There is a fear of growing irrelevant on social media: Ankush Bahuguna

If you scroll through influencer Ankush Bahuguna’s Instagram profile, you are in for some laughs. The feed is abuzz with comedy skits, funny reels and what GenZ today call “relatable content.” Bahuguna comes across as a confident social media personality, who knows exactly what he is doing, and what his audience expect when they click on a Bahuguna post. But it wasn’t always like this.

“I grew up in a middle class family with two elder sisters and parents. I practically had four parents as there is a huge gap between me and my sisters, I was the last born,” says the Mayur Vihar resident, who was born and brought up in Delhi. He continues, “I have been a very awkward kid all my life. I was an introvert without many friends.”

The charmingly funny online persona translates into a calm, composed and a little shy person off camera. “I grew up with very low self-esteem. I never liked how I looked as a child. Also, I was the guy who didn’t play much sports, didn’t watch superhero movies that all the students were watching and talking about. I never really found my gang in school,” he says.

After finishing school Bahuguna wanted to be an actor. “My mother was an actor in regional films. I have been on the sets with her a few times. I got a hang of that world and it really fascinated me. I realised this is something I want to pursue,” he says. Adding, “But it took me a really long time to even admit it to myself that I want to be an actor. I had major body image issues.I thought if I tell anyone that I want to be an actor I would be bullied in school.”

However as the time progressed acting took a back seat and Bahuguna entered college to pursue architecture on his sister’s suggestion. Bahuguna credits his college time and friends for having finally found himself as a person and a creator . “I found my closest friends in college who told me I am funny and made me realise that I have a way with words. I never knew I was funny until then,” says the architect turned content creator.

Although, the shift of career wasn’t swift. After flunking many subjects in college for the first time in his life, the frustration of failure led Bahuguna to write a book. For which he won a National Debut Youth Fiction award in the unpublished category (the book remains unpublished to this day). Continuing with writing, Bahuguna joined an internet company as an intern writer, which later turned into a full-time job. “I finally realised architecture isn’t for me and I can’t go back to it. I was in a good place as a writer with many of my articles going viral,” he says.

Apart from writing, Bahuguna also started writing and making video content. “I always wanted to write fiction so I wrote a sketch and pitched the idea of making videos for social media. They said we like your script but we don’t have the budget, equipment or expertise to make videos. So, I made a mock video on my digital camera and they liked it. That’s how videos took off,” says Bahuguna who is now known for his videos garnering thousands of views.

“I realised people enjoy watching me as a person. So, I quit the job and decided to channel all this creativity energy for myself. And that’s how everything started,” he adds.

Now Ankush entertains a following of 9292k on Instagram and 233k subscribers on Youtube. However, the fame on social media comes with a lot of apprehensions, ask Bahuguna how he deals with that and he says, “Social media is very different from acting in movies or web series. There is a fear of growing irrelevant soon because you have to put out content everyday, people are watching you everyday. They can get bored and very easily start enjoying someone else’s content. You have to constantly reinvent yourself.”

Apart from comedy videos, Bahuguna also has a make up page on instagram, Wing it with Ankush, where he shares make-up tricks, tips and hacks for everyone. The page that started as a quarantine hobby has now garnered a following of 203k people.

Men with make-up on social media attracts a lot of hate from trolls. However Bahuguna thinks the hate is worse for people who are non-binary or trans. “I want to acknowledge my privilidge as a cis-gendered man. The hate for me remains online, atleast I feel safe while I am walking down the street. But the trolls really break you down. Even one mean comment ticks you down. I have anxiety and I keep reading and reading.” Adding, “Aside from trolls, there is so much love. At times I see people fighting on my behalf in the comment section,” he concludes.

Author tweets @digvijayitis

Ankush’s wardrobe: Diermeiss by the Dragon Lady ®

Ankush’s make-up: Shreya Chadha

Location Courtesy: The Ashok Hotel, New Delhi