Chhattisgarh village now a YouTube comedy hub

On a recent Sunday, a group of villagers, including some children, is at a temple in Chhattisgarh’s Tulsi village. They are engaged in an animated discussion, but it is not about a local festival or some temple work.

On a recent Sunday, a group of villagers, including some children, is at a temple in Chhattisgarh’s Tulsi village. They are engaged in an animated discussion, but it is not about a local festival or some temple work.

Chhattisgarh village now a YouTube comedy hub

They are preparing a script for a YouTube comedy show. The discussion is about a background song (in a local dialect) for a new YouTube video. Scriptwriter, Gyanendra Shukla, wants an emotional song but Manoj Yadav, who is the lead actor in the video thinks otherwise. “We are discussing how a song can be effective in the background,” Yadav says.

Such discussions have become increasingly common in Tulsi , which has earned the unique tag of being a “village of comedians” in Chhattisgarh. Throw a stone in Tulsi, and you are likely to hit a comedian, perhaps more. (Not that one should be throwing stones at comedians).

The village of 3,000 people, located 45km to the south of capital Raipur, is home to about 1,000 comics, who act in around a dozen YouTube channels besides promoting themselves on around 1,000 personal Instagram accounts – a reflection of the extent to which the internet, new media opportunities, and social media platforms have made inroads in the Indian hinterland.

Of the 1,000 actors, close to 300 create content for six YouTube channels, in which a new show is posted almost every week. Some of the popular YouTube channels are Being Chhattisgarhiya with 115,000 subscribers, Nimga Chhattisgarhiya with 8,700 subscribers, Haman Chhattisgarhiya with 7,000 subscribers, Fun Tapri with 4,000 subscribers and Aditya Baghel with 2,700 subscribers.

Being Chhattisgarhiya has the highest number of subscribers in Chhattisgarh in the comedy show category and was the first one to start from the village about five years ago. “When we started Being Chhattisgarhiya in 2017, the channel was in Hindi. Later, after watching YouTubers such as Amit Badhana we realised that our channel should be in a local dialect,” says Jay Verma, a co-founder of the channel.

Verma adds that after his channel became a hit, some young people, who were earlier working with him, decided to start their own YouTube channels. Most of the episodes of these channels focus on situational comedy. The script is mostly on the social aspects of the rural environment, with the humour being largely language-specific.

One of the most famous videos on the channel, which has garnered more than 271,000 views, depicts a common man from the village trying to challenge authority of the village sarpanch and the secretary through various means. The episode is titled ‘Panchayat’.

“We are proud that our village is called the village of comedians. The oldest actor in our village is in his 60s and the youngest one is only 7 years old,” says Gyanendra Shukla (26), co-founder of Being Chhattisgarhiya.

Pyare Lal Verma, 60, used to organise Ramleela in the village and the oldest member of the team, is delighted at his newly acquired fame. “I never thought that I could be so popular across the state. Most of my roles are of an old man with a lot of wit,” Verma says.

The stars

The YouTube channels have created many stars in Tulsi. Verma, for instance, is now very popular across Chhattisgarh. “A few days ago, I went to Mahasamund district for some work and around hundred people, including the policemen, gathered around me and took selfies with me. Even in a small village, I have fans,” boasts Verma.

The other popular stars of the village are Mamta Sahu, Pinki Sahu and Manoj Yadu.

Pinki Sahu (24), who studies in a local college, proudly declares that she has over 12,000 followers in Instagram, with most of them from north Chhattisgarh. “People across the state follow me for my unique way of dialogue delivery. I have found a new world on Instagram now.”

Apart from acting on YouTube channels, some of these actors also make comic videos or lip sync to popular Chhattisgarhiya songs, both of which appear typically as reels on Instagram. “You can see kids here shooting a video with their parent’s mobile phones. Social media has given a new lease of life to actors in the village,” Verma says.

Such is the popularly of Tulsi videos, that the village itself has become a local tourist destination – people from across the state often travel there to see episodes of videos being shot. “People are so keen to know about our village that they come here just to see what is going on. Many times, we have to manage the crowd but this is our achievement also,” adds Shukla.

Money game

Although the YouTube channels are hugely popular, they are not yet money-spinners. Verma says his channel makes get ₹30,000 to ₹35,000 every month and most of the money is re-invested in buying cameras and other equipment and preparing for future shows.

Mool Chandra Yadav, an actor, who works in a private oil company in nearby Tilda market, says he acts in the videos for fun and recognition, not money. “Almost everyone of us is engaged in some other job to run the family. We making videos so that our talent is known across the country.”

But, the village’s passion for comic videos in the local language has not come without adventitious benefits.Tulsi now has three full-time video editors who earn their living from editing the videos shot for YouTube by local villagers.

“We started learning editing in 2017 from YouTube and now I can edit a one-hour film. I know that I am not perfect but I am still learning,” says Rahul Vastukar (24), a video editor in the village, who has converted one room in his house into a video editing studio. He has bought online software and a desktop to edit videos and charges up to ₹2,000 for editing a video.

“Every week, I earn about ₹3,000 from the editing work,” he adds.

Most of the villagers this reporter spoke to claim they are addicted to cameras and Youtube and acting, even Vastukar who mostly earns his living behind the scenes. “We can leave everything for acting. Acting is our first and last love now.”