Journalist Chand Nawab is well-known not only in his home country of Pakistan but also in India. You might wonder how. If you’ve seen Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, you’ll recall that Nawazuddin Siddiqui played a journalist with the same name. Nawazuddin’s persona in the film was influenced by Chand Nawab’s viral video “Karachi Se.”
The Real Chand Nawab is back in the spotlight after putting his viral “Karachi Se” video up for sale on the Foundation app as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). It should be highlighted that NFT is a platform that assists digital artists in monetizing their work. The minimum bid price for Chand Nawab’s popular video is 20 Ethereum tokens, which equals $63,604.20. (around Rs 46,74,700).
Nawab stated on the auction portal “I’m Chand Nawab, a journalist, and reporter by profession. In 2008, a video of me surfaced on YouTube in which I fumbled while reporting the Eid Festival frenzy at a Railway station. While reporting, I was constantly interrupted by people. My fumbling and constant irritation made this video viral, getting millions of views on YouTube and Facebook.”
The Pakistani reporter later added, “My popularity again surged in 2016 when my viral video inspired Indian filmmaker Kabir Khan to create Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s character in his 2015 blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan. I got fame overnight getting a lot of love and appreciation from India and Pakistan, especially from Bollywood star Salman Khan and other cast members of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.”
The viral video was created in 2008, while Nawab was working for a Karachi-based television programme and was attempting to report on the Eid celebration frenzy at a Karachi railway station.