Nishad Neelambaran (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 26, 2020)

Social media influencers have been on top of their game during the Coronavirus lockdown and have been challenged to put out different, yet relevant content on their respective channels and handles. One of the leading YouTubers in the country, Madan Gowri, has more than 3.5 million followers on YouTube alone. Known for his vlogs on relevant issues in the country, Gowri has over 500 million views on his channel.

Gowri believes that “as individuals, all of us have the urge to voice out our opinion to a larger stratum of the society”. He says he was never nervous about being stereotyped. “I was not nervous as I knew that this would happen at some point. But the beauty of the internet is that we can break pre-conceived notions with the right attitude and content. And when it comes to internet platforms, there are no stereotypes yet, we are right at the start of the wave, and I’m going to make sure that I don’t get stereotyped.”

Gowri, who recently launched his English channel, says that the “response has been great”. “On our launch day, we had over 100k subscribers, which was such a special feeling and so far, we’ve clocked more than 200k subscribers and are still counting.”

Ask Gowri how important is it to put out the right content, and he says, “It is the most important thing of my career, especially after the trust that my subscribers have invested in me to give them information without twisting or turning it in anyone’s favour. I always go through articles from more than 10 news outlets before I say anything at all. But I also always advice my audience to be open to the fact that I am a mere human and I can also make mistakes.”

So, how does he deal with trolls? “I laugh along and move on. I am a meme creator myself, so it is all fun. Also, these days it has become a norm to be part of meme culture when you are on the internet,” he concludes.