Shot sighted: How Chattisgarh’s Tulsi village got its ‘YouTube’ studio?

It’s a quiet afternoon in Chhattisgarh’s Tulsi village. But it’s never quiet here for very long.

Soon, a group of youngsters appear. Some are looking at their phones, one is carrying a DSLR camera.

Tulsi is home to 40 YouTube channels at the moment, 15 of which have been monetised. Every content creator here dreams of getting a big break, or moving to Raipur or Delhi to pursue a career in videography, music or film.

For now, though, this is the place to be. Because Tulsi has something no other village in India is known to have: its own “YouTube” studio.

About 1,000 of the 4,000 residents, in fact, are now involved in content creation, in one way or another. Some serve as actors or extras in the skits, tutorials, music videos and explainers made here. Others open up their homes and fields as shooting venues.

It all began for Tulsi 10 years ago, with the village chemistry and physics teacher Jai Verma, then 21. He and a friend, 25-year-old software engineer Gyanendra Shukla, began posting funny videos that often contained a lesson, on themes such as alcoholism, road safety and skyrocketing school fees.

A year later, in 2016, they launched the channel Being Chhattisgarhiya. By 2017, it had begun to earn enough revenue for them to pay their cast and crew. When this happened, a sort of craze set in.

Being Chhattisgarhiya now has 127,000 subscribers and remains Tulsi’s biggest success story. Verma still posts videos, sporadically, but is now primarily a screenwriter in Raipur. Shukla has returned to his job as a software engineer.

But what they started lives on, in the village studio where the group of youngsters is headed with their phones and camera.

On air

How exactly does a village get a “YouTube” studio?

In July 2023, block CEO Abhinav Mishra read a story in a local newspaper, about the growing number of YouTubers in Tulsi. He set up a meeting with district collector Sarveshwar Bhure and janpad CEO Vivek Goswami to discuss the matter.

They decided to meet with the gram panchayat and the creators, and suggested that the village might benefit from a professional studio.

With the gram panchayat on board, the studio was built at a cost of ₹25 lakh.

“As the panchayat, we contributed to the cause for the sake of the young creators,” says Gulab Yadu, then sarpanch of Tulsi. “There are no YouTubers or creators in my family, but I believe it would be a blessing if one of my children grew up to follow the path.”

In a region where there are few other ways for the young to pursue their creativity and ambition, the studio is seen as a positive step for the next generation.

“It has created an atmosphere of aspiration for young people here,” Mishra says.

Hamar Flix, as the studio is called, is a simple enough set-up.

The 284-sq-ft space is attached to the panchayat office, which sits in the centre of the village. Inside are two desktop computers, a video-editing zone and a sound recording room, along with other gear and a communal DSLR camera.

The name, incidentally, draws on Netflix, “but ours, or Hamar,” as residents put it.

Villagers and people from nearby villages can use it at no cost, and borrow the shooting equipment, as long as they book their slots in advance and treat the space with care.

One of the studio’s most prized features has turned out to be its high-speed broadband connectivity.

“I used to stand by the crematorium or go to the railway station to upload my videos,” says rapper and musician Abhishek Verma aka Gold, 25. Now, all it takes is a visit to the studio.

Meet the artists

It isn’t just YouTubers who use the space. Wedding videos are edited and uploaded here. So are pre-wedding Reels.

Meanwhile, local artists such as Gold are working on their dreams. He has over 6,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, GoldCG04, and over 16,000 followers on Instagram, as he raps about love, alcohol addiction, domestic violence and unfair labour norms.

Channels such as Aditya Baghel’s Back Benchers Creation (25,800 subscribers) and Fun Tapri (2,940 subscribers) feature comedy sketches. Lethwa Raja (5,360 subscribers) uploads music. Other villagers have food vlogs or post about the natural beauty and culture of the region.

The studio has made it easier for women to be content creators too, says Pinky Sahu, 25, who started out acting in skits for Being Chhattisgarhiya. “It was difficult convincing my parents to let me appear in those videos,” she says. “People in the village used to call me names.”

Today, Sahu lives in Raipur and has featured in films and music videos produced there. “When I visit Tulsi, people are now proud of me. They recognise me. More than that, I am proud of myself,” she says. “Girls in the village now see hope for a career in content creation.”

Also now in Raipur is Baghel, 26, of Back Benchers Creation. Formerly a wedding photographer, he is now also a writer, video editor and assistant director.

He and Jai Verma both hope to return to Tulsi to bring stories from the village alive. “Being from the same background, it is easier to understand each other’s vision and language,” Baghel says. It would have helped, he adds, if he had graduated in Mass Communication rather than Commerce.

“Who knew this was an option,” he adds. “Now, children growing up here will know that if they have a skill as artists, there are ways to become successful using that skill.”