In the recently-released Bollywood film, Jug Jugg Jeeyo—one that newspaper ads declare has earned crores of rupees in revenue—the best actor, according to me, was none of the four leading superstars.
Don’t get me wrong. Neetu Kapoor looked stunning, Anil Kapoor evoked laughter, and Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani were loud, but as competent as actors in a popular Bollywood flick should be. But it was social media star Prajakta Kohli, popularly known as @mostlysane, whose subdued expressions as the sometimes confused, occasionally rebellious bride-to-be, stole the show.
Like Prajakta, several young stars emerging from new media have now starred in Bollywood films. Carry Minati played a role in Ajay Devgn’s airplane disaster film, Shirley Setia has landed a movie opposite HT Brunch cover star Abhimanyu Dassani, Kusha Kapila, also a Brunch cover star, will be seen in Karan Johar’s Ghost Stories… the list goes on.
Is this Bollywood’s acknowledgment of star power emanating from social media platforms? If Ranbir Kapoor making TikTok-style Instagram Reels with young creators, and film producers replacing TV studio visits with promos on social media channels is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding yes!
{{/usCountry}}Is this Bollywood’s acknowledgment of star power emanating from social media platforms? If Ranbir Kapoor making TikTok-style Instagram Reels with young creators, and film producers replacing TV studio visits with promos on social media channels is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding yes!
{{/usCountry}}Along with this emerge some conspiracy theories: Are these young creators being sidelined to character roles to establish the supremacy of the leading stars? After all, a former salesman from Linking Road, @mrfaisu07, with 28 million followers on Instagram and an engagement rate of more than all three Khans put together, must provoke some insecurity…?
Juicy gossip aside, we’re here to gloat. For HT Brunch was the first publication ever to give social media stars the recognition they deserved. We identified their growing popularity, front-faced them on our covers, and discovered that audiences got from these chaps something they didn’t get from the superstars they idolised: authenticity.
Today’s cover story showcases Gen Z-ers, born after 1997, who grew up with smartphones as their playthings. Their calling card, it turns out, is what millennials battling mental health and seeking validation cannot provide: a strong sense of reality.
20-year-old Taneesha Mirwani questions the term ‘influencer’: “A real influencer is someone who has done something major,” she says. “I don’t think it’s a fair term for content creators.”
Dev Raiyani, also 20, says, “I don’t want to be a celebrity. I don’t like being recognised when I go out. The phone is my stage and I am just performing in isolation.”
Popularity and sensibility reaps dividends. The earnings of these kids varies from ₹6 lakh a year to ₹60! “But,” as our final cover star and beauty-content creator Leisha Patidar says, “I was doing barter collabs even after crossing 80K followers on Insta. Money was not on my mind. I just do this for fun!”
Also in this issue: Nikhil Taneja celebrates and criticises Ranveer Singh’s magazine cover in the buff, wellness guru Luke Coutinho addresses the much-ignored politics of posture, and millennial Imaad Shah reasserts the importance of consent, and how every man must remember it!
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From HT Brunch, July 30, 2022
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