Nakuul & Jankee Mehta On Parenting, Partnership And The Indian Parent Pod Journey

In an era of perfectly curated social media feeds and prescriptive parenting guides, actor Nakuul Mehta and musician Jankee Mehta are choosing a radically different path: raw honesty. Following the birth of their children, Sufi and Rumi, the couple launched The Indian Parent Pod (TIPP) to shatter the illusion of the "perfect parent" and foster a community rooted in vulnerability, conscious unlearning, and shared struggles. In this candid tête-à-tête, the duo opens up about moving past the anxiety of first-time parenting, the intentional effort required to make time for each other amid the chaos of co-parenting, and how fatherhood has redefined Nakuul's perspective on professional success.

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Excerpts from the interview:

You mentioned starting The Indian Parent Pod (TIPP) because you felt the lack of ‘real’ conversations about parenting. Tell us about it. 

Jankee: When Sufi was born (in 2021), a lot of the parenting content that we were consuming felt too instructional, prescriptive and performative. Everyone seemed to either have all the answers or at least look like they did. 

Nakuul: But our lived experience of parenting looked nothing like that. It was exhaustion, disagreements, guilt, joy, laughter, moments of loneliness, conversations about partnership, repair, and the generational baggage we were both carrying into parenthood. And the conversations we were having at our own dinner table felt far more real than what we were consuming. That’s when we realised parents today may not just need another expert voice telling them what to do. They  just need to feel less alone in what they’re experiencing. TIPP was born from that.

You both often emphasise ‘conscious unlearning’ in your parenting. What is one deeply ingrained parenting pattern from your own childhood that you are still struggling to unlearn in 2026?

Nakuul: The instinct to control behaviour instead of truly understanding the emotion underneath it. I think this is a deeply ingrained pattern for many of us, not just from our own childhoods, but culturally as well. A lot of us were raised in environments where obedience was prioritised over emotional expression. 

Jankee: Conscious parenting asks something very different of you. It asks you to regulate yourself first. And while that sounds beautiful in theory, in real life, it’s hard. When you’re sleep-deprived, running late, one child is crying, the baby is screaming, and your own nervous system is completely activated -- it takes tremendous work to respond from a place of awareness instead of instinct. For us, the goal isn’t perfect parenting. It’s becoming more aware as parents.

With Rumi (their daughter, born in 2025) in the picture, how has the ‘second-time calmer’ mindset actually affected your decision-making, compared to when you were first-time parents with Sufi?

Nakuul: Massively. With Sufi, everything felt urgent. Sleep patterns, food choices, milestones, Google searches. You carry so much nervous energy as first-time parents because everything feels high-stakes. With Rumi, there’s far more trust. Not because we suddenly know everything, but because we now understand that not everything is an emergency.

Jankee: We’re less obsessed with getting things right and far more focused on being present, staying connected, responding calmly, and trusting the process a little more. Nakuul often jokes that everyone should have their second child, first (laughs). 

With both of you being involved parents, how do you ensure you make time for each other as partners?

Nakuul: Thank you for asking this, because I think this is one of the most significant shifts that happens in a relationship after children. Without even realising it, your relationship can start to become entirely about managing the home, routines, responsibilities, and the children. Pickups, drop-offs, school communication, appointments, routines, meals, sleep schedules… you can spend entire days only discussing what needs to get done. We struggle with this too. But I think awareness helps. One of us usually recognises when we’ve slipped too far into co-parent mode and says, ‘Okay, we need to reconnect’.

Jankee: That could look like a date night, a movie night, dinner together, a conversation after the kids are asleep, or simply making space to be husband and wife again. It doesn’t happen automatically. You have to intentionally choose each other too.

What is the next phase of TIPP? Is the goal to take these conversations beyond the podcast into something more tangible?

Nakuul: TIPP was never meant to be just a podcast. At its heart, it has always been a space for honest parenting conversations, community, and connection. And in many ways, TIPP is already in its next phase. Today, we’re doing offline events, live conversations with parents, intimate community gatherings, and larger campaigns around parenting and emotional well-being. 

Jankee: What excites us most is taking these conversations to real life… meeting parents, hearing their stories, learning from how different families navigate parenting, relationships, emotions, and everyday life and hopefully condense all of these experiences on a parenting book which we never had.

Nakuul, you’ve mentioned choosing to slow down as an actor to focus on parenting. How has this shift affected your ambition? 

Nakuul: To be honest, working in the media and arts, especially as an actor, you are conditioned to believe momentum is everything. You are always thinking about what is next, how to grow, who you want to collaborate with, what more you can do creatively. And then parenthood happens. For me, it has been both liberating and challenging, but more liberating, because it slowly moves you away from the conventional and often very linear idea of success. You become far more conscious of your choices, time, energy, and the life you actually want to build. I think parenthood gave me clarity. 

Nakuul, you mentioned you’ve become ‘more professional, more patient’ due to fatherhood. How has this emotional maturity impacted your work life? 

Nakuul: Fatherhood changes your emotional landscape. It stretches your capacity to feel, observe, listen, and sit with emotions you may earlier have wanted to rush past. And for an actor, that can be incredibly enriching. I feel it makes you far more empathetic, not just as an artiste, but also as a professional. And every time you step onto a set, you are working with over 100 or 150 people. Just walking in with that consciousness has made me lighter as a professional and far more intentional in how I operate. As an actor, all you really go to work with is your briefcase of emotions. And as strange as it may sound, I feel my briefcase feels far richer and deeper today. I find myself accessing emotions far quicker and with far more assurance than I ever could before.

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Nakuul, how has your definition of a successful workday changed after having Sufi and Rumi?

Nakuul: I’ve realised how precious time really is. When you spend long hours away from your children, you naturally become more intentional about where your energy goes, the projects you choose, and even the way you spend your time on set. There is less romanticising of being endlessly busy and far more appreciation for meaningful work and meaningful time at home. Fatherhood changes your perspective on success too. There are days when coming home after a long shoot and still having the emotional bandwidth to listen to your Sufi and Rumi, play with them, or simply be present with them feels far more fulfilling than any professional validation. 

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