"You can never convince your parents, but you can prove it to them":  Sohail 'Zishu' Shaikh on the struggles that he faced throughout his streaming journey

People often mistake online gaming as a place for tough competition, overlooking the form of entertainment provides to an audience.

A large portion of the gaming community follows the combative approach towards online multiplayer games. However, some even manage to separate the entertainment side from a competitive game while also maintaining a contentious atmosphere throughout.

One such talented individual from India is Sohail 'Zishu' Shaikh. He not only focuses on the merciless approach towards a game but also makes sure to entertain his fans with his sense of humor.

In an exclusive interview with Satyaki Das of Sportskeeda, Zishu highlighted the key elements in his journey, which helped him become one of the best streamers of the country. Zishu shared the harsh experiences, the ups and downs that he faced throughout his journey to reach the top.

Here's an excerpt of the conversation.

Q. Every gamer has a special story to start with. With age, the preferences might change, but those games still hold a special place in one’s heart. How young were you when you started gaming? What were the games that had influenced you when you were young?

Zishu: To be very honest, I never had a dream to become a gamer. It all happened with a flow. I started taking an interest in playing online at the time of Counter-Strike 1.6. When I got into this field, I found myself totally involved in this.

I was 16 or 17 back then. I switched between so many games. We can say I changed according to trends because I always have a thing in me to be the best. So, I never stop trying out new things and involve myself so much until I make satisfactory ranks. And of course, I can never forget 1.6 because it made me a true gamer.

Sohail 'Zishu' Shaikh

There is so much to say about my journey. I started with 0, literally zero. It was all a passion and hard work that brought me here, and if I had to name each and everything, I would take the name of CSGO. It is one of the most popular games that still rules everyone's heart at some point, even today. I was so into it that I made many serious sacrifices as a normal teenage guy. I've always wanted to do something huge, so I’ve worked on it, worked on myself, my skills, and showed up with dedication towards it.

Q. How did you end up with the nick Zishu.92k, which ultimately became Zishu?

Zishu: 'Zishu' was never something I thought of for my profession. I was randomly watching TV with my family. There was a show called Savdhaan India. My family used to watch it most of the time. In one episode, there was a guy named Zishan, whom his mother and sister used to call Zishu. So that stuck in my mind. Also, that name was really pleasing to my ears, so I took it.

Zishu logo (Image via Zishu Youtube)

One day, I was having my science exam where I randomly saw a '92k' figure which I joined with the name. It was very random to name myself Zishu92k, but when I started streaming, one of my old streaming friends, who is also a very good streamer, told me that my Youtube name should be very easy to pronounce and it shouldn’t contain any numbers. This was basically for people to search me up easily, which could make an impact on my career too.

Thus, I changed it from Zishu92k to simply Zishu.

Q. It’s known that you were a professional dancer before becoming an avid streamer. What made you leave your dance career to pursue a career in content creation online?

Zishu: I grew up in a middle-class family where we had more pressure over studies than any other extra activities.

My family used to enjoy seeing me dance, but they never appreciated it in the form of my career. They thought it was just a waste of time to dance. I used to go to dance academies, and I even used to be a tutor for some time. It was really my childhood dream which I wanted to pursue professionally, but because of the lack of support from my family, I’ve never been able to achieve it. But it's okay. Even now, I am doing something I love, and I can dance anytime too.

Q. Currently, you’re still continuing with your academics along with your streaming career. How do you manage to balance it out - to do MSC-Cs, scoring high marks, and still remaining one of the top streamers in the country?

Zishu: I’ve always been a sharp and bright student when it comes to studies, and yes, it's all about balancing everything. As I said, I don't know why it is in me, but I have that ability to be the best at all I do. So, that keeps helping me in everything I do, whether it is studies or my streaming.

That ability has given me the power to keep a balance, and yes, I choose it accordingly as a priority too. If I have exams, I stream less and even convey it to my viewers. So, that's how I manage it somehow.

Q. Well, there’s this one question about parents’s support, especially from the young talents of India. How supportive were your parents at the beginning of your streaming career? How and when did they finally realize that the path you chose is promising for you?

Zishu: One thing that I always repeat is,”You can never convince your parents, but you can prove it to them”. My parents were not supportive at all at the beginning. I always had to make tough calls between my gaming and parents. Both of these things had never fallen at one place earlier.

I used to have many fights, and of course, many gamers can relate to this. It's very hard to make desi parents understand your choices and decisions. I’ve tried my best to prove it to them.

Once I even left my house for a day in rage for the sake of making them understand my point. But to be honest, those things never worked.Then I started doing things with so much effort, and sometimes even without letting them know.

So that helped me get my PC on my own. I kept on playing LAN tournaments in which I’ve earned a bit. Gradually I made them realize I am investing my time for my own good rather than wasting it like other kids.

I’ve started Youtube, but I have my deadlines even today. I somehow managed to grow, and when they saw me earning from this, they eventually started to understand gaming and streaming.

So that's how I proved to them that I could make a living by playing games as well.

They started taking more interest, and I also involved them with my audience. So, it is easier for them to understand more, and they even interact with them.

Now, they are happier than I am about my success.

Q. Talking about your gameplay, fans do talk about how impressive your skills are, especially in FPS games like CS:GO and Valorant. Did you ever think of going professional in any of the games or focus your career on the competitive side of gaming?

Zishu: It would be a lie if I deny that I never thought of going professional. I am good with gaming. People know about my skills and gameplay. Many people suggest I should go professional in this field.

But, you know, what I enjoy more is entertaining my audience, and I am as good at entertaining as I am in playing matches.I wanted my channel to be wholesome, and I want people to know me professionally and personally as well. So, I don't really feel like running towards being professional because I think people like to watch me serving entertainment as well as gameplay to them equally. So why not do what makes me more promising towards my audience? And to be honest, I enjoy interacting more than only playing serious for them.

So yeah, I can be professional, but my main content would be a table full of entertainment.

Q. You’ve been known to have faced a lot of hatred from certain toxic portions of the community. After all, which successful person hasn’t faced such negativity? I want to ask you how you react and manage to tackle all of this and still focus and continue entertaining your fans?

Zishu: I guess I am the streamer who is the most hated one and loved at the same time. So many things have happened in the past two years of my streaming.

I have a bit of anger issues, and I rage on streams too, but that doesn't make me a bad person. Firstly raging is a part of gaming, and every dedicated gamer or streamer did rage at some point. That doesn't make me different from them but I don't know why people always notice or are interested to peep into my things the most. If you notice carefully, there are so many more streamers who rage, but hate has always been served to only me.

Well, that's fine. I’ve always been a person who believes in forgiveness, so I never kept any grudges towards anybody. Plus, whosoever comes up on my streams holding bitterness for me, I know how to tackle with those, and I never let it affect me in any way.

Also, I have people who actually love me and are still with me. So, I don't need to care about that hatred. I will do whatever I feel like. People who know me will never be affected by my rage because they know I don't rage for no reason. So, I’ll keep my focus on the people who love and like to watch my streams.

Q. From March 2019 to the start of 2021, you’ve gathered more than 100k subscribers, currently standing at 135k . Did you expect such immense growth and support from the community? What made you believe and carry on with your passion?

Zishu: I knew I would grow but I had no idea about growing this fast. I did believe in my content, and yes, now I realised that there were days that went to waste when my channel got hacked twice. Even those times were very important for my growth, and I guess I would be a little higher than I am right now if those days were in my hand. But, let it be. Everything happens for a good cause.

I have achieved what I have to, and I am immensely happy and proud of myself. Even after having so many ups and downs, all the hardships, hatred and obstacles, I’ve come this far and will surely grow more in future.

Q. There’s this heated debate about a topic regarding streaming in the community. Many say that gaming skills matter for a streamer and that without proper game sense, one cannot achieve a successful streaming career. What are your views on that?

Zishu: It's true that you have to be a good gamer if you want to be a good streamer. I’ve previously mentioned that you need a balance - people will watch you for two reasons: Firstly, if you’re a good gamer with sparse gaming skills and secondly, if you can entertain them with your interactions. But if you serve both with equal stability, your streaming career will do wonders.

If your purpose of being a streamer is connected with gaming, then you definitely need to have a good enough gaming sense.

Q. Talking about games, everyone has that one debate going on since the release of Riot’s latest shooter, Valorant. Since you’ve spent hundreds of hours playing both the games, which one would you choose: CS:GO or Valorant, and why?

Zishu: CS:GO of course, but according to the trend, I can count Valorant in too. Well, I cannot give a specific answer for this, but we should never forget where we started and should also never betray the trendsetter.

Q. Learning about your streaming journey, you’ve been hugely supported by Manoj ‘Sentinel’ Kasyap, a.k.a. Anna, who hired you into Velocity Gaming (now Team Mahi) . How was the process, what made him hire you solely and how has the journey been so far with Anna and VLT(now TM) by your side?

Zishu: I’m extremely thankful to him for choosing me as his first content creator. He has given me a lot. But, nothing gets served without hard work and dedication. I guess amongst so many he saw that in me, and that's the reason he chose me. That's all I can say. Rest, Anna knows why he chose only me.

I left Team Mahi now, but I’ll always be thankful to them for having me.

Q. What’s your future plan? Do you wish to continue as a full-time streamer, or have other plans in store for the community?

Zishu: Currently, I am a full-time streamer and will continue to do it until I feel old about myself. Also, I will definitely post some interesting content on my channel of course. As I’ve already mentioned, entertaining my audience is my first priority, whether it is by gaming, dancing, interacting, rapping or anything else.

Q. You have previously released your own music video which was much loved by the community. What had made you work behind such a song? Are you looking forward to releasing more such rap songs?

Zishu: I always had a thing with rapping, I enjoyed it always because I have always been a huge fan of Eminem, and there are so many Indian rappers in our community.

So I thought, why not go for it too. I worked on it, released it and had a very good response on that too. I personally like to test what type of content people will love more on my channel, and luckily all of them worked including rapping. So, in the future I might post something like that again!

Q. Now coming to Valorant, and going a bit more specific, you’re a Raze main if I’m not wrong. What made you choose Raze as your primary agent, and how did you manage to develop such mind blowing movement and skills with the agent?

Zishu: I watched a video on youtube of Flights I guess, where he was flying with Raze. So I really liked that ability of that particular agent named Raze, and thus, I started playing with it and I enjoyed a lot. I also made some of my own special moves with it, and most of the time I choose to play with Raze. So, somewhere I made up my mind to go main in Raze.

Q. You’ve been recognised by top gaming personalities like Flights and also been reacted by Shanks. How does it feel to be up there and make a name for yourself among them and also put India's name at the top?

Zishu: If ya'll have seen, I named myself as RazeOfIndia in-game. I really wanted people to know me as an Indian player. And, I am honored to get noticed by such huge streamers and gamers like Shanks and Flights. Although they mentioned “we know him from India”, it was a very proud moment for me getting noticed like that by them.

Q. Being one of the best streamers of India as well as a top influencer of the country, you must have also been influenced by other personalities. Who has inspired you in the past that made you who you are today?

Zishu: To be honest, none. I used to watch many people but being inspired by them is a huge statement. I can't deny I like few gameplays and moves, which I noticed and made my own thing.

Q. What advice would you like to give out to the young talents who want to pursue a streaming career and are inspired by you?

Zishu: I would like to say, no matter how many obstacles come in your way, in the form of people or any other thing, keep on going with your head high, because you are doing it all alone with pride!

You decide your own journey, every ups and downs you have to deal with is on your own. So, be proud of yourself and never give up.