Content creator and actor Bhuvan Bam is currently basking in the success of his OTT debut Taaza Khabar. While he grateful for the love, he also wants to remain connected with his YouTube channel audience, which has over 25 million subscribers.
He says, “I’ll find enough time to write episodes to keep my channel going because my audience deserve them. I can’t let go of that because they made me. Woh mujhe naturally aata hai and while doing that I got bigger ambitions,” says the actor, who was last seen in a romcom, Rafta Rafta.
Talking about taking up acting full-flegedly, after his Youtube web show Dhindora and now Taaza Khabar, he elaborates, “Every time I faced the camera for (Youtube show) BB Ki Vines, I realized acting is what I wanted to do. I remember cracking characters like Titu Mama and many times people couldn’t differentiate between me and a character which made me realise that I could pull this off and that maybe I was doing something right. I decided to take this up seriously and polish my already existing skills. I learnt a lot of new things on my way. It was a gradual process. I never thought that I’ll do a full fledged acting job but eventually happened and now I’m glad that I took the risk.”
Bam reveals he even produced his first two projects as he “wanted to have creative control”. He adds, “I don’t want to be known as a guy who can do characters. It was on my bucket list that I would make my acting debut with my own show and my own characters. There is a larger goal for which I’m here. My dream is to tell stories and we are a land of content. I want to tell my own stories in my own capacity. It might take a few months or a few years but that’s how I want to go about it. That’s why I’m serious about projects we are working on.” He is open to casting others in his future projects too. His team is already working on an idea for next seasons of Dhindora and Taaza Khabar but “there’s still time”.
The growth of the digital space is heartening as he feels since the pandemic, “people have now started taking OTT seriously”. “I knew this was going to happen but during the lockdown we got exposed to world cinema. I feel unfortunate that I wasn’t introduced to world cinema before lockdown. I might have seen a couple of films but now I’m sitting at home and I can watch any Spanish, Korean or any film. With more consumption, our taste in cinema has significantly changed. Nothing pleases us easily now and now content has to be the prime focus for everyone filmmaker. Having a great ensemble or big star is fine but ultimately the story and the writing has to be strong. OTT has been like a revolution as now we compare our content to foreign shows and wonder why can’t we make that kind of stuff? So jo show internet pe dal chuka hai, woh chal chuka hai as our population is so much that it will consume anything and everything. maybe the number of audiences will differ but audience sabko milti hai,” he explains.
After the huge following on social media, and with many social media creators turning actors off late, does he feel that he is taken seriously as an actor? Bam replies, “When you’re trying to change the perception about yourself, the first few projects are tough because people can’t imagine you in anything other than your existing image. In my case, casting calls started coming in right after Taaza Khabar’s trailer dropped. People saw potential and how different it was from a Youtube show. And of course, after the show dropped and people watched it, there has been a drastic change the basic perception changed.”
In today’s times, being multitalented is boon and Bam recognises that. The actor, comedian, singer, producer, content creator and Youtuber feels it is essential to be multitalented. “In today’s day and age if you are an actor, I don’t think acting is your only job. In a world where there are so many options and audiences have so many choices to consume, how will you stand out? I think actors have to be good with marketing and tell people in your way, irrespective of number of followers or numbers on your social media, if you’re able to tell smartly that your show or project is out, then I think good marketing is also a much required trait of a good artist.”
