THE ICON INTERVIEW: YOURS TRULY ONLINE
I went to meet freshly married Mooroo, Pakistan’s favourite vlogger, at his home in Karachi, but instead of Bano, the orange Persian cat who’s featured in a lot of his videos, I’m welcomed by a gorgeous but very loud Pitbull. “I grew up around dogs,” he confesses, as he arranges to have the dog temporarily stowed in a room so I can make my way inside. Apparently Bano and the pitbull coexist peacefully in his home.
Once inside, it all looks familiar — Mooroo’s home has been featured in his vlogs enough times to make one feel like I’ve walked on to the set of a show I’ve seen many times. Ranging from anywhere between 10-20min long those vlogs are addictive — there’s a travel series where he’ll be poking fun at himself, his sponsors, the commercialisation of content and then his own personal experiences along with that of his trusty sidekick, Ahsan Ahmed. But more on him later.
Then there’s the series that’s about his own life — everything from his childhood experiences, family, coming-of-age, adulthood and most recently, a very heart-felt vlog about getting married and the complexity of romantic relationships. Mooroo’s life is an open book and his audience gets to see it vlog by vlog.
One thing that’s been happening more and more is that he’s ending every vlog with a drone montage of beautiful scenery and a very soothing voiceover summarising his final thoughts on the story or topic of the day.
Mooroo is a superstar on YouTube. He got to where he is via a filmmaking degree and renting out video equipment. But does he feel his stardom as a vlogger has come at the cost of his passion for music?
“That’s become a thing now,” laughs Taimoor Salahudin, popularly known as Mooroo, a nickname given to him by his younger sister when they were, well, younger. “I wrote something in my diary around eight years ago, it ended up being used in my video called Sex, love, life. And in that there is this drunk mamoon [maternal uncle] character who’s an alcoholic. That’s the first time I used that drone shot with a deep voice. I was playing a character. I felt like, ‘Oh yeah. He can talk like Zia Mohyuddin. He can make it all soothing and sexy.’ So, I did it. I liked it and it leaked into my vlogs. It’s a style that emerged that I had no control over. I hope I don’t end up doing it too much because that gets boring.”
A lot of the time, you’re just poking fun at yourself, I point out to him. “That’s the only way you’ll grow, by having a sense of humour about your own self,” he says, thoughtfully. “There are certain things you don’t like about yourself, so either you can beat yourself up about it or laugh at it. I feel like humour heals you. Some people might take themselves very seriously, [but] for me humour is that healing and a catalyst of change.”