46 | Rolling Stone India | July 2019
Bam first started making videos back in 2015
after watching the news on TV about the Kashmir
floods. On the show, a reporter was extending the mic
to a local woman who had lost her son in the floods
and asking her how she felt. Appalled at the general
insensitivity of the media during humanitarian crises,
he uploaded a 15-second satire skit to Facebook as a
personal protest. He soon realized that making videos
was a brilliant way to express himself and also vent
his frustrations about society. He began filming and
uploading videos regularly, creating online caricatures
of individuals he encountered in real life. Bam gained
viral traction in Pakistan first and then in India,
making the move to YouTube later that year to start
BBKiVines. In just seven months, he gained over a
million followers.
His accolades since then include becoming the
first Indian YouTuber to cross 10 million subscribers
(2018), clocking in over 1.8 billion views in total,
making a film debut (in 2018’s Plus Minus with Divya
Dutta), replacing leading Indian celebrities in brand
endorsement deals and finally building the music
career he always wanted.
As BBKiVines turns four this year, Bam’s never been
busier—in one weekend he’s had to fly in to Mumbai
for the cover shoot, make it back to New Delhi in time
on Sunday to attend a panel, film videos for his channel
and fit in other exciting projects we aren’t yet privy to.
“I want to collab with BTS,” he reminds me when I
ask what else he wants to work on in the future. We’d
discussed the popular South Korean boy band when
we had last met and he doesn’t hesitate before putting
me on the spot. “It’s on you to make it happen now!”
In this exclusive interview with Rolling Stone India,
Bam talks about dreaming big.
Congratulations on BBKiVines’ fourth anniversary!
How are you feeling about how far you’ve come in
these past four years?
I still don’t feel like I've achieved much yet. There's
a long way to go. This is just the beginning. I'm still
learning and will keep learning throughout. These four
years have been like a rollercoaster ride for me because
I've seen things that I could never have imagined and
have realized that dreaming and dreaming right is the
best thing and everyone should keep dreaming.
You were a musician even before you became a
comedian and got into social media. Was that your
big dream initially? Music?
Yes, it’s still something I really want to do in life.
Because when I'm done with comedy and writing
jokes, music is my escape. I turn back to my keyboard
and start humming tunes. So music is still there and it
comes naturally to me.
Are you currently working on any music projects?
Yeah, I'm working on a song that will be coming out
this month hopefully. It's basically a travel song called
“Chhuo Na Mujhe.” I dropped a teaser of it which I
recorded six months ago and used it in my vlog. And
people kind of loved it. So I decided that I owed them
a complete version.Is a lot of your content still inspired by what
happens to you in real life?
These 25 years, whatever I’ve ever learned in life,
whatever I've been through... I think everything is
content. Life is basically content. Especially in a
middle-class household, you get so many things you
can make fun of every day. Be it even a funeral! They
say that there is comedy in tragedy.As a YouTuber, you put your life out there for
everyone to see, which is why so many are able to
connect to you. Do you ever feel a sense of fear
before you put something personal out or before
you discuss something that might be controversial?
I think, unlike other YouTubers, I don’t put my
personal life online. I put up stuff that most people
can relate to. So whatever I put on social media or
YouTube, it’s stuff that might have happened to most
families in India. It’s not just my own experiences.
Personal things I keep to myself.Does that help you stay sane in the ruthless world
of trolls? Recently, I experienced a lot of hate
on Twitter, which really messed with my mental
health. When someone with your kind of following
experiences it, I’m sure it’s on a scale that is much
larger. How do you disconnect yourself or move on
from that negativity?
First of all, I really hate Twitter. It's a war zone.
And I think in my case, there is hatred of course. Hate
is everywhere. But I don’t think there is reasonable
intent to it. People abuse you for two reasons: either
they really do hate you or they are seeking attention. I
think the second one happens most of the time. That's
why I stopped giving a fuck about people who abuse
me. I know it is very difficult... But you need to realize
ki use kuch kaam nahi hai (the haters are pretty muchBHUVAN BAM
jobless.) They’ll look at a photo of Hrithik Roshan
and abuse him, they’ll abuse Shah Rukh Khan, they’ll
abuse anyone.Hearing this from you is so reassuring, because
I think a lot of the time all the people who are
diving into the world of social media might find it
quite scary. What is the advice that you could give
someone who wants to start a career like yours?
First of all, these comments and criticisms come
later. All this comes from a place when you're already
a public figure. It means that you've made it; having
haters is like a blessing. Maybe you've done something
right that has offended someone. Most of the time
people can't digest someone else's success. For them,
everyone else’s success is... isko toh mil gaya raato-
raath (he made it big overnight.) Iska toh luck bahut
achha hai (he’s just lucky.) Wo pata hai iceberg ka
saying, neechey ka kuch pata nahi chaltha hai? (You
know the saying about the iceberg? That you only
see the tip. You don’t see all the hard work behind
something?) It’s the same thing. That is social media in
a nutshell. People who actually adore you and respect
your work, you should dedicate your time to them
and to making them happy rather than satisfying the
people that hate you.What is the biggest misconception that people
might have about YouTubers outside of the usual,
‘It’s not a lot of hard work’?
So people think that YouTubers mostly are living
their best life. They are getting huge paychecks and
‘Unka life mast hai because unko sab cheez free mein
milta hai’... Jo ki sahi hai! (They must be living their
best life because they get everything for free...’ Which
is kinda true!) [Laughs] The thing is YouTubers are
always looking for content. That's why they make
sure their videos are gorgeous, which is why they
might sometimes show things which may not be true.
Not everything in the video or vlog is true; they are
exaggerated. But people on the outside think, ‘Wow,
what a life they’re living!’Does the majority of your income come from
YouTube?
Yeah, so the income comes from YouTube but
mostly originates from the third parties we endorse or
the brands we integrate.And that’s also another task: to make content that
keeps brands happy and also yourself. Do you feel
like it is difficult to balance that?
No. Firstly, a creator is not a salesman. He is not
supposed to write for the product, he needs to show
people that he uses that product. That'll be more
than enough. Like a creator knows that if I love this
product, I will show that I use this in my daily life,
Then the audience will get convinced rather than if I
keep repeating ‘Use this, use this, use this.’“These 25 years,
whatever I’ve
ever learned in
life, whatever I’ve
been through... I
think everything
is content. Life is
basically content.”