Can we unanimously agree that we doomscroll on Instagram when we’re too bored to be productive? With the retention span like that of a goldfish, we’re just scrolling through a massive pile of content. There may be 2-3 standout reels that actually grab our attention, keep us hooked, get a reaction out of us, and make us share it with our friends. And Aditya Shetty a.k.a @Baadshahig is definitely one of them. With his celebrity voiceover, dubbing and mimicry skills, he is garnering love in millions. His hilarious reels are leaving the masses in splits.
From mimicking the Baadshah of Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan, to getting the iconic swag of Salman Khan right, he aces the game. Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor are some of the other celebrities whose voice Aditya can embody to perfection. His sheer ability to get the actor’s voice right and give a whole different creative storyline to an existing movie scene or clip, is applause-worthy.
This Bangalore based creator’s dubbing on some of the ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara‘ movie scenes have gone viral and received over 12 million views. His reels are filled with comments like “This guy makes us watch every movie differently. Creative indeed”, “Absolutely brilliant!!! Laughed so loud my kids got a bit worried 🤣🤣🤣🤣” and many more appreciating his craft.
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The Indian paparazzi are stars in their own right! Their rib-tickling reactions towards the celebrities posing for them are hysterical. Aditya dubbed some pap videos from the NMACC opening night and the views and comments on it are proof that the audience is loving his talent.
There’s no better feeling than being recognised for your talent. Aditya was elated when Malishka from RedFM went on-air with him. It was an extremely entertaining conversation where she set up the premise of ‘Celebrities asking for a raise at work’ and Aditya had to enact each celeb in his own way. They both got super creative with it, making for some amazing content.
In conversation with Social Nation, Aditya Shetty shared a lot about his journey, inspiration, talent and process.
What is the story behind the name Baadshah?
“So there are multiple reasons. One is, it goes without saying that I’m a big Shah Rukh fan and Baadshah was the first SRK movie that I had watched. When I used to mimic him, my immediate close friends started calling me ‘Baadshah Baadshah.’ And I thought why not name my Instagram after what they call me? Baadshah! That’s basically the story behind the name haha.”
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
“After school and college, I did not want to get into the corporate life and do the 9-to-9 thing. I wanted to start something of my own. And I did. It was a start-up and I also had my childhood friends on board. So I teamed up with them and worked on it. That’s exactly when one of my Instagram videos actually boomed. I used to make these videos just for time pass, I didn’t expect them to click or something. It was during the time Pathaan came out, I had made a video on Shah Rukh and Salman which actually blew up. That’s when I realised oh people are actually finding it funny and they’re lauging, having fun and getting entertained! So the entertainer in me from school just came back to life again, you can say that.”
How did you get into the Voiceover and Mimicry scene?
“So I never really planned on getting into this scene, first of all. When I was in school, I mimicked a lot of actors. I just love Bollywood and I love doing this! I was only entertaining my friends and having fun. But then, there was this one beautiful girl in my school who came up to me one day and said when you’re not mimicking, when you naturally laugh, you sound like Shah Rukh! And it’s actually true, till date when I laugh, I actually sound like him even when I don’t want to. And then I realised, okay, maybe this is something I would love to try and do so why not.”
Tell us about SRK’s influence on your life.
“Deeply influenced! Haha. Since childhood, I was a huge Shah Rukh fan. I used to watch his movies and loved them. Then I started acting like him. It’s like everything, the way I talk to people, meet people, the way I have fun or just tease my friends, or the first time I fell in love – all of it had the typical Shah Rukh feel in it. Me being a South Indian, this is something I’ve not said anywhere, my Hindi is not the best. It’s one of the main reason that I love Shah Rukh movies.”
What is your process to get the actors’ voice so right and shift between multiple actors so effortlessly?
“There’s a simple thing for me, ‘observe and absorb.’ So once you do that, then you can play with the voice. Like for example, if it is Shah Rukh then something like (in a heavy base voice like SRK) ‘Mere dushman samajh rahe the..’ Then Hrithik Roshan would be like (in Hrithik’s voice) ‘I don’t know I just use the nasal base and he speaks a lot in English.’ And then there’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui who doesn’t speak in English at all and his voice kind of shivers a little like (in Nawaz’s voice) ‘Mereko maalum nai main ye interview kaise kar raha hai.’ And there’s Ranbir Kapoor who is very stagnant with his expressive voice (in Ranbir’s voice) ‘Hi Hi kaise ho baba, how are you? All good?’
This is something I just did randomly but when you actually do it, you make sure that you sound even more better. But even if you get 50% somewhere there it’s great. You need to make sure that you have a good sense of humour because you could 100% sound like a particular person but if that doesn’t have humour then it’s as good as dead. Humour is the soul of my content, it is the MVP. People don’t realise it but it’s actually the humour more than the mimicry that’s keeping them engaged and making my videos go viral.
Do you script your videos? What is the inspiration behind it?
“No I do not script my videos. A lot of people ask me if I do, but I don’t. First thing, because I just hate my mind haha. Whatever I watch, any video, I just know that I’ll have a totally different version of it in my mind already. So if I find something funny, I just put out what’s in my head. I don’t sit and write those things down, I do not come from that background where you sit and start scripting. I don’t know the process of writing or how to write a script, so I don’t do that. For me, I just know what I want in that video so I just make sure it comes out like that. I know how to edit videos, I can play with my voice, I am witty and I’ve got my humour. The content that you see is basically a combination of all of these things. It’s a perfect ‘mishran’ haha.”
What can we expect next? Are there any plans to dub for celebrities professionally?
“Well, I don’t know if I’ll dub professionally for actors and stuff. See, it’s always been this- whatever excites me and makes me happy, I was always into that. And maybe I will. I really love Salman, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, he’s basically an idol! So it would be great. I’m a very collaborative person as well. But the plans that I have for myself are totally different. It’s more towards making content because people love my voice but also my humour. And I want to use and amplify that in a different way. I’ll try and build something that of course gravitates towards or revolve around Bollywood, so let’s see.”
Well, we love being entertained by Instagram’s Baadshah of Voiceovers and Mimicry and can’t wait to see Aditya Shetty grow into one of the most loved creators!
