barun eventually puts to her directly: what is love? Mukherjee's answer is unusually honest for a talk show — she says she doesn't fully know — and the conversation around that admission, about time, attention, and relationships running dry like an empty bank account, is where the episode finds its center.
A Childhood Pushed Toward Music, Pulled Toward Dance
Mukherjee says her father enrolled her in music lessons when she was around four years old. Dance entered almost by accident: a neighborhood event needed a child performer, someone suggested her to her mother, and she was dressed up and sent on stage in another child's place. The reaction from people around her, she says, was unlike anything she'd caused before — and that reaction was the first time she understood dance could be something more than a hobby. She also recalls a formative closeness with her guru during this period, describing how their families lived in the same building, on different floors, which kept dance a constant, everyday presence rather than something confined to a weekly class. Money was tight enough in those years that she remembers her mother's own sari being cut down and resewn into a costume for her to perform in.
When the Dance Pe Chance audition came around years later, she says there was no elaborate preparation — she showed up in an ordinary churidar, without stage makeup or a costume, essentially as herself. The selectors liked what they saw regardless, and she went on to finish fourth in the competition.
Marriage, Support, and a Hospital Stay
Mukherjee says her husband fell in love with her dancing before he fell in love with anything else about her — he saw her dance and was drawn in from that first sight. She credits him with staying by her side through what she calls repeated "ups and downs" in her career, including during her time on Dance Pe Chance, without pulling her away from the thing she loved. Turning the usual saying around — that behind every successful man there's a woman — she says here it runs the other way: behind her own progress there has been her husband's support.
That support became critical during a period she describes candidly: pulled away from dance and unable to process it, she says she felt like she was losing herself, until one day it became severe enough that she had to be hospitalized. She frames her husband's response afterward as a turning point — letting her do the thing she actually wanted to do, rather than continuing to hold her back from it. She's careful to note the support was more moral than financial; she managed her parents' household and her son largely without financial backing, but says the emotional backing mattered more to her than money ever could have.
Independence, Struggle, and Two Women Behind Her
Asked who inspires her, Mukherjee's first answer is God — she says that belief, alongside her own courage and will, is what let her push through setbacks. But pressed further, the people she actually names are her mother and her elder sister. Her elder sister married young as well, and the two of them, she says, struggled through very similar circumstances and learned independence the hard way, together. Watching her mother struggle throughout her own life, she says, is what taught both daughters what struggle actually costs — and her mother's message to them was consistent: do good work, and the results will come, even if not immediately. "আজ না হয় কাল" — not today, then tomorrow — is how she paraphrases that advice.
It's in this stretch of the conversation that Mukherjee names what she calls her life's biggest regret: married at a young age, she was a strong student but was unable to continue her education afterward. She says she still wonders, without being able to answer, how different her path might have looked if she had been able to keep studying.
On raising children, she extends the same lesson outward — parents, she argues, shouldn't project their own unrealized dreams onto their kids. She recalls wanting to be a school teacher herself as a child; today, running her own dance school, she says she has effectively become a teacher and "principal" of her own institution, just not in the way she originally pictured. Every child carries a dream of their own, she says, and a parent's job is to notice it rather than replace it.
Spirituality, Energy, and "কর্মই ধর্ম"
Mukherjee draws a firm line between religion and spirituality. Religion, in her framing, is following the specific rules of whichever faith you belong to; spirituality is something that runs underneath all of them — a belief in energy, and in the idea that your own thinking shapes what comes back to you. She doesn't ask viewers to take that as gospel; she says simply that she finds her own energy through work, and that without something to do, she loses her footing quickly. Her shorthand for this belief is a short, repeated phrase: কর্মই ধর্ম — work itself is her duty, her dharma.
That belief extends into a broader argument about modern life: she contrasts earlier generations, whose daily routines — walking, cooking over firewood, physical chores — built in exercise almost by accident, with a modern, convenience-driven life that she says has left people more prone to stress and depression. Her prescription isn't complicated: meditation, yoga, and staying occupied. She meditates before sleeping, though she's upfront that she doesn't otherwise follow any fixed routine.
An Overnight Channel, and the Question of Favoritism
On Nritricks' YouTube channel, Mukherjee describes a moment familiar to many creators: one piece of content went viral, and the channel's following jumped seemingly overnight, while — as she points out — plenty of other creators post equally strong dance content and keep struggling regardless. She's careful not to claim the "overnight" framing fully, though; she attributes the moment as much to years of unseen struggle, effort and belief as to luck.
Barun also puts a pointed question to her directly: do students accuse her of favoring newer students over older ones? Mukherjee doesn't dodge it, but she also doesn't fully resolve it — she says anyone judging from outside her actual daily routine, without seeing what she does and how she treats people day to day, can't really understand her intentions. People who have stayed close to her over time, she says, know that isn't who she is.
What Is Love?
When Barun finally asks the question the episode is named for, Mukherjee's response stands out for its honesty: "I don't know the answer." She goes on to try anyway — distinguishing between infatuation, simply liking someone, and the deeper connection she calls a soul partner or soul mate, someone with whom there is real understanding beyond attraction. Material things, she says, aren't proof of love on their own; a relationship can have money, a car, a house, and still lack the thing itself.
On why relationships fade, she points to something practical rather than mystical: when someone stops giving you their time, that absence is often mistaken for love disappearing, though it may really be an external pressure — career stress, life problems — pulling their attention elsewhere. She extends the idea into a metaphor she returns to more than once: a relationship is like a bank account. You have to keep depositing — attention, time, care — to draw any interest back out. Stop depositing, and the account runs dry; if that happens, the only way back is to start depositing again.
Fear, Family, and What Comes Next
Asked about fear, Mukherjee doesn't hesitate: losing her mother. She says she can't imagine what that loss would do to her, and that her clearest dream is for her mother to live to see her succeed in a way that makes the years of struggle worth it. She also voices a more contemporary anxiety — the possibility that YouTube itself could face a ban, the way TikTok had been banned in India not long before this conversation, and what that would mean for a channel like Nritricks that had built its following there.
Near the close, she offers something closer to advice for herself than for the audience: whatever stage of life she's in, she gives it her full attention and doesn't dwell on what came before — a habit she frames as central to being satisfied with her own effort, regardless of what anyone else thinks of it.
Who Is Kheyali Paul Mukherjee
Kheyali Paul Mukherjee is the founder of Nritricks Dance Academy and a competitor on Rupashi Bangla's Dance Pe Chance – Boudimoni, where she placed fourth. She began dancing as a child, went through years of family struggle and financial constraint on the way to building her school, and now runs Nritricks alongside her husband's support and her own YouTube following. In this episode, she speaks about her early life, her marriage, her spiritual outlook, and her views on love and relationships.
Why This Conversation Matters
As the opening episode of Deep Down Show, this conversation set out with no script and no rehearsed answers, just two people talking. Mukherjee's willingness to say "I don't know the answer" to the episode's central question, rather than performing certainty, is exactly the kind of moment that open-ended format seems built to draw out.
For more on people talking honestly about passion, struggle and identity on Deep Down Show, see the conversation on how to become a poet with Rupsha Saha, and the discussion on finding your passion and the difference between spirituality and religion.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Kheyali Paul Mukherjee?
She is the founder of Nritricks Dance Academy and the guest of Deep Down Show's very first episode. She has performed in Rupashi Bangla's dance reality show Dance Pe Chance – Boudimoni, where she finished in fourth position.
What does Kheyali Paul Mukherjee say when asked 'what is love'?
She is candid that she doesn't have a complete answer, saying 'I don't know the answer' on camera. She goes on to describe love as consistent time given to another person, and compares a relationship to a bank account — it needs regular deposits of attention or it runs dry.
How did Nritricks Dance Academy's YouTube channel become popular?
She describes it as an overnight jump after one piece of content went viral. She is careful to add that the visible 'overnight' success came after years of struggle that most viewers never saw.
What does Kheyali Paul Mukherjee call the biggest regret of her life?
Not being able to continue her studies. She married very young and, though she was a strong student, was unable to keep her education going after that — a decision she still thinks about.
What does she say about parents pushing their own dreams onto their children?
She argues parents shouldn't force an unfulfilled dream of their own onto a child. Every child has a dream of their own, and a parent's role is to notice it and support it rather than substitute their own ambition for it.
How does Kheyali Paul Mukherjee deal with stress?
She says she meditates before going to sleep at night, though she admits she doesn't follow any fixed sleep routine otherwise.
What is Kheyali Paul Mukherjee's biggest fear?
Losing her mother. She says she cannot imagine that loss, and her stated dream is for her mother to see her succeed in a way that makes all the struggle feel worthwhile.
