Social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube have empowered millions of people to follow their hearts and passion and showcase their talents to the world. It has also become their biggest source of income.
But who could have thought that an entire village would be bit by the ‘influencer’ bug and would choose content creation as their full-time job?
Apparently, there’s one such village in India that has turned into a YouTube-verse where a large number of residents have turned to content creation for the video-sharing platform.
According to a report by Times Now, around 1000 locals of the total population of around 3,000 of Tulsi Village in Raipur, Chhattisgarh are YouTubers who solely depend on the app to earn money. And there are not 10 but about 40 YouTube channels that showcase video content extended to various different genres like entertainment, educational, and infotainment among others.
Chhattisgarh | Tulsi Village in Raipur turns into a YouTubers' hub, with a large number of locals creating content for the online video sharing and social media platform and having their own channel on it.
Locals create content for both educational and entertainment purposes. pic.twitter.com/eGdjANBMtE
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) August 30, 2022
The trend of creating videos was brought to the village by two friends, Gyanendra Shukla (an SBI employee) and Jai Verma (a teacher). Both of them resigned from their jobs to turn into full-time content creators and take up video-making for YouTube as their career.
“I worked in SBI earlier, as a network engineer. My office had high-speed internet and I used to watch YouTube videos there. I was already fond of movies. In 2011-12, a new version of YouTube was launched. At that time, there were very few channels on youtube. I was not satisfied with my 9 to 5 job. So I left the job and started with YouTube.”
“Till now, we have made about 250 videos and have 1.15 lakh subscribers,” said Shukla.
Seeing us, people started making videos for YouTube, later for TikTok & now even for Reels. I’ve an MSc Chemistry degree. I was a part-time teacher & had a coaching institute. Earlier, I earned Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000/month. Now, we earn Rs 30,000-35,000/month: Jai Verma, a YouTuber pic.twitter.com/O5RZfA006W
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) August 30, 2022
It took them a lot of time to open up to people about their work.
“Earlier we used to hesitate while creating content on YouTube and could not act in public places, but when some village elders asked us to act in Ramlila, our hesitation went away.”
However, today almost all the people of this village make videos for YouTube and earn Rs 30,000-35,000 a month.
“We got to learn a lot from Ramlila. The stage fear went away after that. There are about 3,000 people in the village out of which, 40 percent of people are connected to YouTube.”
A female YouTuber said that this work has empowered the women of the village.
“It has been 1.5 yrs since I started. We’ve around 40 YouTube channels. Everyone here participates. Women here are generally not allowed to step out of houses but through our YouTube channel, we have given them a lot of info that girls too can do something.”
It has been 1.5 yrs since I started. We’ve around 40 YouTube channels. Everyone here participates. Women here are generally not allowed to step out of houses but through our YouTube channel, we have given them a lot of info that girls too can do something: Pinki Sahu, a YouTuber pic.twitter.com/lSOweWynWs
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) August 30, 2022
Young or old, male or female, almost everyone is into video creation in this village and is earning their livelihood with this. Good on them!