Living his passion

Hyderabad-based Sriman Kotaru is one of the most popular motovloggers in the country. His knowledge about bikes, his passion to help fellow bikers and his way of speaking has attracted a loyal group of followers on YouTube — 44,608 to be precise, with most of Sriman’s vlogs getting lakhs of hits.

Several of his fans also regularly spot him while he rides his Triumph Tiger and request him for pictures! Sriman makes videos in English and Telugu, but has become so popular that people from other states have been requesting him to make videos in Hindi too, something he attempted a few days ago.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, motovlog is a video recorded by a person from a camera mounted on a helmet while riding a motorcycle, making viewers feel like they are pillion riders. Talking about how it all started, Sriman says, “I began motovlogging in December 2016 as I was interested in filmmaking, editing and biking. I just combined all my passions. However, only after I watched popular lifestyle vlogger Casey Neistat’s vlogs did I realise that there’s an audience for vlogging too.” He adds, “My wife Pooja, who was my manager when I used to work at Google, helped me improve my English and communication skills.”

Sriman might be making a lot of money, but he says that it’s the unconditional love from fans that keeps him going.

“Half of my videos are not monetised. I also used to conceptualise my vlogs earlier, but later realised that viewers enjoy them best when they are natural. So my voice could be bad sometimes, the camera angle may not be perfect and I could make grammatical errors, but that’s what is interesting in vlogs. It’s doing something in the moment,” he adds.

Sriman, who pursued B. Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering before taking to vlogging, recently sold his Benelli TNT600i and bought a Triumph Tiger. “Benelli is not a great machine to ride long distances, it’s just a good-looking bike. Tiger is a good bike for bumpy rides and has a good mileage,” he explains.

However, motovlogging is not as easy as it looks. Sriman has gone riding to Araku Valley, Nandi Hills, Coorg, Nagpur and Goa among several other places. “Talking in front of the camera while riding takes a lot of effort. But almost 4-5 people recognise me every day when I ride and wave at me or stop to click photos. This is what motivates me to keep going,” says Sriman, who now plans to go on an all-India tour.

So what attracts people to watch motovlogs? “A lot of people would love to do the things that I am doing, but are busy with work. So they feel like they are riding along with me while watching my videos," he adds.