ORRY'S INCREDIBLE GUIDE TO MINTING MONEY

Orhan Awatramani became a social media sensation this year. His madness has a method

- Devina Sengupta

At about 7.40pm on 18 December, I walked into Orhan Awatramani’s ground floor apartment in Mumbai’s Altamount Road, also known as the ‘Billionaires’ Row’. Shoes have to be taken off before you can enter his living room, which is as minimalist as it gets. A beige L-shaped sofa with grey and white cushions, a large television, a desktop calendar and a family photograph— Awatramani with his two brothers—is all I saw. An apple cinnamon scented candle filled the air with an overpowering fragrance.

Awatramani, nonetheless, doesn’t believe in minimalism. Popularly known as Orry, he is variously described as an “internet personality", a “social activist", a “socialite", a “social media star". He is more like a super influencer, always photographed in high-end brands. In 2023, he emerged with a style statement that ranges from the polished to the rather outrageous. One day, he is in a hot pink Versace suit. The next day, in a hoodie, from the Spanish luxury fashion house Loewe. From the avalanche of photographs, videos and reels dumped every second by celebrities on social media, Awatramani’s were one of the most sifted through this year.

He met me in a maroon tee, with a brown leather jacket over it. But more than his sense of fashion and entertaining dialogues—he uses obtuse lines like “I am a liver"—I wanted to understand the businessman in him.

After all, he has built a career merely from selfies—with actors, singers, politicians and corporate personalities such as the Ambanis. In fact, Awatramani’s apartment is barely a couple of hundred meters away from Antilia, the home of Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd and India’s richest man.