Influencers now savour reel life with lead roles

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Social-media influencers and stand-up comics who used to make fleeting appearances in films and web shows have graduated to enacting lead and strong supporting roles as their youth connect, fan base and acting skills endear them to production houses. While Kusha Kapila has appeared in Sukhee and Thank You for Coming, Bhuvan Bam has played the lead in a Disney+ Hotstar original. Anubhav Singh Bassi was seen in a key role in the comedy-drama Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar earlier this year.

Also, Danish Sait, who played the lead in the Kannada comedy Humble Politician Nograj, will soon be seen in Mohanlal-starrer Malaikottai Vaaliban. Industry experts point to the young fan base of these names and the fact that they’re likely to find appeal across formats, given their ease of expression. However, their earnings from these appearances are still much less than that of mainstream stars.

“Bollywood has always been a sort of melting pot that accepts and accommodates faces or ideas that are working. Social-media stars are the newest entities for business value to be seen in, since they come with a crazy fan following that often exceeds many mainstream film actors," Devdatta Potnis, chief executive at Animeta, a tech creator company, said. The presence of these faces immediately helps the film target a certain section of the audience and widens the draw for its release, Potnis added.

Further, in many cases, their persona also helps them communicate bolder themes and taboo subjects to the audience. For example, Thank You for Coming is a sex comedy that releases this Friday and features Kapila, Dolly Singh and Shibani Bedi alongside Bhumi Pednekar. According to Sushmita Sinha, associate director of key accounts at