Showing posts with label Orhan Awatramani. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orhan Awatramani. Show all posts
Paris Hilton once told me that you should never be at a party beyond 3 am-Orry
7:25 PM
Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; January 9, 2024)
A favourite with the paparazzi, Orry, out of the blue, became hugely popular on social media sometime last year. How? He was seen at almost every B-Town party, hobnobbing and posing with stars, mainly the young brigade of showbiz. For the longest time, the question on every netizen’s mind was – Who is Orry and what does he do? Curiosity around him kept growing, and in a recent interview, his response, “I am a liver” to a question, went viral. Orry talks to BT about his Bollywood buddies, parties and more.
‘A film set is the last place I want to be on’
There were speculations that his ultimate goal is to become an actor. Orry clarifies, “I have zero interest in acting. I did not grow up with dreams of being on TV or in movies. Many of my friends are actors or are becoming actors. It’s not an easy job. You are at the gym, you are at various offices, reading scripts and listening to narrations. I don’t even understand Hindi. A film set is the last place I want to be on. I haven’t even grown up watching too many Bollywood films. However, I just go to support my actor friends. I watch their films. I am a supporter.”
‘An intimate party for me is no less than 100–120 people’
Known to attend and host glamorous parties, Orry says that putting a party is a “business project”. “I have a team that works on everything until 24 hours before the party. Hosting a party is a business project. It is a lot of fun and satisfaction, but also a lot of work. We make sure there are food options for everyone. A party without any decoration is a no party at all! Every party needs to have a theme. Once I hosted a Meet Me On A Monday party, it’s for people who can party on a Monday and can get away with it on a Tuesday. An intimate party for me is no less than 100–120 people,” he shares.
‘Paris Hilton once told me that you should never be at a party beyond 3 am’
Orry can hop across five parties back-to-back before he retires home. And the one tip he seriously follows is the advice he received from Paris Hilton! “Paris Hilton once told me that you should never be at a party beyond 3 am. And if you are at a party beyond 4 am, it means that you are jobless and have nothing to wake up to. I don’t get wasted at a party. After all, I came to have a good time and not fall off a staircase.”
‘Khushi and I grew closer when I was going through a bad phase’
Orry, who has many besties in B-town, says that the first star kid he befriended was Sara Ali Khan. And when it comes to turning to someone for some heart-to-heart conversations, his go-to people are Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor. “The two are always emotionally available for me. A couple of summers ago, when I had hit rock bottom, my friends were by my side. Khushi and I grew closer during that time.”
‘I am sure my friends talk about me, I’d be confused if they don’t’
There are ups and downs in friendships, and ask him if it’s hard to maintain a rapport with his celeb friends, and he says, “Every thick friendship is going to have some problems, and if you don’t vent it out, you are going to hate your friend and explode. I am sure my friends talk about me behind my back too, and I will be very confused if they don’t.”
Shruti Haasan hits back at Orry's 'rude' allegations: I treat people exactly the way I am treated
10:33 AM
Vinay MR Mishra (BOMBAY TIMES; December 28, 2023)
Has actress Shruti Haasan tied the knot? That was the question on people’s minds after socialite Orry addressed Shruti’s partner Santanu Hazarika as her husband in a recent session on social media. Shruti took to Instagram on Tuesday to clear the air; she wrote, “So, I’m not married. As someone who has been open about every single thing, why would I hide this? LOL. So, people who don’t know me at all, please calm down (sic).”
If I were married, why would I hide it?: Shruti
When we reached out to the actress, she clarified, “It’s just so silly. I wish people who don’t know me wouldn’t talk about me. I have lived my life with complete openness and honesty. If I were married, why would I hide it? I posted a clarification because my social media was spammed with this news… It was very funny. I was laughing at it.”
I treat people exactly the way I am treated: Shruti
When asked about Orry calling her rude, Shruti said, “I don’t know who that (he) is. I am busy doing my work and living my life. My focus has always been on people who bring good energy into my life and around me. I have always said this, and I stand by it - I am like a mirror, I treat people exactly the way I am treated, and I am never sorry for it.”
How it all began...
During an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, Orry was asked whether any celebrity had shown him an unnecessary attitude while posing for a photo. He replied, “Shruti Hasan. Not for posing cause I never asked her, but she was very, very rude to me at an event that I had actually got her into and I don’t even know her! Felt very bad, but there was probably some misunderstanding cause I am good with her husband and I adore him. This will get sorted out in time. However, I heard from the rumour mill she called me a ‘Pune’ like a spot boy or something (sic).”
I don’t feel any shame in calling the paps-Orhan Awatramani aka Orry
8:44 AM
As we inch towards the end of the year, Orry looks back at 2023, a year that made him a pap favourite and a social media sensation
Monika Rawal Kukreja (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 25, 2023)
‘I work on myself. I am a liver.’ These lines by Orhan Awatramani aka Orry in his earlier interviews became quite famous. And they continue to define his personality. A social media sensation, a global fashion influencer and Bollywood’s Gen-Z BFF, Orry just came, smiled, posed, got papped and became the most talked-about person on social media. So, it’d be right to say that 2023 saw him everywhere — from parties, events and award shows to pap pages and all over Instagram. As we settle down for a chat during Orry’s recent visit to Delhi on a chilly afternoon, he reflects on the year.
Ask if he agrees that he got more than what he expected in terms of all the love and fandom that came his way, and the 24-year-old says, “I wouldn’t say the year has been more than what I expected. I wouldn’t say less either. I had no expectations. And when you expect nothing, anything you get is something. I didn’t go out and give that ‘Work on myself interview’ thinking that, ‘Oh, I’ve to say it and it’ll go viral’. And then that ‘liver’ interview happened. But that was just me being me and talking the way I talk.”
But Orry had become a pap favourite even before those interviews happened. While many celebs tip off the paparazzi about their whereabouts these days and then act surprised on spotting them at the airport or outside the gym, Orry feels there’s nothing wrong in calling them. He admits having done that so many times.
“Firstly, I have a giant blue Mercedes G Wagon, which is really hard to miss,” he says, adding, “I don’t need to call the paps if I’m at a restaurant or if I’m pulling up. But I’m not going to lie. Have I called them before? Of course I have.”
He continues, “If I like my outfit, I’m looking great and I want to get pictured, I’d call them. Also, whether you call them or not, at some point, you’re going to get clicked. So, I don’t feel any shame in calling them. If I’m going for a party, I’d rather get photographed entering when I’m looking lovely, rather than when I’m exiting — sweaty, wasted or drunk like a troll walking out of the restaurant. Having said that, 99% of the time, I haven’t called them.”
‘Trolls don’t get to me’
“When you make a public profile, you make yourself a personality; you’ve given up the right to privacy. You can’t then complain that people are making fun of you. So, when I see young guys making videos and content on me, it’s hilarious, I find it very creative, and I often meet them for pictures.”
Orry seems to be loving the mystery around him — nobody really knows what he does for a living or which school and college he attended. This is because he hasn’t ever spoken about it in public. When we ask him about his profession, he reiterates what he’s always said: “I am a liver. I’ve studied everywhere — in Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, New York, London. My education is from the school of life, and my experience is my education.”
‘Living multiple lives in 24 hours’
Nobody knew of or had seen Orry until a year ago. From being away from the public eye to now being papped as often (perhaps more) than a Bollywood actor — does he enjoy the attention he’s been getting? “I travel a lot. So every time any attention goes up a little bit [in that city], I’ve left it. This time, I’ve been in Mumbai for a long time. So, things picked up,” says Orry, adding, “I feel like I have way more hours in a day than anybody else. Just within a 24-hour span, I’m living multiple lives.”
The curious case of phone cases
Not just Orry, his mobile covers grab equal attention on the internet. The frog cover, banana case, sunny side up and the famous cockroach case, his quirky collection is hard to miss. He reveals how it all started: “I have a friend in London, and he said he was going to pick new covers for me. I told him to send me options of cases that will make headlines. So, it started off as a joke. Now, he has become the phone case-stylist. The phone has a manager and will probably soon have an Insta page!”
‘Bigg Boss was not at all planned’
Orry’s short stint on Bigg Boss 17 took everyone by surprise, and many assumed that’s what all the hype had been for. He, however, dismisses this assumption. “Bigg Boss had offered me to be a contestant so many times over the years. In fact, I have a videotape that I made for the reality show about eight years ago; it’s a ‘Who is Orry’ video. One day, I might just leak it,” he laughs, but maintains that he’d never go as a contestant. “I don’t have the time. So, when they approached me for this one episode, and wanted me to go there as a prank, I didn’t see a reason to not agree. I didn’t even tell my parents I was going on that show,” he says.
‘I love my Hindi’
Soon after that one episode with host, actor Salman Khan went viral, Orry’s Hindi became the talking point, with some even trolling him for not being fluent in the language. Stating that he’s not obligated to please anyone, Orry tells us, “I’ll say what I want to. Yes, no one had heard me talk (before Bigg Boss), I don’t speak much and I don’t speak live. But, I went all out [in the show]. I said, ‘It’s a challenge and I will speak live, and in Hindi’. It is not my best language, but I did it to my best. I love my Hindi.’
Rs. 20-30 lakh a night just for selfies?
One of the most interesting revelations Orry made on the show was that he makes Rs. 20-30 lakh a night to take selfies with people at a party. He explains how that works: “I charge this amount as the cover fee for an event. When you invite me to your party, you’re not getting a performer. You’re getting a celebrity. Orry has come as a friend. I’ll come, stay for the whole party or till when I decide to leave, meet everyone as if I’m your friend and take pictures with guests. So, I’m not charging Rs. 20 lakh for selfies, it’s for that night. You bought into the concept of Orry being at your party.”
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I can charge between Rs. 20 to 30 lakh a night as the cover fee to attend your event. The difference is that when a celebrity is attending, they’ll come, do their performance and bounce off. That’s not what you’re buying from me. The ‘Orry presence’ is very different.
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My mum asked me to go for Hindi classes, and I said, ‘No, I’ve lived my whole life with this Hindi, and I’m not looking to get into movies that I need to speak shuddh Hindi’. It’s a part of me, I don’t feel the need to change it.
Everybody knows Orry: How curiosity helped build a brand
4:13 PM
Admittedly a self-promoter, Orhan Awatramani can be found on social media, digital platforms and TV shows. But to get past the marketing tactics and really find him is another story, writes Shannon Tellis
Shannon Tellis (THE ECONOMIC TIMES; December 20, 2023)
A few weeks ago, ‘Who the hell is Orry?’ was the first question to pop up each time anyone scrolled through any Bollywood content. For the uninitiated, fashion influencer and Bollywood insider Orhan ‘Orry’ Awatramani has been ubiquitous on the film industry’s social scene for a while now, often spotted hanging out with actors — and his ‘BFFs’ — Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday.
But in November, the 28-year-old socialite seemed to embody ‘everything, everywhere all at once’, posing up-close with familiar faces at every high-profile celebrity event.
Branding masterclass
Despite this, no one had any definitive answers as to who he was. Online searches for [sic] ‘who is orry’, ‘Orry kon hai’ and ‘what does orry do’ rose significantly. Between October 21 and November 11, ‘Orry’ searches saw a 67x spike. By November 26, the day of his special appearance on Bigg Boss 17, searches for ‘Who is Orry’ reached peak popularity. The majority of traffic was interestingly from unexpected places such as Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Chandigarh. Searches for [sic] ‘Who is Orry Awatramani parents’ and ‘Orry net worth’ spiked too.
AIB’s former head writer Devaiah Bopanna believes Orry is playing the Kardashian fame game. “I don’t doubt Orry when he says he is a genius marketer. He knows exactly what he is doing — meme your way into mainstream pop culture and celebrityhood, and then spin it off into one or many multi-million-dollar businesses,” he recently wrote on Twitter.
Orry has already begun spinning that ‘fame’ into brand collaborations. In August, Netflix used the curiosity around Orry to promote its film, Heart Of Stone, while in October, Bumble leveraged his perceived lack of relatability as the premise for its ‘I’m Just Like You’ campaign (a script Orry says he wrote).
Cred’s Kunal Shah says teaming up with Orry for their latest ad film was a natural extension of the experimental approach that the brand is known for. “We’re known for doing different things, not just working with known celebrities. We’ve done animation and music, and the Orry ad was just one of those experiments,” Shah says.
Netflix and Bumble declined to comment for this story.
For marketers, part of Orry’s allure is the large number of social media followers he has. “In the last 30 days, his Instagram has gained over 3,00,000 followers and collaborations with global, well-known brands such as Netflix, Bumble and Cred gave him more credibility,” says Nick Baklanov, research specialist at influencer marketing platform, HypeAuditor. “I would say that his collaborations now can cost about $30,000 to $50,000”.
An Instagram post on his feed is expected to cost about $670 to $2,000, while a story could set brands back by $300 to $1,000.
The man in question, though, says the sudden spotlight on him isn’t a marketing strategy; “It’s not planned,” Orry says.
But he does acknowledge this: He’s either always thinking about or working on his brand. “I know the DNA of the Orry brand — what’s on or off-brand. I know how to manipulate a photo, sell a story, make a dull moment shiny and shiny moments shinier,” he says. “I know how to sell you the dream that you don’t have and the dream that possibly even I don’t have.”
Building up curiosity
So far, Orry has deflected questions about his education and livelihood with seemingly meaningless quips like “I work on myself” or “I live life, so I’m a liver”. Some say that by maintaining a secretive aura about his life, Orry is milking the curiosity around him.
But he disagrees with this assumption. “Somebody once said about me, ‘He is by far the most public person in the world but [is] still private’ — I really like that. Between Snapchat and Instagram, I story everything. You’re with me almost 24 hours a day,” he says.
“I recognize that this glamorous world isn’t available to everyone. I’m happy to share it with my followers, but I’m not obligated to answer anything. If you say I’m an open book with a few pages that are stuck together, I’d say the book isn’t over yet. The questions you have will be answered as we approach the end of this novel.”
The 28-year-old is adamant about not answering questions about his family and is quite cryptic when it comes to revealing how his friend circle was cultivated. “I’ve met them [the celebrities] along the way,” is all he says, rather mysteriously.
However, independent marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan believes that maintaining privacy about parts of his life is par for the course when building a personal brand. “Usually, people misunderstand ‘personal branding’ as ‘being out there’ or ‘being 100% authentic’. But it isn’t about living one’s life 24x7 in front of the world,” he says. Instead, it’s about cherry-picking aspects and consistently projecting them, so that people remember the person for those.
“In Orhan’s case, the mystery element of what he doesn’t talk about comes directly from the celebrity connection. It’s less of ‘Who is Orry?’ and considerably more of ‘Who is Orry who is seen next to X [a celebrity]?’,” Srinivasan surmises.
Short-term marketing tactic?
Experts say that enigma alone can take a brand only so far. Image consultant and integrative personal counsellor Benaisha Kharas Dongre says, “Curiosity sustained for too long can develop into frustration.”
“Curiosity or mystique would be a good hook to get people interested, but once they are interested, it needs to be fed with something tangible [over time],” agrees Srinivasan.
A case in point being when Frooti rebranded itself in 2001 and created the character ‘Digen Verma’. That was backed by a multimedia teaser campaign that intentionally omitted the brand name, generating massive curiosity. “But once it was revealed that he [Digen Verma] was a character created to promote Frooti, people’s interest waned, which is the danger with any brand that is hyped on the basis of curiosity,” cautions Sumanto Chattopadhyay, former chairman and CCO, 82.5 Communications, Ogilvy Group. Finding ways to up the ante with surprises that fuel curiosity can help a brand sustain for longer, he adds.
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‘The Frustrated ‘Who Is Orry’ Question Has Only Added To My Branding’
Orry is very clear about what Orry is. The brand isn’t meant to be elitist or luxury; it’s meant to be fun. “To me, the Orry brand means ‘I do what I want’,” he says. There was a lot of disbelief, he recalls, when he decided to appear on Bigg Boss.
“I got a lot of comments saying, ‘I’m disheartened; your brand is meant to be luxury’, and I’m like, ‘No babe, my brand is what I want’,” he says. Appearing on the show was the best decision he made, he adds. “It catapulted me to a different level. Earlier my audience was more of the elite South Bombay or South Delhi, upper society people. However, after Bigg Boss, I have been able to share my creativity with a much larger audience.”
On ‘Who is Orry?’
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity. When people ask ‘Who is Orry?’, it means I’m doing something right; something I’m creating is resonating with them. Yes, there is frustration — who the hell is Orry? How can he be in Paris but also in Bombay and also on Bigg Boss? — but all of that frustration has only added to my branding,” he reveals.
On 15 minutes of fame
“In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes,” Andy Warhol supposedly said once. Orry sees nothing wrong with this. “Becoming famous for the sake of being famous is an art form and possibly the most difficult one there is; you’re creating something out of nothing. Playing the relevance card is a lot tougher when you don’t have much to leverage.”
On his network
“Let’s not lie,” he says, right off the bat. “I have had the honour, privilege and blessing of having a few best friends in Bollywood and I value them for sharing their spotlight with me. The Kapoor sisters [Janhvi and Khushi] and their father [Boney Kapoor] have shone a spotlight on my creativity and humour but my incredible network is not the only reason I’m here. Otherwise, any celebrity’s best friend could be where I am.”
On social capital
“It looks shameless to self-promote but there is no shame in self-promotions. If you don’t put yourself out there, no one else will. You have to be greedy in your ambitions,” he says.
His ultimate brand collaboration
It’s the content that drives him over a brand, he says. “Of course, I would love to work with a Cartier or a Chanel, who wouldn’t? But I don’t wake up and dream of collaborating with a particular brand. For me, the biggest draw is the script,” he says, adding that he would pick a smaller, lesser-known brand over a big brand if the script was right.
So, what’s his favourite script? Cred’s ‘Black Friday’ campaign, he replies, adding, “That was a genius script. And it showed in the engagement; I’ve never seen a post where the number of shares equals the number of likes.”
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