Bhuvan Bam recently surpassed 5 billion views on his YouTube channel, and despite not having released new content for the past nine months, the content creator turned actor is pleased that his videos are still being watched. “It’s an incredible feeling. Who could have imagined reaching such a huge milestone? It took seven to eight years to get here, and now it feels like, ‘Yes, I’ve done something special,'” he says.
While he is currently focused on his acting and writing career, the 30-year-old admits he misses creating content. “Of course, I miss it every day. Every day I think about writing something and posting it, but my responsibilities have grown. I have so many topics that I’ve partially written episodes about, but to finish them, I would need to pause all other work and concentrate solely on this. Unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury right now.”
Recently, actors Aahana S Kumra and Abhishek Banerjee voiced concerns about influencers taking over acting roles and impacting professional actors. Given Bhuvan’s background in online content, how does he view the issue? “I completely understand their perspective because the ‘influencer culture’ has become dominant. Producers and OTT platforms often favor influencers, casting people based on their follower counts. So, those who are speaking out have a point to some extent because our format, platform, and approach to content are different,” he explains.
Bhuvan further adds, “I often say that in our country, donkeys and horses are running together, and the donkeys are slightly ahead. This mindset exists in every industry. Even now, people introduce me as ‘he’s from YouTube,’ and you can sense the bias. Gaining acceptance in this industry is very challenging. Some people are finding work, while others, who aren’t, are sticking to digital content. Ultimately, the goal for everyone is to land an OTT project or a movie. The struggle is to find work because perceptions are hard to change.”
