Life has changed a lot for Md Islam Khan in the last five years. Once a small masonry contractor for fitting floor tiles in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, he is now a Mumbaikar, following his passion for acting. His appearance바카라when he dons black goggles and lip syncs to dialogues from the film Dhadkan, he does look a lot like Bollywood star Suneil Shetty바카라was a big help.
But Khan never thought of acting until 2017. 바카라Once, I was busy in my usual work fitting tiles at a house, when someone told me you look like Anna (Shetty in Dhadkan). I thought he was kidding. But people kept repeating that. At the time, TikTok was getting popular, so somebody suggested I make mimicry videos. So, I started making videos on TikTok,바카라 Khan says.
His first video in 2017 didn바카라t work, ie., didn바카라t fetch the hits and views he had hoped for. Defused, he thought of abandoning this idea. Then, one fine day, after returning from work, he decided to give it a last shot. Late in the night, at around 10.30pm바카라he put on a blackish shirt, unbuttoned from the top, donned black goggles바카라and started lip syncing to dialogues from Dhadkan, mimicking Shetty. He uploaded the video on TikTok and went to sleep.
Next morning, he says, he woke up to around 1,700 likes and 15,000 views of the video. 바카라This was the first time a video of mine had gone viral. Initially, I was befuddled. I thought I must have pressed some wrong buttons. But slowly, it sank in, and the feeling was good. I felt like dancing.바카라
Schooled till Class VII, Khan says he had dropped out due to the 바카라bad influence바카라 of some friends. He can바카라t read the 바카라Latin alphabet바카라 well, but keeps trying. 바카라Initially, when I used to get comments on my videos, I had to ask friends to read out what was written. But now I can follow it a little bit.바카라
By the time India banned TikTok in June 2020, Khan already had over a million followers. 바카라After the ban, another similar app offered me Rs 32,000 a month to upload my material on their platform. It was a good offer, as I wasn바카라t getting anything from TikTok, except for offers to perform at wedding ceremonies.바카라 During the lockdown, Khan, like any other migrant, was stuck in his hometown Motihari, in Bihar. He continued making videos, but there was little remuneration, he says.
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Around April 2021, Khan decided to go to Mumbai, the city of dreams, to follow his new passion바카라acting. Here, he even got a chance to meet his idol, Suneil Shetty. 바카라It was like a dream come true. Check the videos I made after meeting him. You바카라ll find I was fumbling. It was overwhelming.바카라
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Like Khan, there are hundreds of lookalikes of famous celebrities on short-form video-sharing apps like Instagram바카라s Reels, ShareChat바카라s Moj, MX TakaTak and DailyHunt바카라s Josh, among others. Some of them have millions of followers, and even get offers from brands to collaborate.
Outlook reached out to several lookalikes on Instagram Reels. 바카라The kind of work you get depends on your degree of resemblance and quality of mimicry,바카라 says Shashikant Pedwal, 52, a government ITI instructor and a Big B lookalike. Not only does Pedwal look like Amitabh Bachchan, he also mimics his voice and mannerisms. 바카라I get offers to perform at weddings and parties. I also do advertisements.바카라 Pedwal has over 2.5 lakh followers on Reels, and has established his name in the market. He doesn바카라t share how much he earns, but says it is 바카라enough바카라.
Not everyone is so lucky. Ajay Verma, 25, from Kanpur, an Ajay Devgn lookalike, lip syncs on the star바카라s videos, but doesn바카라t get much 바카라outside work바카라 as he can바카라t copy Devgn바카라s voice. 바카라I바카라ve been making videos for the last one year, but so far, I바카라m dependent solely on Reels,바카라 he says. Verma has around 80k followers on Reels, and earns a little bit extra through brand collaboration. 바카라I바카라ve just spent a year making these videos, so I바카라m hoping to get more traction in the future.바카라
Majority of small-town lookalikes Outlook spoke with had started their journey on TikTok. It allowed many a Khan and a Verma바카라coming from marginalised communities in the boondocks바카라to become social media sensations overnight, and put their organic acting talent on display for the world.
The ban on TikTok바카라which had 200 million Indian users바카라and 58 other Chinese-owned apps, dealt a big blow to the huge number of content creators from various marginalised backgrounds. Among competitors, Instagram Reels, owned by Facebook (Meta), turned out to be the forerunner, filling the gap by offering these content creators a space and crucially, some income amid the economic downturn following Covid lockdowns.
But the transition was not easy for many. In India, where everything gets marked by class and caste, TikTok appeared less judgmental to people like Khan, as its subscriber base came mostly from the rural or semi-urban areas and lower classes, unlike Reels that Instagram had targeted at the 바카라sophisticated바카라, urban crowd바카라which in India is axiomatically upper-caste and upper-class. 바카라I became active on Instagram around four months ago. I was on MX TakaTak when my friends told me to join Reels, as it would give me better exposure.바카라
But social media is a fickle beast. It can be as forgiving as it is often merciless. On a whim, a Bhuban Badyakar from rural Birbhum can become a celebrity with 바카라Kacha Badam바카라, while a Ranu Mondal can be incessantly trolled, once her 바카라15-seconds of fame바카라 were over.
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On Instagram Reels, Verma and Khan found they were being mocked for their aesthetics and diction. Unlike TikTok, the demand seemed to be for more urban, upper caste aesthetics. 바카라There are all kinds of people in this world, some good, some bad. Even though I can바카라t read English well, I know enough to recognise that I get a lot of comments that are abusive and mocking, along with ones that are motivational. On TikTok, abuse was rare,바카라 says Khan.
Clearly, the Instagram and YouTube audience, no wonder influenced by the marketing of both, appear to look down upon TikTok. When the latter was banned, existing content creators on YouTube and Instagram launched a tirade against TikTokers. YouTube biggies like Ajey Nagar (aka Carryminati) and Elvish Yadav were heard calling TikTokers 바카라chapri바카라 (low tier), metha (slur for homosexual), 바카라cringey바카라, 바카라without talent바카라, etc.
Hinterland India바카라s content creators actually have a clear idea about why Reels doesn바카라t suit them. They say Instagram바카라s aesthetics, music library (to select background music for a video) and algorithm are too complex for them. This is why social media sensations like Israil Ansari with millions of views on TikTok, have been struggling for attention on Instagram. From over a million followers on TikTok, he now has a puny 96k followers on Instagram.
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Pedwal says, 바카라We started from TikTok, where we gained recognition. Reels is a different platform. Yet, even though we don바카라t get anything but the occasional gift, we have to be on social media. Our real earning is offline. Social media is just to promote our work.바카라
***
In 2016, Reliance Jio disrupted India바카라s internet and mobile telephony market by offering everyone free voice calls with 1.5 GB free data every day. It turned out to be the biggest push factor for the expansion of social media platforms. In the last five years, India바카라s internet penetration has gone up from 27 per cent to around 50 per cent. And, with the launch of TikTok in 2017, a huge number of influencers, doppelgangers and aspiring actors started making content and getting noticed, earning paid gigs at birthday parties, weddings, etc.
But with a ban on the Chinese app, their stardom appeared to fade as quickly as it had blossomed. The elite, urban user-base of Reels has affected them a lot. Here, they have to compete with urban content creators with more sophisticated diction and aesthetic choices바카라like Akshay Kumar-mimic Vikalp Mehta or comedian and mimic Sanket Bhosale바카라who already had a head start in the popularity and stardom meters, with Blue Tick accounts.
Both Pedwal and Khan claim they had Blue Tick accounts on TikTok, but not on Instagram. Blue Tick is a verification badge for popular personalities. 바카라Instagram never offered us a Blue Tick,바카라 laments Khan.
The struggle for recognition for these lookalikes continues, but they don바카라t feel disheartened. Khan says, 바카라Mumbai is a city of dreams. Circumstances brought me here, and I feel lucky to be in Mumbai. Some people are afraid of failure in life. I am not. I바카라m enjoying what I do. That is what life should be, no?바카라
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Pedwal concurs, talking about how he had helped Covid patients during the Second Wave. 바카라The greatest happiness was when I addressed Covid patients in BachchanJi바카라s voice. They didn바카라t recognise me, so they felt happy that BachchanJi had called. This is life. And we live for it.바카라
(This appeared in the print edition as "Double Life of Rustic")
