Rakhi Sawant has been entertaining audiences for more than two decades. She has sassed on Koffee with Karan, searched for a husband on a television show and turned countless encounters with the paparazzi into performances. Some of it has been funny, some embarrassing and some downright unpleasant. But through it all, she has remained relevant.
On the other hand, Orhan Awatramani, better known as Orry, has found a considerably easier route to fame. He became an internet sensation because he seemed to know everybody in Bollywood. He was photographed with Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Nysa Devgan and practically every other nepo-baby; he is even close to the Ambanis. But the question on everyone’s lips was what exactly he did for a living. A question he famously refuses to answer.
Both are known for their larger-than-life personas, their extravagance and their seemingly unexplainable popularity. On the surface, Rakhi and Orry seem to have a lot in common: a loud, borderline problematic personality and a fanbase that has Swifties beat. But while the 30-year-old enjoys his ivory penthouse, Rakhi is the new people’s princess.
The Orry Occurrence
Now we know at least how much Orry gets paid. In June, he revealed that he had earned Rs 76 lakh from a single Instagram reel and that people pay between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh to have him attend private functions. Apparently, you can pay Orry to come to your party, take photographs and behave as though you’ve been friends for years.
I don’t begrudge him the money. But the fact that somebody will pay Rs 25 lakh to have Orry at their birthday party doesn’t make him entertaining. It just makes him an expensive guest.
His YouTube vlogs offer a look at a life most people could never afford. Trips to London, chauffeurs, expensive hotels and holidays with his best friend Tanya Shroff. All sprinkled with star-studded reels at the so-called expense of Orry. But when I watch his vlogs, I find myself more interested in the people and places around him than in the content creator himself.
There are his outrageous phone covers, his hand-on-chest pose and his jokes about being a “liver”. They’re funny enough, but how many times can you repeat the same joke? After a while, there isn’t much more to Orry than that.
But that’s the problem with being famous for being famous. You need to give people a reason to care about you. The Kardashians have made fortunes by turning their personalities, relationships and family dramas into entertainment. Their lives are carefully curated, but viewers still develop attachments to them, and their TRPs remain sky-high.
Also Read: Rakhi Sawant understands virality better than Bollywood. Give her a talk show already
One of a kind
Then there’s Rakhi. She was already a familiar face from item numbers and the 2005 ‘Pardesiya’ remix when she entered the first season of Bigg Boss in 2006. She fought, cried, made a fuss and became one of the show’s most memorable contestants. She even starred in Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na (2004) opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Then came Rakhi Ka Swayamwar in 2009. Sixteen men competed to marry television’s IT girl. It was completely ridiculous, but people watched. An entire show about her finding a husband, and she didn’t need a famous Bollywood family or a billionaire best friend to get people interested.
Rakhi is funny, argumentative, emotional and frequently unreasonable. She says things that make absolutely no sense. Of course she’s performing. Nobody could reasonably believe every dramatic outburst is spontaneous. But you can see her personality in all of it. She’s insecure sometimes, angry at others, and funny, yet raw throughout it all.
Whether you love her or hate her, you have some sense of who Rakhi Sawant is. She could be standing on an ordinary Mumbai street, arguing with paparazzi about something inconsequential, and still be the person everyone wants to watch. She truly is one of a kind.
Rakhi v Orry
I’ll give Orry credit for turning his celebrity friendships and social media presence into a very profitable business. He clearly knows how to sell himself. But being good at becoming famous isn’t the same as being entertaining. And perhaps Orry knows that too.
In October 2025, Orry posted a video of himself with Rakhi at an airport. He captioned it by saying that Rakhi was the original and everybody else could be a clone or a copy.
You heard it from the horse’s mouth, after all. We’re just agreeing with him.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)