Social Media Star of the Week: Mayur ‘Vivkamunand Mix’ Jumani

As he stressed about the US elections, Mumbai-based music director and musician Mayur Jumani made an unforgettable mash-up of Donald Trump’s epic ‘Vivekamunand’ moment at Ahmedabad that got 8,17,000 views and 67k likes and is still trending.

Mayur had started doing mash-ups during the lockdown. His Mujhe Drugs Do Arnab Goswami video (1.1 million views, 66k likes) took his follower count from 3k to 152k. “I woke up to messages from friends that people were forwarding my clips to them!” the 28-year-old laughs.

The right hook

“Mash-ups have to be about the dialogue, not the situation. The goal is to make it catchy and relevant,” Mayur says. “I knew the Vivekamunand dialogue could be the hook line, so I thought of a tune for that.”

An engineer, he quit his corporate job after two years to pursue his Masters in music from Berklee, Valencia, and after his return, scored trailers for movies like Pari and OTT series like Breathe and made his Bollywood debut last year with Bypass Road.

“Mash-ups have to be about the dialogue, not the situation. The goal is to make it catchy and relevant”

His mash-ups are funny, but not unkind. “I don’t want to hurt sentiments. People will troll you regardless, but people also said my mash-ups made them dance, which encouraged me,” says the teacher at music school Beat Factory.

Engaging experience

After going viral, Mayur has been flooded with music production inquiries, compliments from celebs and brand collaborations. But engagement matters more to him than all this. “I want to be seen as a serious musician. If you release a song and don’t have genuine fans, your numbers don’t matter,” he says.  

Did it cross his mind that these mash-ups may not portray him as a serious musician? “Yes, but I think people will only like a post or reel if they find the content good; and follow only if they like my originals and other content, too,” he says. As proof, there’s his DDLJ tribute which uses Tujhe Dekha Toh and the background music, but in a hip-hop avatar. “My focus isn’t to go viral but be part of the industry long term,” Mayur says.

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Who should be the next HT Brunch Social Media Star Of The Week? Nominate using the hashtag #BrunchSocialMediaStarOTW or email htbrunch@hindustantimes.com

From HT Brunch, November 15, 2020

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