They have a huge fan base on social media, they can easily connect with their followers and they can be themselves in front of the camera. All of which makes this bunch of content creators and social media influencers hot property for film production houses. Here’s a list of social media influencers who made a smooth transition to acting and wowed us in films and web shows in 2022.
Kareema Barry
YouTube: 2.2K subscribers
Instagram: 1.5M followers
The vivacious Calcutta girl who made us laugh in the lockdown period with her funny, relatable videos debuted on OTT with Netflix’s Masaba Masaba Season 2. In the hit show revolving around fashion designer Masaba Gupta, Kareema was very believable as Qayanaat, a Gen-Z social media fashion influencer who gives the experienced Masaba a run for her money. Recently, she was introduced as a new character, Hot Mess, in the Sony LIV web series Girls Hostel 3.0.
Kusha Kapila
YouTube: 729K subscribers
Instagram: 2.9M followers
Widely popular for her Billi Masi and South Delhi girl skits, Kusha Kapila’s social media reach made Bollywood biggies collaborate with her to promote their films and brands. After her appearance in the Netflix anthology film Ghost Stories in 2020, we saw her in the Netflix India YouTube show Behensplaining, followed by her performance in Prime Video’s comedy reality show Lol: Hasse Toh Phasse in 2021.
However, her big acting debut happened in 2022 with Netflix’s Masaba Masaba Season 2, where she played Masaba’s manager, the no-nonsense Nicole. Then, we loved her smooth hosting along with Abish Mathew in Comicstaan Season 3 on Prime Video. Kusha was also seen in Case Toh Banta Hai, a reality sketch comedy show on Amazon MiniTV with a bevy of Bollywood celebrities. Kusha capped it off with her confident appearance on the penultimate episode of Disney+ Hotstar’s Koffee with Karan Season 7, along with Tanmay Bhat, Danish Sait and Niharika M.
Prajakta Koli
YouTube: 6.8M subscribers
Instagram: 7.3M followers
YouTuber Prajakta Koli has had a tremendous run so far. The content creator, who was once a radio jockey, had climbed up the popularity chart with her YouTube channel, Mostly Sane, where she posted videos on relatable daily life scenarios donning various avatars. Having collaborated with many Bollywood biggies, she interviewed a few stars on her YouTube Original show, Pretty Fit.
Following her short film on women empowerment, Khayali Pulao, Prajakta bagged Mismatched, Netflix’s coming-of-age romantic drama where her chemistry with teen heartthrob Rohit Saraf is the high point. Backed by its success, Prajakta made her big Bollywood debut in Dharma Productions’ comedy drama Jugjugg Jeeyo. She played Ginny, Varun Dhawan’s sister, and had Neetu Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Kiara Advani as her co-stars. She will next be seen in Anu Menon’s Prime Video Original film Neeyat, starring Vidya Balan.
Ajey Nagar (Carry Minati)
YouTube: 37.5M subscribers
Instagram: 16.4M followers
Ajey Nagar, popular as Carry Minati and widely known for his roast videos and satirical content in the Hindi language, had a cameo in Ajay Devgn’s directorial hit Runway 34. The YouTube content creator played himself in the film, hence his performance seemed natural. The Faridabad-based boy rose to fame for his skits and reactions to trending topics on his YouTube channel CarryMinati.
Sahil Khattar
YouTube: 2.99M subscribers
Instagram: 637K followers
Popular YouTuber Sahil Khatter, who owns two YouTube pages – Khattarnaak and Being Indian – played cricketer Syed Kirmani in the Ranveer Singh-starrer 83, directed by Kabir Khan. The energetic content creator skilfully padded up as the star wicketkeeper in the 1983 Cricket World Cup-winning side. Sahil had previous stints as a radio jockey and a television presenter, and appeared in the film 200 Hallo Ho, which was digitally released on ZEE5 in 2021.
Viraj Ghelani
YouTube: 148K subscribers
Instagram: 1M followers
After Dice Media’s multiple web series and funny content around his Gujarati roots, his grandmother and Mumbai’s traffic snarls, Viraj made his Bollywood debut with Dharma Productions’ Govinda Naam Mera, starring Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani. Viraj played Bhumi’s boyfriend in the Disney+Hotstar digital film.
Shirley Setia
YouTube: 3.84M subscribers
Instagram: 7.5M followers
Born in Auckland, Shirley Setia shot into the limelight by singing Bollywood covers on her YouTube page. Soon after she became a sensation and gained a huge fan following, the cute social media star started getting acting offers. Her first film, Maska, released on Netflix, followed by Nikamma this year. Shirley also made her Telugu film debut with Krishna Vrinda Vihari this year.
