Bam Bam: Here Comes the Master of the Universe Bhuvan Bam on reigning the Digital space

Sitting on 24+ Million subscribers on YouTube, Bhuvan Bam has undoubtedly been reigning the Digital space in the country for the past few years. However, in 2021 just a few months after coping with a life-changing personal tragedy, the 27-year old BB Ki Vines creator, comedian, YouTuber, singer, songwriter and now an actor, released his first-ever web show Dhindora. The YouTube series created by Bhuvan himself, featuring all his famous characters has garnered over 350 Million views within a span of fewer than 3 months and is still counting.

From a young age, Bhuvan knew he had a good sense of humour but his humour will make the entire nation notice what was now known. Music was his first love and he knew he wants to connect with the audience at large. The Youtuber remembers how his teacher made him perform at her daughter's wedding to compensate for his attendance in college. Five years ago he took the plunge to get into content creation and see what it can offer.

Talking about the characters he plays, Bam says, "They are all a product of my imagination and most of them are an exaggeration of a few people that I've met in my family or a few people that I've come across in metros, or at a shopping mall. So basically none of them are real people." For Bam, his creative juices start flowing not just with good food but with peace of mind and observation at their best. The knight rider starts working from 10 in the night when he's at his creative best. Bam remembers when he met Shah Rukh Khan he knew if he can reach here, there's much more to achieve.

As a creative genius, we all come across creative blocks and can't showcase the best of content; Bam has been open about it with the audience and got their support. As he says, "It's not right to keep pushing yourself, every day, just for the sake of the content. I know my audience can wait for me." There was a seven-month gap on his channel before Dhindhora was released; even then the audience supported him. Defining his content play, Bam says, "I try to be the mirror for the society and I let the society be the mirror for me. My work is a complete reflection of what I feel towards the society and how we have seen people around us, how we have grown up watching our families, observing the society evolve around us." His relatable content is shown in a comic way that too with a takeaway has truly worked wonders with the audience.

Today, he feels, it's easier to be on social media than it was five years ago, but it's not easy to sustain. His advice to emerging content creators is, "If you think of social media as a career option please go ahead, but make sure you have a degree to fall back upon. With so many creators out there you have to have a very unique idea to stand apart. It has to be something that you would want to watch rather than thinking the audience will like it." The comedy king likes watch to drama and horror more rather than being critical of others' comedy.

When asked about how he keeps himself sane in the high-voltage world of digital, Bam mentions, "I don't attach myself to it a lot. It keeps bugging me then, there are times when you need to be attached to it, but there are times when you to detach for your mental health, you need to detach from the work that you're doing. And I have people around me, who are very supportive of this. And I keep coming back to my home in Delhi to take a break."

While partnering with brands, Bam ensures that these are brands that give enough creative freedom and understand his point of view as an artist. Bam feels like an artist he has become more responsible now as he knows what his words mean to the masses.

(Outfit: Numero Uno; Location: Dextrus, Lower Parel, Mumbai; Photographed by: Subi Samuel)

(This article was first published in the January 2022 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)