In conversation with india.com, Ankush Bahuguna reveals his long journey from Delhi to Cannes Red Carpet as the first male Indian beauty content creator.
Ankush Bahuguna is an actor and content creator known for his work in beauty, lifestyle and comedy. He gained popularity through his humorous videos and later launched a new Instagram page called “Wing it with Ankush” during lockdown, where he creates makeup tutorials. Breaking traditional gender stereotypes associated with makeup and grooming for men, Ankush has become a pioneering male beauty influencer and is now all geared up to debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
In an exclusive interview with India.com, Ankush shares his journey, childhood, aspirations, future projects, social media trolling, and more.
Who is Ankush Bahuguna?
Growing up, Ankush was bullied and faced a lot of criticism about the way he looked. But today the same socially awkward guy who couldn’t maintain eye contact with anyone has been entertaining millions and billions of people with his funny videos and teaching makeup with his tutorials. Ankush, an architecture graduate, started his career as a content writer for a lifestyle brand. Though he always dreamed of acting, self-consciousness often held him back. While he was working as a content writer, he wrote everything from listicles to screenplays. And then destiny intervened! Due to budget constraints at his company, they suggested Ankush to act in their videos. This opportunity was his first break in front of the camera which also made him realise that despite the initial nerves, he was made to perform.
Ankush Bahuguna’s Journey From Mayur Vihar to Cannes Film Festival
Ankush Bahuguna has become the pioneer Male Beauty Content Creator today and is set to debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Talking more about him becoming the First Male Indian Beauty Content Creator to debut at Cannes, Ankush shares that life feels like a full circle as from writing articles on ‘who wore what at the Cannes’ to now walking at the Cannes, it feels very surreal. He says, “Mayur Vihar ke ladke ne kab socha hoga ki ek din he will walking the Cannes Red Carpet and representing something so important.” Talking about his look at Cannes, Ankush shares that he is still figuring out his outfit for Cannes as he is really indecisive but his Stylist Akshay Tyagi has a great vision for him. “I also don’t want to suddenly become a new person when I go somewhere, I want to stay true to myself”. Ankush shares that his look will be authentic to who he is. He highlights that staying true to himself has got him so far. “It’s so empowering to know that you can stay true to yourself, become a brand yourself, and then you get global recognition, ” he shares.
Looking back at his journey Ankush shares, “There was a point where I wasn’t sure if I should open a beauty page because of the judgments and all”. Ankush also says that even though he was initially skeptical about opening his makeup page, accepting and taking the opportunities that came, led him here “That one time that I trusted myself, it has landed me up here.” He shares that growing up, he was insecure about his looks and never thought he could be someone to walk on the red carpet.
Ankush’s presence at the Global Platform of Cannes Red Carpet will be a conversation starter about normalising makeup and grooming for men. However, Ankush shares that there have been many people before him who have also broken such stereotypes. “I am cisgender, so it’s much easier for people to accept me doing makeup but non-binary people, gender fluid people, and trans people have been doing the same thing for much longer than me but people didn’t accept them as much”. With this opportunity, Ankush’s motive is to make the most of it. He expects people to become more inclusive of other communities that have so much talent and doing this for a while.
Ankush on Social Media Trolling
Ankush shares that he was reluctant to start his makeup page because of all the judgments. He was also scared that being a comedy content creator if his audience would reject his makeup-related content so badly that it would also impact his career as a comedy content creator. “Trollers have made me cry a lot of times”. Ankush talks about how the existence of the entire content creator depends on being liked and appreciated by people and it is scary to not be liked by people. However, over some time Ankush has grown a thick skin “I have also realised one truth, if you are going to troll me please share my reels to the story and troll me, at least I will get engagement out of it”.
Ankush’s journey from being an introverted person who had self-doubts to now representing the South-Asian squad as a pioneer beauty content creator is an inspiration to many.
Ankush believes – “Everyone should have the audacity to dream big and trust themselves enough as something or the other greater good comes out of it”.