It’s amusing to see how hundreds of years have been spent calling humans merely captured by the camera lens a ‘star’ globally. We place the people we know absolutely nothing about on a high pedestal, giving in to the omnipresence they seemingly exude. To submit oneself to the concept of stardom is to endorse the notion that people on-screen, so close to us as we take a seat in the cinema with a bag of popcorn and cola, exist, as the author Jeanine Basinger puts it, “on some plane between ours and that of gods.”

Stars with their shimmer and shine, brought forth personas larger than life — unapproachable and intriguing. The narrative built since the times of Shakespeare when an aura was created around actors to reel-in audiences, became the reality overtime. For these people - despite the limelight they are placed in with the help of hundreds of people who work tirelessly on maintaining the facade through makeup, lighting, wardrobe - do have certain incandescence of their own: the X-Factor. However, as times have changed and people have greater exposure, the light has perhaps somewhat dimmed and a new age is ushering itself in, predominantly through YouTube.

One of Pakistan’s most commercially successful actresses, Ayesha Omar, with a body of work lapping over television, film and music over the past two decades, has decided to jump onto the bandwagon as well. In 2019, Omar started her very own YouTube channel with her first video taking a peak into her lifestyle. Soon videos revolving around healthy living, including workouts and recipes for diets, followed. What goes on behind the scenes on the sets of her drama serials, make-up and styling tutorials etc came next.

“I wanted to create content that would be informative, I wanted to spread awareness [about subjects that are close to me]. I basically wanted to put out very personalised content so I could communicate with my fans directly,” she tells TNS over the phone on her shift to the web-space.

However, for somebody so well-acclaimed in the industry, does she believe the term ‘celebrity’ is perhaps now being redefined?

“The term celebrity essentially refers to a person celebrated for the work they’ve done, so we do see a new crop of celebrities now,” she responds. “People making videos have become very popular, and there’s all sorts of average and then some fantastic work out there. I feel as if during the Covid-19 outbreak, our only means of communicating while at home was social media, and technology boomed more than ever with content being created and consumed at a much higher rate, bringing the entire world to your palm; giving us a lot more access. In the process, naturally, there will be hits and misses — it’s risky, there is a lot of hate and abuse as well.”

But to take a deeper look into what “new crop of celebrities” Omar refers to, one cannot help but look at the career trajectories of internet personalities like Taimoor Salahuddin, popularly known as Mooroo, that have been able to accumulate millions of viewers and subscribes on YouTube in the past five years or so. For content creators who don’t fit the standard ‘industry look or persona’ a platform like YouTube removes previous barriers to entry.

Mooroo, in an earlier published interview, spoke of how in an audition, the pitch given to him was to be “as charming as Fawad Khan.” However, what gives Mooroo his identity, is not the enigma that surrounds him, but how relatable he is to the layman.

A platform like YouTube has allowed him to explore his authentic voice, musically, creating R&B in Pakistan like no mainstream musician has, work on independent short films that are offbeat and also create v-logs that are as entertaining as they are aesthetically pleasing. As a result, Mooroo has been able to find an audience that had previously perhaps not existed. For somebody who has perhaps already checked the conventionally acceptable boxes, is a platform like YouTube essential to stay relevant?

“Yes,” says Omar, “going digital is the new thing. A lot of brands, now only work on campaigns online; very few TVCs get made. The thing is that whatever you put out stays forever, you can always go back and see it. But, you see, TV and film do have their own charms. The magic you experience watching a movie in a theatre can never be replaced. Even being able to shoot and mount a film is magical; it’s a different process altogether.”

So, slowly but surely, as YouTube becomes as prevalent as TV and film in Pakistan, Gen Z, teenage creators have also created a community on YouTube appealing to a vast younger audience. While millennials grew up on a steady diet of Disney teenage dramas in the early 2000s, the replacement now are v-logs created by people from among ourselves, telling our day-to-day stories, providing just the right amount of realism and surrealism.

19-year old Bisma Khan begun v-logging two years ago and has been able to establish two businesses out of her internet following and also branch out into music, interestingly enough, rap. Islamabad-based 19-year old Mustafa Babar on the other hand, within a year on YouTube, is on his way to hitting 100K subscribes and is the digital face of several brands.

“So many actors today have been scouted through the internet,” Babar observes, speaking of his plans of becoming an actor eventually. “When you start YouTube, you build a certain recognition, you get to know more people in the industry and build contacts. Today, films don’t make stars, but films need that extra push through influencers. If David Dobrik makes an appearance in a Hollywood production even, people would watch it for them, and so there’s greater pull for people now than the medium, and YouTube is a platform that perhaps allows you to create yourself however you want to.“

What YouTube does is give almost every quality producer a loyal fan base, regardless of the statistics, there is greater freedom of representation and pursuit, and hopefully for everyone who picks up a camera in their homes and films, to be able to find and carve a niche.

“YouTube brings about much greater acceptability. There are several factors that can prevent you from entering the industry conventionally, there’s great competition, there are set moulds, nepotism etc. And so essentially, as my channel grows, what I try to do is set an example for younger people that would join in the years to come. All of us have our own very specific audiences, most people that watch me are children and young teenagers — impressionable minds — so I to create content that is as educational as it is entertaining. For instance, I opened up about being bullied, I talked about transgender rights very light-heartedly and then there are days when I don’t post because I have exams, and I want my followers to know all of that, I am one of them,” says Babar.

Though there are gains at large and whilst the barrier between fans and stars is somewhat removed, fans expect to be treated differently. There is greater ownership, like an interactive community, and it has come at the cost of privacy — a new form of paparazzi is emerging.

“We could be doing anything, anywhere, at a restaurant, at an airport. You never know who’s filming you, it could go against you and [harm] your image. I do think private spaces are being invaded,” Omar remarks on a parting note. “There’s a lot of speculation and judgment on our personal lives and choices, especially in our patriarchal society. And it’s uncontrollable. What it does is create a lot of anxiety for us, we can never fully be at ease when we step out of the house.”

Today, the concept of stars has becomes somewhat obsolete, and as we reshape celebrity, one can only wonder if the fraternity is now as inclusive as it might be dangerous; only time will tell.

The author has a penchant for writing and cinema, balancing two polar opposite worlds and taking it as it comes