It's Orry's world and we're just living in it.
In 2023, every person from Karan Johar to my old pals asked, "Who is Orry?" and "What does Orry do?" followed it. As the year draws to a close, all we know is what Orry, aka Orhan Awatramani, wanted us to know: "He is a liver." "He lives."
Orry kept popping up on Ask.fm about ten years ago. Perhaps the origins of the Orry phenomenon can be traced back to that time. For those who were unaware, Ask.fm was a site where users could anonymously ask questions. It was very popular in certain groups of high-society Mumbai schoolkids about a decade ago. Celebrities such as Alaya F, Shanaya Kapoor, Ahaan Panday, Radhika Seth, and others had profiles on the forum.
Conversations about the enigmatic individual hit a fever pitch when the young socialite appeared in every celebrity photo taken at the Reliance Jio World Plaza opening, posing in what has since been dubbed the "Orry pose." Orry has since kept his primary identity as not who he is, but who he is seen with. He wasn't in Nysa Devgan or Khushi/Janhvi Kapoor's vacation photos, but they were in his. He made his way into our Instagram feeds via Stories shared by his famous friends. His Instagram bio never mentioned the qualification that granted him access to Bollywood's inner sanctum. Indeed, his current bio appears to be a backhanded compliment to the nepo babies on his followers list: "Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard."
The eccentric things he says to keep up the mystery and be elusive by posing with celebs and somehow always being at these star-studded celebrations are genius PR moves in my opinion, and boy is he cashing in. While some may claim he has a wealthy father or is on Isha Ambani's payroll, the fact that he has managed to hide his occupation thus far despite the information overload is admirable. He's also kept his educational background a secret, though some say he graduated from New York's Parsons School of Design. People take him seriously for who he's with, but not so seriously that he's ashamed of his lifestyle. He may insist that he's from the ' school of life' and that 'experience' has been education.
He has created an image of himself as a wealthy and carefree man living a life of luxury. He contributes to the perception that Generation Z is unprepared for general knowledge or current events. It's the same naive appeal that made Alia Bhatt the internet's darling after her gaffe as President of India. Orry has offered himself consciously and consistently to the meme creators who contribute to pop culture as widely as Instagram Reels. Orry, like many of his generation, does not want to be defined or judged, even though he craves constant validation. He wants to have a say in everything, but he doesn't want to be tested on how much knowledge he has.
When Karan Johar pressed Ananya Panday on Koffee with Karan, "Who is Orry?" she replied, "He's known, but misunderstood." And when Karan replied, "But that's not an occupation!" he was speaking for all of us. Orry's allure stems from this paradox: he's everywhere, but no one knows who he is. In the 2000s, it was Paris Hilton, and in the 2010s, it was Kim Kardashian. Taking a page from their playbook (minus the sex tapes), he rose to fame by being photographed with popular Bollywood stars at high-profile events, putting him in the same league as celebrities. Some might even argue that Orry is the GenZ Indian Kimmification (similar to Kim K). There was no actual individual relevance in the early years; it was all gained through association with relevant people and being in the right circles. However, if used wisely and urgently, this can be completely cultivated into a legitimate brand. In this day and age of overexposure and short attention spans, that's a rare occurrence.
You can dislike him or love him, but you can't ignore him. Orry's brand is quite provocative, ensuring that he receives all of the attention, even if it is served with a side of snark. That's the Orry equipment for you: It's a snappy, shallow philosophy that's instantly imprinted on bright colors. It embodies everything Instagram stands for today. People on the internet love drama, and Orry serves it up just right. Is Orry famous for the sake of being famous? Possibly. But he's the flavor of the season, and he is here to stay, at least until the internet finds somebody else to replace him.
