These 5 Indian YouTubers are making us socially aware through their channels

Gone are the days when people were glued to the idiot box. The growth of smartphones and internet penetration has opened a lot of opportunities for people to unravel their creative minds across the world.

The internet and social media have also drastically changed the way people all over the world interact and communicate.

Since its launch, social media platform YouTube has also changed the way we watch videos and consume content. Besides being a video-sharing platform, it is providing quality entertainment and education to its users at no cost. From music videos and movies to education videos and news, the content available on the platform is endless.

A few individuals have banked on this opportunity to inspire others with their initiatives, and are making citizens more socially and politically aware.

SocialStory brings to you five Indian YouTubers, who are bringing awareness and teaching us something new about ourselves and the society we live in.

Dhruv Rathee

Twenty-six-year old Dhruv Rathee is a popular YouTuber from Haryana. An engineer by profession, he did his Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Germany and did Master’s in engineering with a focus on renewable energy.

His videos on YouTube involve controversial topics, with a strong focus on societal, political, and environmental issues.

Some of his popular videos include ‘The JNU incident, explained,’ ‘Privatisation of Air India, BPCL analysis by Dhruv Rathee’, and the ‘Ground reality of Delhi’s government schools’.

Despite facing a number of controversies regarding his subject matter, Dhruv continues to talk about extremely relevant and pressing issues happening in India today. According to him, his aim is to spread awareness among India’s youth, and to educate them with new-found knowledge to take back from his short videos.

Today, Dhruv has quite a strong fan following, with around 2.92 million subscribers for his channel.

Dhruv can also be seen visiting the sites he is reporting from. With a passion for filmmaking and photography, his talent is quite evident from his videos.

For instance, in his most recent video India’s Best Statue - Ground Report by Dhruv Rathee, we can see the young YouTuber exploring the Jatayu Earth centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where he talks to sculptor Rajiv Anchal about his process, and about what makes this eco-tourist destination special.

In another travel video called ‘Cleaning 9 million kgs of trash - Dhruv Rathee interviews Afroz Shah’, he can be see visiting Versova Beach in Mumbai, where he highlights the waste management issue, and interviews, Afroz Shah, the man behind the world’s largest single-handed beach cleanup.

Through the video, one can learn a lot about waste segregation and garbage management, how to differentiate between dry waste and wet waste, and how to go about the beach cleanup process.

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Sandeep Maheshwari

Thirty-nine-year old Sandeep Maheshwari is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of ImagesBazaar, a stock image collection platform.

Sandeep makes videos on how to live a successful and meaningful life, which can be seen on his YouTube channel.

Growing up in a middle-class family, Sandeep was not very clear about his future. In his videos, the YouTuber can be seen talking to his viewers about how it is okay to not be sure about your career, and how you can still do something on the pursuit of what you dream of.

His videos are in both English and Hindi, and Sandeep hopes to inspire the youth to bring a change in their thinking through his videos.

Some of his videos include 3 steps to control your mind, You are limitless, How to stay motivated all the time, How to start a business with no money, and How to change the Indian education system.

Sandeep has around 13.4 million subscribers for his channel.

Prajakta Koli

Prajakta Koli is a YouTube personality who makes videos based on her daily observations of the society, people’s behaviours, and everyday life situations.

The 26-year old worked as a radio jockey in Mumbai for a while before creating her full-fledged YouTube channel called ‘MostlySane’.

She has a segment called Real Talk Tuesday, where she discusses why it is important to spend time with family members, how getting the best things you want in life never come easy, and how to deal with panic.

She has hosted a number of celebrities and personalities on her channel including world champion sprinter Yohan Blake, comedian Russell Peters, actor Nawazuddin Siddique, and Indian chef Saransh Goila.

So far, nearly 4.45 million people have subscribed to Prajakta’s YourTube channel.

She has also participated in the YouTube Fan Fest initiative, which takes top YouTubers from screen to stage. She has been part of three fan festivals, and in 2018, she was announced as the Indian brand ambassador for the YouTube global initiative ‘Creators For Change’ that discussed issues such as hate speech, extremism, and xenophobia.

Her YouTube video titled ‘No offense’ condemns hate speech was featured at the United Nations as part of their International day of tolerance where she was the only Indian representative among 50 other digital creators.

Some of her other achievements include making it to the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list in 2019, and cosmopolitan Indian blogger awards as YouTuber of the year.

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Gaurav Chaudhary

Often known as the ‘Technological Guruji’, YouTube star Gaurav Chaudhary was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, but is based out of Dubai. He did his undergraduate degree in microelectronics from the BITS Pilani, Dubai

Gaurav makes videos to make Indian citizens more tech savvy. On his channel, he discusses the impact of technology on our lives and can also be seen talking about the upcoming phones, gadget reviews, and what is trending in the market currently.

When the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ was taking a number of teenager’s lives, Gaurav went on to express his concerns through his channel, and spoke about how youth should avoid participating in it.

The 28-year old considers his fan suggestions for new topics and videos, and covers something new every Sunday under the video title Sunday Tech Masala.

His most recently released videos feature a conversation with Manu Kumar Jain, Managing Director of Xiaomi India, on POCO F2’s release in the market and what makes it so unique.

Anisha Dixit

Anisha’s YouTube handle is called Rickshawali, which is an attempt to showcase a day in the life of the average Indian woman. She is also looking to raise awareness and talks about subjects that are often considered taboo topics in the Indian society such as sex education, cultural differences, and women and their role in society.

Anisha also discusses social media addiction in some of her videos, and how to curb the habit.

The 29-year old originally wanted to make it to Bollywood and went to Mumbai for auditions. However, fate had other plans when her videos became viral and drove her to success.

It was during a rickshaw ride of taking a selfie that she realised that nobody has ever used the backdrop of an auto rickshaw to create videos, and thus came up with the idea of creating YouTube videos.

She makes videos in both English and Hindi, and has 2.93 million subscribers for her YouTube channel.

Some of her popular videos include ‘Addicted to Instagram? Pyaar me mila Dhoka? I’m here to help’, ‘Life in the 90’s Vs now’, and ‘Mumbai Vs Delhi in winters’.

She makes a lot of expectation vs. reality videos, gender role reversal videos, and occasionally reviews Hollywood and Bollywood movies as well.

In the past, she has mentioned in the media that being a YouTuber is not easy and glamorous as it looks, and it does not make you easy money in the early years. However, partnering with the right brands is what is helping YouTube stars these days generate income.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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