Stories of star-crossed lovers have inspired poets across centuries. And, so they did Bhuvan Bam, whose latest single is named after another ageless tale of destiny, that of Heer Ranjha. .
This is the seventh song written and composed by the YouTuber of BB Ki Vines fame. With over 18.4 million subscribers on YouTube, his song ‘Heer Ranjha’ hit number one on trending, a day after its release and has so far accumulated over 10 million views.
“I started writing ‘Heer Ranjha’ about a month ago, and the idea basically came from the feeling of being unable to meet and spend time with loved ones, who are either away from home on business or stuck somewhere,” says Bhuvan.
Refusing to divulge whom the song was written for, he says, “A writer never reveals his muse but definitely we’re all inspired by life experiences.”
It took Bhuvan and his team less than 10 days to record, edit and mix the track in his Delhi home studio, helped by sound engineer Omkar Tamhan and Shadab Rayeen. The result is a colourful animated video set against planets and stars, with floating lyrics.
Although Bhuvan is primarily recognised for his comedy content on YouTube, he actually started out as a musician. “Music has always come naturally to me since I’m a musician at my core. With BB ki Vines, I started off pretty randomly, without thinking it’ll (YouTube) be something I’m going to pursue as a career option.”
It was in 2015 that his satirical take on mainstream media and its occasional insensitivity, shot him to Internet fame. From there, he began developing the one person-many characters genre common to so many YouTubers (think Lily Singh and her ‘parents’). One fan favourite is the ‘Angry Masterji’ series, in which he currently pretends to hold Zoom sessions with his ‘student’ avatars.
Though his primary platform has been YouTube, he had amassed a following on TikTok as well, before its ban. Not long ago, a tiff between YouTubers and TikTokers had content creators debate over which is the better platform of the two. Now, as other platforms jump in to provide replacements for TikTok, it is also becoming clear that there is a rising demand for shorter content, as opposed to long form sketches.
“My videos are not very long but there are punch lines and crisp jokes every now and then. Scripting isn’t easy, especially when you’re constantly expected to outdo your last video” says Bhuvan. “I script, rewrite, and rewrite again. If I don’t find it funny, my audience probably won’t too.”
But whatever hat he is wearing: that of a writer, singer, actor or comedian, Bhuvan wants his legacy to be that of an entertainer. “A complete package of entertainment on screen,” he adds.