“Live, love, laugh”: His stage program is more reminiscent of a wall tattoo, and yet many of Biyon Kattilathu’s shows are already sold out. The motivational coach will be touring the country all year long. There he wants to help his fans gain more self-esteem and give them life tips. In the past few months, Kattilathu, who is followed by more than 800,000 people on Instagram, has become the enemy of comedian Oliver Pocher.
The comedian repeatedly makes fun of the self-proclaimed coach. Out of anger at him, he even created his own fictional character, “Dalai Karma.” The reason is Pocher’s hurt feelings after the separation from his wife Amira and her friendship with Kattilathu.
The son of Indian immigrants first appeared in public when he tried out as a candidate on “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” in 2007. There he made it into the top 40, but failed because the jury didn’t think he was good enough for the live shows. The casting show was, above all, the starting signal for his “TV career”. The 39-year-old ended up in “Schlag den Raab” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, among others, where he was able to earn 32,000 euros. By then, Kattilathu had tried 14 times to make it to Günther Jauch’s chair. In 2010 the time had come.
Kattilathu also attracted attention with two world records. In 2016 he managed to hug 111 people in one minute and a year later he kissed 129 people on the cheek. He donated the money he collected to a children’s hospice.
He has been regularly uploading videos to his YouTube channel for nine years now. There, anyone interested can find everything from “Overcoming shyness through gratitude” to “Don’t give up on your dreams.” “Some would describe me as an author, entertainer or podcaster. I see myself as a person who wants to accompany other people on their path to happiness,” says the coach about himself on his website.
In 2018, Kattilathu’s audio book “Stories of Happiness: 20 inspiring stories that changed my life” was published, which made it into the “Spiegel” bestseller list. Several books followed, which also sold successfully. Meanwhile, sales figures and reviews sometimes varied. This is how literary critic Denis Scheck judged Kattilathu’s work “Walk to Yourself: A Magical Journey to More Mindfulness, Self-Love and Happiness” (2022): “An intellectual marshmallow of a book: Raindrops are tears of joy from heaven, every decision is something that belongs to us “Vulnerability is the basis of love. The self-proclaimed ‘motivational entertainer’ Biyon Kattilathu piles up phrases upon phrases from the mindfulness, self-love and acceptance drawer, which neither motivates nor entertains me.”
In June 2023, Kattilathu was a guest on Amira Pocher’s podcast “Hey Amira!”. The make-up artist was pleased that he asked her how she was doing. “I’m actually doing well so far. Thanks for asking. That’s just very thoughtful. You can just tell that you’re very practiced at it and that you’re very careful,” she said to him. The two then talked about self-love, among other things.
Kattilathu has a son with influencer Sheila Singh. It is not known what the relationship between the two is currently like. On “‘Let’s Dance” Kattilathu will show in the coming weeks whether he can also find his way to happiness on the dance floor.
Source: “Fresh from the press” / “Hey Amira”
