Irah Deb Roy - A lifestyle curator with a royal connection

Virtual influencers are quickly emerging and establishing themselves across the world. India is fast emerging as the land of influencers who are contributing to the creative strength and helping businesses grow, as well as influencing the youth also pick up this creative profession.

One such influencer from Kolkata is Irah (aka Riya) Deb Roy, who’s family history goes back more than 350 years. She is a descendant of Raja Rameshwar Roy, who was given the title of king in 1673. Raja Nrishingha Deb Mahashay is her great-great grandfather who, in December 1799, laid the foundation stone of Hangseshwari Temple in Bansberia (Hooghly), which is a heritage site of India. Another ancestor, Rani Shankari, completed the temple work and under whose name there is a lane renamed as Rani Shankari Lane in Kalighat, Kolkata.

Deb Roy originally belongs to the Rajbari (palace) placed opposite the Hangseshwari Temple ne Ananta Basudeb Temple. Her ancestral name ‘Irah’ is also taken from their deity’s body part and she is probably the last princess of Kolkata.

In this interaction with Adgully, Irah Deb Roy speaks about her interesting journey as an influencer, which goes back 11-12 years when this field was at its infancy in India. Given her ancestral background, Deb Roy is a well-known promoter of sustainable clothing, especially sarees, and has been encouraging the younger generation to support Indian clothing.

How did you start your journey of being a fashion and lifestyle influencer and a digital content creator?

It’s been around 11-12 years that I have been in this field and it was not even a trending thing back then. Instagram was extremely new. I used to create content around sustainable clothing, and I was in college back then. And we did have much amount of money to spend on clothing, and this is how it all started. It started off with places to visit in Kolkata, we made a few videos and our pictures went viral, and this is how it started.

Could you tell us about your journey with SVF so far?

I joined SVF around five years ago in 2017. I am currently Creative Head of the Digital and Music side of things, the journey has been great so far. I have worked on around 55-56 films, and planned promotional campaigns around films and everything. I’m heading the vertical right now, which is SVF music, and we have our new channels where we create slice of life content. Before joining SVF, I was with ZEE, where I was a Associate Creator Digital Content.

What kind of challenges have you faced in your journey as an influencer?

The first thing we faced is the reach – whether people are consuming your content or not. Luckily my area was cafes or places to visit, little bit of clothing, traditional sarees and everything. If you look at my profile, saree looks easy to wear and is comfortable just like our daily clothing. Challenges were that sarees are not worn on a daily basis by the younger generation. They would be worn only on special occasions such as a wedding or on Saraswati Pujo. For me, saree is a regular wear, as long as you are comfortable in it and happy wearing it. So, now people have started taking this up and there are a few saree influencers. But it has been good so far.

Your posts mainly focus on Indian and ethnic attire. Is there any particular reason for that?

I don’t post about sarees only, but post about whatever I like. If I’m wearing this one, I’m 90% sure that I’m happy to wear it and comfortable wearing it. I like promoting Indian brands or local brands to make sure that people who live in the metropolitan cities or people outside Kolkata or West Bengal can take the whole lot of sarees that people in the villages produce, particular kind of sarees which are produced in West Bengal. Thus, whoever follows me are inclined towards the trend and they buy sustainable clothing that are produced here. I’m not very choosy about what I wear, I wear what I’m comfortable in.

You have been featured in Vogue Italia’s photoshoot three times. How has your experience been of working with Vogue?

I’m not a model, I’m somebody any other 26-27 year old can relate to.  I remembered the first shoot that was featured in Vogue, which was held at my friend’s place, who is a designer, and the entire attire was Indian, so that was also about promoting sustainable clothing. We never thought that it will get selected in Italia. The next shoot that was featured was done in 2021, where we went to shoot for another sustainable clothing brand. It was a hectic shoot that was shot around 4.30 am in the morning. The third shoot was for another sustainable clothing saree brand, Gulmohor, which was shot at Beleghata inside a 200-year old vintage house. We were able to reach out to a maximum number of people through these shoots.

You also focus on food vlogging and promoting heritage properties, along with fashion and lifestyle. How has the experience been?

I belong to a heritage household, which is Debray Rajbari at Hoogly, where there is a temple as well.  I have this great affinity towards anything vintage, because though I was born in Kolkata, there has always been a strong connect with my ancestral land.

Recently I visited Barikuthi; I’m planning to visit a few Rajbaris that have turned into hotels. I have visited 200+ restaurants and cafes in Kolkata and have reviewed all of them. The café business is working brilliantly here in Kolkata, and I still have a number of cafes listed on my wishlist.