People’s taunts pushed me to work hard on myself: Mohak Narang

Scrolling through digital content creator and influencer Mohak Narang social media, one is bound to feel envious of his fitness journey. The 21-year-old hails from Hisar and is known for his romantic, comic and fashion posts. He started this journey quite early as he was intrigued by the ‘game of fame’.

With 3.49 million subscribers on YouTube and 3.3 million followers on Instagram, Narang has a massive fan base. And before TikTok was banned, he had over 14.3 million fans on it. But things weren’t always this good.

As a kid, he faced body image issues. “In school, I used to be a skinny kid with no stamina. So, people would bully me and called me names which was quite hurtful and even affected my mental health. Frustrated by it all, I decided to hit the gym and started working out,” he recalls.

The taunts and bullying became a motivator for me to work hard on myself. I wanted to show them that I can do it, he says.

In a post on Instagram, he talks about going from weighing 50kg to 70kg and growing not just physically but also mentally.

“Now I feel more confident and believe in myself. I learned a lot in this journey but most importantly, I learnt to never give up, to be more dedicated and consistent in whatever I do in life!” he wrote in the said post.

Mohak, who is currently pursuing a degree in mass communication from DN College, is also a fashion enthusiast and believes that outfits set the tone of the story that we want to tell the world.

“Clothes play a crucial role as they make one feel self-confident. I love to experiment a lot with my sense of style. Outfits give out a vibe and people notice it,” he says. His ‘passion for fashion’, he feels, has also helped him garner popularity.

On his journey as a vlogger, Narang says, “A few years back, when vlogging wasn’t quite popular, I used to watch the OG vloggers. They inspired me to start doing the same. I started vlogging as it made me happy. I enjoy the process but never expected people to actually like my vlogs let alone relate to them. And when I see the love people show my work, I feel grateful.”

Talking about the challenges that are part of the job, he says, “When you post consistently, there are certain expectations. And if a day comes when you are not in the right frame of mind and decide to keep a low profile, people will notice and start wondering why.”

It’s tough to tackle those situations, especially when you’re already feeling low, but cannot let others down. I have discovered that the best way to overcome this is to spend time with yourself, explore new things, get new ideas, and work at your own pace, he says.

On dealing with trolls and tactics to keep them at bay, he says if someone has made a meme or created a funny mimic video, I watch it and laugh it off. They have shown their creativity and it’s best to not take it to heart, he says.

“But when it comes to people posting hateful comments or messages, it shouldn’t happen to anyone. And I try not to let them affect me,” he adds.

In this day and age, there’s no dearth of content – quality as well as cringe. So, how does one stay relevant?

I create a balance between trendy and original content. I try to follow the trends but my content is also quite diverse. I touch upon fashion, comedy, vlogging and other topics in my posts. This is because I wish to reach different target audience through my work, he explains.

On his competition, he says, “My competition is with myself because I can only work on improving myself. Plus, the number of likes or reach doesn’t really matter to me. If someone else is doing better, I am happy for them and appreciate their hard work.”

His advice to the newbies is to be consistent and “be yourself”. “Initially, it’s tough to not feel demotivated if you have low numbers, but if vlogging makes you happy, keep at it and success will be yours. Make sure you know your niche and constantly work towards growing in that direction no matter what others say,” he concludes