Opinion Are you watching Orry’s ‘feud’ with the Ali Khan family? The joke isn’t on him, it’s on us

We are in the business of making gods out of men, and men out of gods. Orhan Awatramani, better known as Orry, is our latest, most self-aware deity.

While we argue whether a man whose claim to fame is being famous for his famous friends even counts as a celebrity, he has already transcended the debate to become a “cultural artefact”. He is a case study in what happens when fame detaches from achievement and becomes pure performance. What is startling is that we built this altar of celebrity worship. He is merely performing the rituals we wrote.

Look closely, and you will find that Orry is a master of symbolic capital. He trades neither in films nor cricketing prowess, but in signs: The dandelion earrings that caught Rihanna’s eye, the “transparent” interrogation outfit, his kooky phone case collection, the signature pose and, most significantly, his mythical “touch” that costs anything between Rs 20-30 lakh. Much like himself, his accessories too, have transformed into totems. In a society saturated with images, Orry understands that the image is the substance. He has weaponised the anecdote, monetised the cameo and systematised the social climb.

His genius lies in his audacious literalism. Ask him what Orry does, and pat comes the reply: “I do my best” or “I live my best life, so I am a liver.” He does not merely attend parties like us mortals; he declares partying his profession. He does not just have friends; he collects them. He does not wait for relevance to wane; he plans its “downfall” in a dedicated “relevance room” staffed by “minions”. There is a certain method to his madness. One could almost call him a maverick in his own right. He is enacting, with a wink, the very machinery of celebrity that usually operates backstage. He pulls back the curtain and says, “Look! I am pulling the curtain!”

Feeding the digital agora

Consider his feuds, particularly the operatic fallout with the Ali Khan clan. This is social theatre at its finest. Each unfollow, each cryptic reel, each reference to “trauma” is a carefully released narrative pellet, fed to a media ecosystem that runs on conflict. He knows that in the digital agora, cohesion is boring. Fracture is the story, which in turn is currency.