Dhindhora has expanded my follower base to up to 62 year olds: Bhuvan Bam

“Everytime you throw a stone in India, it hits an engineer.  There was a time that this joke stood true in the country. Then came a show like Indian Idol in 2004-05 and Abhijeet Sawant’s popularity inspired a lot of people to become singer. And two decades after that, the big boom of the digital world and influencer culture started motivating people to leave their 9-5 jobs and try hands at content creation. Now, almost everyone is an artist chasing big numbers on social media.” 

Content creator, singer, and actor Bhuvan Bam very interestingly explains the rise of content creators and influencers in the country, in an attempt to draw some sense out of the affinity that the profession has created for itself, just within 4-5 years of the first breed of creators like him making it big. However, he makes it clear that contrary to the popular belief, being a content creator is not an easy business. Uncertainties & challenges are many and only constant persistence could help you survive in this big competitive world. 

Speaking about his own journey as one of the most successful and loved YouTubers in the country, Bam tells exchnage4media.com, “I was working part-time at a restaurant as a singer during my college days and I certainly did not have any idea that YouTube could be a career option. I had started out by putting one-off videos on Facebook and they started getting traction. That’s when a friend of mine suggested that I join YouTube to monetise my content. It sounded like a good idea to me, so I started BB Ki Vines on YouTube.” 

Bam, who started off with creating small skits around a Delhi family, with all characters being played by him, was quick to taste success on YouTube. The channel reached one million subscribers just within seven months. Today, after five years, his is the fourth most subscribed YouTube channel in India with 24.7 million subscribers. His Instagram following stands at a solid 13.7 million. 

“When my video went viral for the first time, I had no idea what was happening and what it really meant. But the feeling and rush was such that I was prompted to churn more content and gradually it grew to levels that I never expected,” Bam shares. 

Bam also attracted a lot of controversy then for the kind of language he used in these videos, filled with cuss words. “Initially, the negative comments did impact me. But then I thought that this is a Delhi setup and people here talk in a certain way. You won’t find any set of peers talking to each other without abusing. So, I continued to make content that sat well with my audience, without thinking much about the naysayers.”

However, Bam feels that he personally has grown out of that phase now. “Looking back, I think I won’t continue with such language anymore. I have grown up and am more mature to understand when it is necessary to use such language and when to avoid it.” 

While most of his counterparts that rose during the first wave of content boom in the country mostly stayed in their own lane of creating one kind of videos, Bam soon diversified into creating multiple styles of content, while continually expanding his own universe of characters. 

He released his first music video ‘Teri Meri Kahani’ in 2016, followed by a series of hit songs. In 2018, he started a unique talk show with one of his characters as the host called ‘Titu Talks’. The first two episodes had Shah Rukh Khan and Johnny Sins as guests. He also chatted with Karan Johar on the stage of YouTube FanFest the next year. Simultaneously, he also appeared in a short film, Plus Minus, along with Divya Dutt which also earned him a Filmfare award. 

Most recently, Bam became the first YouTube creator in India to release a web series of his own, expanding the universe of his characters from his YouTube vines. 

Bam shared, “Dhindhora was something that I was planning on making since the day I started creating content seriously. It was in the making for four years and I had initially visualised it as a film. But then I thought that getting it to theaters is going to be a tiresome task with so much to figure and without any backing from big producers. But I continued writing it. And then OTT became quite popular. So, my writing process became web-series oriented. There were around double the characters in my head when I had started writing it but I boiled it down to the 10 you see on screen.” 

Bam plays nine characters in this one-of-a-kind series. The shoot for the same had initially started in 2020 before the pandemic but was halted after a few days. Bam and team then went on to shoot it after the first wave of the pandemic for 41 days straight. 

“I was shooting for 16 hours straight everyday, taking minimal rest. And it was so exciting to see other actors in the film getting along with our vision and giving their best. I also worked on the original music album of the show. All in all, it is not a conventional series and I am so thrilled that it is getting an amazing response,” he quipped. 

According to Bam, the series has helped him in expanding his user profile from being dominated by 13-35 year olds to now 13-62 year olds. “When I started, my primary audience was 13-24 year olds. But when I introduced ‘Titu Mama’ to the universe, it expanded to reach people about 45 year of age. And the show, being rooted in a classic Delhi middle-class setup, has expanded it to 61-62. What better could I have expected from the show!”

Apart from being a mass favourite, Bam is quite a hit amongst brands too. Over years, he has worked with a number of top brands including the likes of Lenskart, Swiggy, Mivi, Tissot, and Beardo, amongst many others. 

On being asked how he filters his brand deals, Bam replied, “I only pick brands that merge with my content and are an honest representation of things I use. For example, Lenskart was a natural fit because I myself wear spectacles. So, the product just naturally gets integrated.” 

He added, “Secondly, I am looking for more long-term partnerships with brands. I don’t want to be endorsing one brand today and the other the next day. It is like cheating the audience. How would they even know what I actually prefer!” 

Bam is also very clear that any brand association is a two-way street. “It is a give and take relationship. I can’t put my creative guard up all the time and listen to their inputs as well. Secondly, they also need to understand what my audience likes to see. So, it is mostly a collaborative effort.” 

The creator is currently enjoying the massive success his show Dhindhora is seeing and is looking forward to an exciting 2022. On being asked what’s one thing he is looking forward to in the coming year, Bam lightly ended the conversation by saying, “I really want to endorse a shampoo brand. I mean look at my hair (chuckles)!”