There’s nothing like creating content on YouTube when you want to reach out to online audiences and software engineer Shravan Narayan Aithal did just that. Having started a Kannada YouTube channel called NamduK exactly three years ago, Shravan and his mates ensure that social media users get a taste of spoofs and more in namma language.
“My friends and I used to work at Infosys and would see other channels creating content and making it big. Initially, I wanted to become an actor, but circumstances didn’t let that happen. Since online videos were something I could work on along with my day job, I decided to go for it. With online content, there are no restrictions and anyone can act,” says Shravan, who chose the name NamduK, inspired by Kannada-Muslim slang.
Since creating serious content would require a certain budget, Shravan and his pals started doing comedy. “We mainly do comedy sketches and spoofs. I think there is a large unexplored territory in comedy in Kannada. We usually stick to slapstick humour. We also invented theatrical trollers where we do parodies of film trailers. Our Kturn and Dubsmash were a hit with the audience. We also tried incorporating Kannada songs in day-to-day life and created different series like Pareekshe, Bachelors and Office. We’ve tried our hand at serious content too,” reveals the Kannadiga who hails from Davanagere.
Their latest video, called Agni, written by Vasuki Raghavan, takes inspiration from actor Sai Kumar, who Shravan was a big fan of. “I’ve been mimicking him since childhood. His movies and dialogue have a cult following, so we took his famous police story and added a software angle to it. The video garnered more than 50,000 views in a short span of time,” he says.
In the future, the lads behind NamduK want to create content which reaches more audiences. “My friend Bharadwaj and I are the only active members right now. Since we don’t have a steady technical team or crew, it’s going to be difficult. But Agni has taken us to the next level, so we have to keep the momentum going. We have many sketches and web series planned. We’re even trying to produce some serious content and are in the process of scripting.
However, we need sponsors or investors who believe in us, and celebrity support could help us garner views too,” says the passionate content creator, adding, “We will try to provide as many crazy videos as possible to entertain Kannada audiences.”
