Though she may have styled icons like M S Dhoni and Virat Kohli and launched India's first horror film festival, Sapna Bhavnani's life journey stretches far beyond cricket and Bollywood.
In the latest Rediff Podcast, the fearless hairstylist and filmmaker bares her heart with disarming honesty about her career, controversies, relationships and more...
She shaved her head in Class 7, long before it became a statement.
She built her career purely out of instinct, attitude and a refusal to follow trends.
She didn't follow cricket or Bollywood. And perhaps that's why some of India's biggest stars trusted her with their image.
When a call came to style Mahendra Singh Dhoni, she had to Google him. "I saw orange hair flying in the air and judged him instantly," recalls Sapna Bhavnani, filmmaker and owner of the newly renovated Mad-O-Wot salon in Mumbai.
According to Sapna, Dhoni wasn't prepared to meet a woman who looked like her.
Can you believe their first meeting at the Taj began with mutual scepticism? The beautiful part -- it ended in a friendship that would shape Captain Cool's look for years.
When Sapna had to juggle her dates between Virat Kohli and Dhoni, she chose loyalty over business -- a decision that defines who Sapna really is.
Who does Sapna call her "all-time favourite cricketer?"
Which Bollywood diva does she describe as "gorgeous" and endlessly experimental?
Why does she say Ranveer Singh is "the maddest person" she's ever met?
Not many people know that Sapna started a pathshala where she trained sex workers how to cut hair so they could have a new career and lead a dignified life.
Though Sapna steers clear of labels like feminism and women's empowerment, when a panel of men discussing women in films asked, 'Where are the female filmmakers?' she decided to launch the Wench Film Festival, India's first international horror film festival. During the pandemic, it debuted online with 50 films directed entirely by women.
As someone who was gang-raped at 24 and walked out of three marriages, Sapna's view on relationships is shaped by the belief that "nothing lasts forever."
From styling superstars to hosting horror films from across the world; from her fierce and controversial stint in Bigg Boss to turning filmmaker after the 2012 Delhi gang rape case shook her conscience, Sapna Bhavnani's journey is as bold, as unapologetic and as symbolic as her body tattoos.
An inspiration to every woman who is not scared to express herself, tune in to watch Sapna's honest, unfiltered confession on The Rediff Podcast.
Interview: Divya Nair/Rediff
Videos: Dominic Xavier, Rajesh Karkera and Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff
Production: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff
© 2026