Before Bhuvan Bam became one of India’s most popular digital stars, he had to convince his parents that he did not want to follow a traditional career. The actor and content creator recently opened up about the early days of his journey and revealed the unexpected incident that made his mother finally believe that he had made the right decision.
Speaking at the StoryBoard18 Global GenZ Summit, Bhuvan recalled how difficult it was to convince his parents that he did not want to fill out forms for a bank job or follow a regular 9 to 5 career. He said, “I had to convince my parents ki nahi bharne mujhe bank ke forms. Mujhe nahi job karni (I don’t want to do a job).” Instead, Bhuvan wanted to focus on creating content and building a career on the internet.
He eventually asked his parents to give him two years to prove that his decision could work. His hard work soon began to pay off as his videos under BB Ki Vines started gaining a large audience. Bhuvan recalled that he had reached around 600k followers and people had started recognising him in public.
One incident in particular became a turning point for his mother. Bhuvan took her to Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar because she wanted to go shopping. What was supposed to be a simple mother and son outing quickly became a chaotic experience when people began recognising him after he stepped out of the car.
The crowd continued to grow as more people gathered around Bhuvan. His mother was surprised to see so many people surrounding her son. Things became even more unexpected when the police arrived and initially thought that Bhuvan could have been involved in a theft.
Bhuvan recalled, “Wahan police wale aaye, wo mujhe collar se pakad ke le gaye. Wo bole, ‘Tune jeb maari kisi ki?’ Maine kaha ‘maine jeb nahi maari’. Uss time bohot lambe baal hote the aur main bandana pehen ke ghumta tha. (The police came and took me by my collar. They asked me if I had picked someone’s pocket. I told them I hadn’t. At the time, I had very long hair and used to wear a bandana).”
Bhuvan then tried to explain that he was a YouTuber and showed the police his videos. The officers eventually understood what had happened and let him go. For Bhuvan, however, the most memorable part of the incident came afterward.
While they were returning home, Bhuvan looked at his mother through the rear view mirror and noticed that she was smiling. Seeing hundreds of people recognise and cheer for her son appeared to make her realise that his unusual career choice was actually working. Bhuvan recalled that his mother was extremely happy.
Today, Bhuvan is taking another step in his acting journey with The Revolutionaries. Inspired by true events and set during India’s freedom struggle, the series is created and directed by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani under Emmay Entertainment. The show stars Rohit Saraf, Pratibha Ranta, Gurfateh Pirzada, Jason Shah, Paoli Dam and Tota Roy Chowdhury. The Revolutionaries is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on September 11.
