JOIN USKirik Keerthi, YouTuber with a social punch
For most YouTubers, their videos are a springboard to fame, an expression of their unquenched thirst for an organic, limitless viewership. Bengaluru-based Keerthi Shankaraghatta had learnt the power of that medium quickly, perfecting it with finesse to shape his short videos on all things Kannada, most things social.
Today, he is the quintessential Kirik Keerthi on YouTube, someone ready to break into a song on saving a tree, mouthing dialogues in accessible rap. His videos get over a million views for a reason: The man with a media touch keeps it simple, colloquial and laced with humour.
Kirik Keerthi is his YouTube channel, growing with a robust 60,412 subscriber base. He had already made a mark in television, producing over a thousand shows on current affairs and comedy in Suvarna, Samaya and Public TV. “But my YouTube videos gave me wider recognition. My works on social causes helped me make that connection,” he tells DH.
Keerthi is a one-man army, an artiste, producer, singer, dancer and social messenger rolled into one. “I speak, record and write my own script. On many occasions, the script is done on the spot, impromptu. I say it all in colloquial Kannada, and that’s what helps me relate to viewers,” he explains.
That dynamic connect helped him crack YouTube’s NextUP, a global challenge that came calling in Mumbai. Keerthi was Karnataka’s chosen one, as his channel – the first Kannada one to cross the 50,000 subscriber mark -- won rave reviews and earned him a 4K camera.
Keerthi had mastered that knack to make a social message in style without being frivolous.
So, when he dons that simpleton avatar, breaks into a rap song “Namma Ooru, Bengalooru,” interest in his 2.51-minute video soars, garnering a whopping 1.12 million views. But he will not be preachy. “I will not say speak only Kannada, I urge everyone to speak Kannada too.”
The soaring popularity of his socially relevant, punchy videos had the desired effect. “A BBMP official responded when my video seeking Kannada in billboards went viral. So did a reputed private bank when I talked about the need for local language in its ATMs,” recalls 31-year-old Keerthi, fresh from his previous avatar as a radio jockey.