COVER STORY: The Multiverse of Bhuvan Bam 

At our February 2023 cover shoot in Mumbai, content creator Bhuvan Bam is at his wittiest, laughing and joking around with the crew on set. Bam is an endearing persona to be around. He’s also one of the busiest within the content-creation space. Not only does he run his successful YouTube channel BBKiVines, but this year itself he’s worked on two new web series: Taaza Khabar (produced by him) and Rafta Rafta. 

We catch up with Bam soon after to find out what it’s been like for him to be on this soaring creative flight and what it was like to manage a production like Taaza Khabar, while he also breaks myths about content creators and shares his advice about being on social media.  

Can you take us through the past few creatively mind-blowing months you’ve had? 

The past few months have been creatively exhausting but equally passionate. For the first time in my life, I’ve had two projects releasing back-to-back. I remember shooting for almost 105 days straight, with just a five-day break in between the two projects. There has been so much music curation and creation, long hours of editing – tedious, tedious hours of editing sessions – and then the non-stop post-release marketing. But I’m glad both the shows have been well-received by the audience. And I keep reading in my DMs how much they loved the shows, so I’m happy now. It all feels like it has paid off. 

Is there any formula to acing everything from acting to scripting to comedy and music? As a content creator, have you been able to create your own recipe for success? 

I don’t think there’s any formula to ace acting or scripting or comedy and music. I feel it comes naturally to me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been doing music. I started learning Hindustani classical when I was in the fourth grade. Since then, I’ve been inclined towards music. So, I’d thought beforehand that whenever I do a long format or any type of project, I’ll make sure that there is music, that there’s an album which defines the show, which defines the series or a movie.  

I don’t think that I have created my own recipe for success because I don’t think there is a recipe. Frankly, there’s no rocket science to success. It depends on each individual, how they perceive success and what success means to them. For me, if I am getting work in the future because of my current project, I think that’s success for me. 

What do you feel the current social media climate is like? The pandemic is over, and the world is on a spree to experience more and more entertainment, online and offline. What are your observations? 

I feel that the pandemic and the lockdown, when everyone was at home, gave a lot of confidence to people that, ‘Okay, we can also try creating content,’ and that’s what has happened. It has worked for many people, and I know people in my circle who have left their jobs and have started dedicating time to social media because they’re earning more than they were in their jobs. So, I feel the entire social media climate right now is pretty colorful, if I may say so. There are so many different genres of content creators who have come out of their homes. Earlier, we used to just see comedy sketches. Gaming actually popped up a lot in the lockdown because everyone was at home and it was an easier way to get out there and just be in [the] public [eye]. So, I feel a lot of genres have evolved in the lockdown during the pandemic.  

I feel that we’re such a massive country, we have a population of 140 crore. There are so many tastes, and there are so many requirements of people, that I feel no [amount of] content is enough. People are there to consume content and we are a population that can consume anything and everything. So, I think there is a variety of content, and we will never run out of ideas because there is a population somewhere in the country who will watch a particular genre.  

What is 2023 looking like for you? What milestones are you aiming for? 

I’m not aiming for any milestones as of now. I feel that 2023 will only be about me dedicating my time to my YouTube channel and writing for the sequels of Taaza Khabar and Dhindora. There’s nothing much more to it. I don’t plan anything in advance. I just go with the flow, and I feel that concentrating on my YouTube channel and writing the sequels of both the shows is and has to be the priority for me. Other than that, I would love to travel. I’ve missed out on a lot of travel and I’ll make sure that I find some time for myself. 

Which collab has been the most inspiring? 

I feel each and every episode of Titu Talks that I’ve done on my YouTube channel has been an inspiration for me, because I never thought that I will interview the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Rajamouli sir, Ram Charan, Junior NTR [Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr.] and Karan Johar. It also helped me interview the migrant laborers and the people who were affected during the lockdown. So, I feel the collabs have been very interesting when it comes to doing Titu Talks. 

Will we see you on a music concert tour? 

There is definitely a music tour that might happen soon because Taaza Khabar has 11 songs, and those are songs from different artists from the country. So, we’ve been planning for a long time to do a tour with all of them, so that we go around the cities and we just give people different kinds of music and an amalgamation of rock ‘n’ roll music, blues, a little bit of jazz, and a little bit of retro Bollywood. So, I feel there is a complete act that we’ll be getting on the road with. 

What have been your biggest learnings from Taaza Khabar and what were the challenges? 

I think that my biggest learning with Taaza Khabar was that it was a challenge for me to come from a comedy background. I’ve been doing comedy for seven years and to do a dark show, a drama thriller, was a massive difference, and it was a great challenge for me. I think that a majority of the time I’ve just wondered how I would pull off Vasant Gawde’s character. I never thought that I will even be able to deliver the dialogues with ease. But it just happened. That was a part of the process, to be in the writing room to understand what the character is all about, and then to be on the set and delivering dialogues in front of the amazing co-stars. 

Apart from that, I feel the production aspect of it was very tough and challenging, to manage things since it was my first production. Credit is due to the people who managed to get location permissions and get permissions for things that I never imagined [would be necessary] and have it be taken care of flawlessly; those were the challenges that I never thought I’ll face. Now I realize why people say that a job of a production house is tough. I never realized that until now, and I’m just glad that we managed to sail across. 

With the unfortunate personal loss that you experienced in the pandemic, how has it shaped your outlook towards life? 

I feel that my personal loss is personal to me. I usually never share it with anyone. I’ve decided to live with it, and I’ll have to live with it. There is no other option. 

What are the biggest myths about being a creator?  

One of the misconceptions about creators is that they get free stuff. I personally don’t agree because I’ve never received free stuff. I always crave for free items, for free products, but I have realized that in the past two years, I’ve paid double the amount for a product. I don’t know why, [maybe] because people who are selling the product think that creators earn a lot. I’m very jealous of people who get free stuff, but I don’t think everyone does. I don’t know. 

If you could do one thing differently in your career, what would it be? 

Frankly, I wouldn’t want to change anything about all the decisions that I’ve made in life. I feel if I hadn’t made those mistakes, I wouldn’t have been able to come this far. Everyone has to, has to make their share of mistakes, and that’s what a career is about. You can’t do the right things all the way. I feel that I’m glad that I made mistakes, and I’m glad and I’m happy that I’m going to make more mistakes in the future, so that I don’t repeat them again. 

Is there something you dislike about the way the creative and entertainment industry functions? 

With the rise of the internet, with the rise of social media and creators, and different content and regular content, we might reach a saturation point sometime in the coming future, though I don’t think we have yet. It’s all about likes now, it’s all algorithm-driven. We often see the reels that we don’t want to see; it’s not what we want to see, but we get bombarded with those content pieces by the platforms. So, I think it’s all about algorithms and even in the industry, it’s all about how many likes you have, how many followers you have. So, I think giving merit priority has taken a backseat and though it’s not everywhere, but in some places, in some auditions for example, your followers and your likes tend to overpower your talent and that’s unfortunate. But I’m glad there are still places where talent is the priority. 

What can social media teach young kids that nothing else can? 

I think social media can teach kids a little bit of empathy, because you can witness the amount of trolling that happens on the internet, and I have personally become very empathetic towards people [at the receiving end of] comments, where trolling happens constantly, non-stop. It has shaped me, and it has made me realize that this is not who I want to be. So, I feel that the kids nowadays, they need to become more empathetic. Also, their presence on social media can actually help them work on their creativity. They can share ideas, they can talk about art, they can listen to good music and share new music. I’ve met so many people on social media who are good friends now. So, interacting with people has become easier now and so has communication. Social media and the internet is all about community. So, I think social media all in all is a good place, a good space to be in; one can learn so much from it and be a better person, if not anything else. 

Photographs by Keegan Crasto
Brand Director: Tulsi Bavishi
Art Director: Tanvi Shah
Fashion Editor: Neelangana Vasudeva
Art Assistant: Siddhi Chavan
Cover story: David Britto
Hair by Aalim Hakim
Managed by Rohit Raj
Artist PR: Hardly Anonymous Communications