In defense of Tanmay Bhat, Neha Kakkar and other mediocre talents with fame and fortune…

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Two separate and seemingly unrelated incidents incited me to write this blog post. First is my rank of a humble foot soldier in the all-conquering Bot Army ( the fandom of failed comedian, failed CEO, and general menace to society -Tanmay Bhat). Second is the horrid Gachibowli traffic which continues to be the bane of my existence as I sit pillion behind ever-disgruntled Rappido riders. You might wonder how these two seemingly mundane and unrelated aspects of my being could converge in this impromptu and poorly constructed defense of mediocrity. It all boils down to one of those random convergences of chance where coincidence meets an extremely bored little man with too much time on his hand and a penchant for bullshitting on this personal blog. So let us begin…


The Original Bakchod:

I have followed, laughed with, and deeply loved Tanmay Bhat right from his AIB days. But I only started respecting the man and viewing him as a role model after the failure of his media company and his resurgence as a YouTube blogger, gamer, and all-around Bakchod. His honesty and candor about his fight with depression made him an endearing character for many. But when you marry that with an almost prophetic understanding of ever-changing internet trends and his viewer's interests what you get is a man with a finger on the pulse of young India and the growing online viewership of this country in his palms.


However, despite all his virtues, Tanmay Bhat is not a man without flaws and is ever haunted by the demons of his past. His long-term fans and followers will tell how the man has mellowed down and seemingly cleaned up his acts in recent times; cutting out the outlandish, FIR collecting, controversy-inducing, and company jeopardising aspects of his humour and content while still maintaining the unique edge that has made his content and brand stand out amongst a sea of pretenders. So it pained me deeply when I heard his and Samay Raina’s ad for Kotak Mahindra was withdrawn amidst controversy(link) over old tweets from his AIB days. It sent the internet into a spiral with people calling for his head. And in all fairness, the tweets in themselves are hard to defend. They can be labeled as paedophilic, misogynistic, and just plain crass and they probably were, but anyone who knew the man can tell you he was none of those things, he was just a remarkably high-functioning dumbass who failed to grasp the scope and impact of his words. But perhaps what irks me more than that is while we are happy to dig up old skeletons and burn this man to the stake, we have completely discounted the journey of growth and self-improvement he has gone on: Tanmay Bhat of 2023 is not the same man he was in 2016, this is a more considerate, patient and level headed individual who has learned to appreciate the tremendous influence and thus responsibility he has towards his audience. Plus at the end of the day, he’s just a comedian making jokes and trying to get rich off of entertaining his audience and he’s damn good at it too. So let’s just let the man live his life and not take everything he says too seriously. The attitude we should try to embody must be one of nonchalance or humored indifference- as our beloved Shankar would say “Nobody cares” and frankly nobody should.




The queen of auto-tune and the empress of remixes:

Neha Kakkar was never a singer I held in high regard. I didn't hate her with the same vigor as jobless trolls on the internet seemed to but I was never one to defend her either when boring characters who parrot opinions they read of the internet at house parties in a desperate ply for social acceptance would slander her. An interesting side note is these were usually the types with an extremely surface-level understanding and sense of appreciation for music but I digress.


And so I went on with my life, indifferent to the slew of hate and bullying a relatively self-made singer in an infamously closed and nepotistic industry was being subjected to when I heard this song: link stuck in traffic on my way back from work. And frankly, I enjoyed it. Enough to take out my phone and see who the singer was, the name left me surprised obviously but also got me thinking. Having nothing better to do as my commute would take at least another half an hour, I let my mind wander.


While it may be true that she is not the most talented singer in our industry today, she is still an extremely successful artist and no one can take that away from her. While she might be criticized and hated by almost everyone with an opinion and internet access in this country she continues to deliver hits. Moreover, once I heard her song without the bias of knowing who the singer was beforehand I enjoyed it. And so as the traffic started to move once again and my destination drew closer I made three separate conclusions which I will present before you for your consideration:

Firstly, most folks don't actually have an original opinion online and will blindly let trends and aggressively advertised narratives control them. Most hate Neha Kakkar not because they have reviewed her music with an unbiased and open mind but because the pretty Instagram influencers they secretly jerk off to at night made a funny reel about how much worse she is than her peers. Influencers with no discernible talent themselves but have quite cleverly figured out that nothing in this world sells better than sex appeal and our innate desires to belong and be accepted. And this segways to my second conclusion…..


People are arseholes. Especially when they are protected by the anonymity of a keyboard and hidden IP address which allows them to be their worse selves. It provides us the convenience of forgetting that celebs are also human beings with very real feelings and emotions. We slander them to seem cool. Show how much we are in sync with the crowd and how our values align with the masses and so we should be accepted into the tribe. Very few folks have the courage to build opinions of their own for the fear of coming to the ‘wrong conclusions’, not being accepted, and being considered lame and uncool.


And finally, Neha Kakkar might not be the best that Bollywood music has to offer, but she is certainly a far more talented singer than I ever will be. I realise that’s not saying much but I’m willing to wager she is also far better than the vast majority of her haters and trolls. At any rate, she has produced at least one piece of music which I have enjoyed and for that she has my respect and given the views and streams on her music, I am not alone. She is backed by a silent populous who clearly enjoys her music but is too afraid to come out in its defense. Well, I am not. I like Neha Kakkar’s music, at least some of it. Is this an unpopular opinion: Perhaps? Is it an original opinion based on my personal likes and dislikes: Absolutely.

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