A VILLAGE OF VIRAL YOUTUBERS

Located near Raipur, Tulsi village has turned into a YouTube hotspot with every household engaged in creating 'family-friendly' content

- RAHUL NORONHA

Just over an hour’s drive from capital Raipur, a few kilometres before Tilda-Neora railway station, you enter Tulsi village, home to about 4,000 people, in central Chhattisgarh. Walking through its narrow lanes and open spaces, don’t be surprised if you come across a group of locals shooting a dance performance or a comedy sketch or even a DIY video. And not with just a smartphone or a digital camera, there is a whole paraphernalia: microphones, reflectors, multiple cameras, et al.

With 1,000-odd villagers—at least one from each household, claim locals— engaged in creating video content, Tulsi today has 40 active YouTube channels with 1,000+ videos. Among them, Being Chhattisgarhiya, the first Chhattisgarhi comedy YouTube channel, has a library of 250+ videos and boasts of 120,000+ subscribers. Says co-founder Jai Verma, “Humour is at the core of our channel, but the messaging is towards preserving Chhattisgarhi festivals and culture.”