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Memes: Troll or droll?
What makes memes funny? Relatability or wittiness? Professional memer Sanat Prabhu aka Covert Indian gives away trade secrets
When a picture of an angry Virat Kohli on the field stares back at you with text that reads, “When the Uber driver cancels your cab in front of you” did you think of your last cancelled ride? Relatable and funny! Just like most other memes that Sanat Prabhu has tweeted out all through 2020.
If you thought humour was lost on the Internet, last year was a rejoinder that Internet is still a funny place, thanks to the rise in the meme culture, soon after the pandemic began. Until 15 years ago, memes were still not entirely understood, still at its nascent stages and meme makers trying to figure how to say the right thing in fewer words.
A few deft strokes on photoshop and a funny line that hijacks the original thought with an ability to make millions laugh, that’s how memes found their favoured spot on the Internet. However, to be a full-time memer, as Sanat aka Covert Indian refers to himself, is as difficult as a full-time job. “I quit my corporate job after seven years in 2019 as I wanted to pursue being a full-time content creator. I had to obviously convince my parents, but when they saw how serious I was about making content, they let me figure things out and explore opportunities,” he says, adding that his wife was supportive of his decision.
Sanat was already making original sketches, which were doing fairly well on YouTube, but he did not gain much monetarily. “I quit my job wanting to see how sponsored posts work and how to earn via social media platforms,” he says.
But months after he decided to plunge out of his safety net, the pandemic hit. Despite that, Sanat’s motivation to make content in the form of memes and videos only grew. During the first lockdown, as he saw people around him getting accustomed to the Work From Home culture and Zoom call meets evolving, that’s when the idea of Zoom meets struck him. “I initially thought it would be a one off as my first Zoom meeting video was of politicians. But fortunately, it went viral, and soon it was being shared widely. Especially, when choreographer Terence Lewis and comedians Atul Khatri and Jose Covaco reposted the video, it just took off,” he recounts.
However, it took him as long as three months to release his next video. Did the pressure to meet expectations stall him? “It’s not easy to put a Zoom meet edit together because I’m solely handling every detail.” To make memes relatable, it’s a lot of effort on the part of the creator, he shares. “I first start by researching on who I want to include in the video and spend hours at a stretch watching each of the character’s videos to notice quirks. Once I have noted the time stamps of actions and reactions that can possibly be compiled into a video, on the basis of their answers, I script my questions. This takes a long time, but once I’ve done these four steps diligently, editing is smooth walk,” he tells us.
Despite him making it sound much easier than it actually is and having gone from 200 followers on YouTube to nearly 76k followers in a span of six months,
Sanat has not been entirely successful in cracking the right kind of brand collaborations yet, he confesses. “Because of the increasing reach, I’m making money from my social media pages. However, with brand collabs, I’ve had instances where I’ve been asked to sign exclusive contracts and I’m not willing. So, I’m still waiting for the right opportunity to come along my way,” he says.
But where lies the motivation to put in effort that takes over hours, sometimes even days to make people laugh for a few minutes, I question. “You know becoming a content creator has helped explore a creative side to me beyond what I thought I had. Of course, it is a lot of work, but what isn’t. I’m enjoying what I do and that matters to me.”
Another con of being a memer, he says, is that you’ve to always have your guard up to not offend anyone even slightly with your content. “I make sure there’s no personal attack on anyone while compiling my videos,” he says.
With the kind of self-check he puts on himself, one might expect few negative comments. “They are few for sure, but some state the obvious like ‘oh, this video is fake, don’t fall for them. So, I’ve started putting disclaimers at the end.”
It’s his natural knack for humour that makes his job easier, he confesses, and it’s true because not everyone is gifted with a good sense of humour.
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From HT Brunch, April 11, 2021
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