We Found Virat Kohli and Fawad Khan's Long-Lost Brother on a Live Streaming App

Fawad Khan is on a call with Gungun. Doctor Calvis doesn't like that. “Gungun is very pakau, bhai. Please end your conversation.”

Another Bigo Live user, Prabh, gifts 100 purple hearts to Fawad Khan––who is not the Pakistani actor, but the pseudonym of Tasneem Usmani, a 27-year-old rising star on the mobile live-streaming community.

AK 47 sends a lucky star. Anil Kumar Patel sends 100 pink hearts. Aadil Shaikh compliments Fawad on his acting. Saddam Khan compares him to Virat Kohli. Ali Hussain becomes a fan. Ritu sends a green heart. Lalit Fatnani wants to go on a call.

“Let’s talk to Lalit and find out why he is so confused all the time,” says Usmani, rejecting a call request from another user, Sufyan as I watch the proceedings through the Bigo app on my phone. “You will only ask the same old question,” he points out. “What’s happening, bhai? When are you going to Dubai?”

Saitaan starts abusing Fawad. “Fuck you idiot. Get lost,” says Fawad, kicking him off the broadcast. He then breaks into a song “Dil Diya Gallan” from the latest Bollywood blockbuster, “Tiger Zinda Hai.” The blue, pink and purple hearts starts jumping from the right bottom corner of the screen.

All this happens within the first two minutes of Fawad Khan going live at 11:30 PM, the time he generally interacts with his friends—in this session, 496 followers.

Usmani—aka Rjay, aka Raja Usmani, aka Virat Kohli—broadcasts on Bigo Live from his hometown of Lucknow. The Singapore-based live-streaming platform, which launched in 2014, claims to have around 40 million users in India and 200 million users across the world. Usmani has gained 43,000 followers over the one and half years he’s been using it. During his live sessions, he oozes calm confidence—chewing gum, playing with his slick beard and giving sarcastic answers to queries of followers. He takes his time to contemplate to whom he will grant the privilege of an audience.

Apart from enjoying a sizable following from female fans drooling over his perfect jawline and six-pack abs, Usmani’s also has the knack of connecting with anyone in his audience. “One has to give time to the app while being creative and talented,” Usmani told me when I met him in Delhi in February. “My talent is bakchodi; very few can do good bakchodi for one and a half hours. Being good-looking helps a lot. That’s why most of the popular accounts in India belong to girls.”

The most common compliment he gets is that he looks like Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and Pakistani actor Fawad Khan (hence the name). Even one of Virat Kohli’s hair stylists thought he resembled the cricketer. “She said she was actually in doubt, whether it was Virat himself, as a lot of celebrities also come on the app," Usmani said. This striking resemblance to these celebrities is one of the major reasons for his popularity, apart from his acting skills, which he showcases in impersonations on his channel, and comic timing.

It’s not just the fans. One woman promised Usmani she’d give his photo to Kohli’s manager make a collage of the two of them for social media.

Offline, Usmani carries himself with the same swagger, regularly experimenting with the latest hairstyles; wearing designer clothes, watches and accessories; routinely visiting the local gym to take care of his physique; and riding swanky sport bikes. Pursuing acting as a hobby, he is currently trying to establish a fitness centre or restaurant in Dubai, while expanding his family business in electronics there. While shuffling between Lucknow, Aligarh and the UAE, Bigo has been a boost to Usmani's professional and personal lives: he's gone out on dates with fans as well as built business connections through the platform.

Once, when he called a follower who works in the railways, “he started crying like crazy," Usmani said. "He said talking to me was an emotional moment to him. He promised me free train tickets whenever I want. I have also been offered free cricket match tickets."

The benefits don't just extend to free tickets. One of Bigo’s features is to allow influencers to exchange gifts they receive from their fans to cash. They can either pass the gifts to other users to extend their network, or convert them into money. Fans can buy gifts and use them to build a relationship with influencers.

“I have 71,000 gifts in my bank as of now, which I can encash any time,” said Usmani. “If I begin to come online for three hours every week, play some of their games, I can earn up to Rs. 15,000 monthly. In the past, there have been instances of people offering to buy my ID for as much as Rs. 50,000, but I have told them I won't sell it even for two lakhs.”

“The best experience I ever had was when I was in Abu Dhabi in a restaurant with my friends," he said. "A few guys came and asked me, 'Fawad, how are you brother?' They clicked photos with me, hugged me and asked about my well being. I felt like a real celebrity.”

Currently, Usmani follows just three people on the social media platform—all of them friends he met through Bigo. One is a woman from Delhi who's been following him from his initial days on the app. Another is a woman from Mumbai whom he said he dated for a few months.

He has an interesting relationship with the third person. “This guy tells me that he comes online to just to see my performances. I actually unfollowed him once but he became very emotional. He told me that it was a matter of pride for him that Fawad follows him. So I followed him again," said Usmani.

By linking his Bigo account to other social media, Usmani has gained many new followers on his Instagram and Facebook profile. He credits the app for giving him a platform through which he can share his experiences with people. He claims to have received offers of modelling and marketing of different products through his channel, but commercial gain is not his current priority.

“Some have found their love here, while few others have got married through the app,” says Usmani. “A guy named Hasan used to bake beautiful cakes online, a lot of girls were his fans just due to his baking skills. With course of time, one of his fans became his girlfriend. Now he streams along with that girl.”

Usmani believes everyone can be a Bigo celebrity if they plan it strategically and have some spare time. “I tell all my friends to come here to showcase their talents. Everyone has experiences of their own. If you are talented and creative, why not take it to people?”

Follow Zeyad Masroor Khan on Twitter.