Meet
Hopong Naga, a 19 year old BA student of Dimapur Government College who
has been making his presence in the social media with his side-splitting mimicry of various characters and parody of unique local behaviours.
He hails from Yongphang village of Longleng district, son of Chonmei Phom and Wangying Phom. Not surprising, Canadian comedian Russell Peters and American actor Jim Carey are the two people he draws inspiration from.
We are not sure which is better—Hopong’s hilarious mimicking videos or his sarcastic Facebook updates. Since his first video on September 26, 2016 titled “When your Thai girlfriend asks for a breakup” got viral with more than 16k views Hopong has been flooded with friend requests on Facebook (that has now surpassed the FB friend’s limitation) and a demand for more video uploads.
This talented lad spoke to Eastern Mirror that his first video was made and uploaded just to ‘entertain himself’ and a few of his online pals. To his surprise, the video was received well beyond his expectation with more than 100 shares on Whatsapp and FB.
The video changed his normal activity to more friend requests and video requests, the teenager said with delight at his new found fame.
“My first stage performance was at my ninth standard on teachers’ day mimicking my school teachers which surprised many of my teachers” the infant comedian explained. Until that event, his antics were confined only to his classroom and friends.
All those following Naga might be wondering from where he got that talent. He said that his father was humorous as for his three elder brothers (unlike his three elder sisters and mother who apparently do not share this humorous side but are more into serious stuff).
Behind his social media fame, Naga credits his friends for encouraging him with a talent that which he wasn’t even confident in. When his hostel mates are not around, he takes the videos himself.
If you think the amusing FB updates are cooked up, it is not. His updates are an exaggeration of actual events and the videos are acted upon requests, while some are self-conceived.
Entertaining with his mimes is not the only thing he is good at. Music is also an integral part of Hopong Naga. He follows many genres of music. However, he has a soft corner for Hip-Hop in general and Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. He performed during the 2015 night carnival at Dimapur besides participating in various inter-band competitions.
The combination of acting and music talent notwithstanding, he aspires to be a lawyer and swears to fight all odds to become a successful one at it. ‘Sometimes we must give up something we are good at to achieve our dreams,’ the teenager philosophized.
Fame has its fair share of criticism too. Naga says he does not mind negative feedback; the best way to deal with criticism is to ignore it. The 19 year old also remarked ‘we cannot impress all the people’ and he takes some criticism positively while inviting ‘constructive criticism.’
Hopong Naga still loves what he does, criticism or not. “if you have any talent which can bring a smile on others’ face or make someone’s day, do it for free as it is a joy of giving and a gift from God”. Amen to that.
The ‘Chal chana’ boy as his followers have named him have uploaded seven videos in total that has gotten more than 1.11 lakh views in total and in just three days his FB Page has received more than 4000 followers.
