Viral edits and remixes have gotten most of us through the horrible year that 2020 was, and continue to keep us laughing and entertained. Meet the content creators who are at the helm of this boom.
One of the most significant achievements of social media platforms, besides connecting people worldwide, is bringing performers of all kinds to one stage. One could be a singer, painter, or a gymnast with a dedicated audience that appreciates their art form. We also now have the term ‘digital content creator ’: someone who creates content purely for social media consumption, some of it original, and some remixed. And then there are those who have mastered the art of rehashing, and their content is now their identity.
OYE ANKIT
BEST KNOWN FOR: SYNCING TWO INTERNATIONAL DANCE CONTENT CREATORS TO BOLE CHUDIYAN
Have you seen the viral video wherein two dudes, Isaac M.I.K. and Dennis Kyere, are wearing bathrobes and dancing to Bole Chudiyan from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham? That video was created by Ankit Chavan, who goes by the name OyeAnkit on social media platforms. He synchronises music over an entirely different video that results in absolute hilarity. One of his first videos that went viral was when he was barely 14 or 15, and had Ranveer Singh dancing on Gangnam Style. This video got about 8M views on Facebook. He made a video using the song Jiya Jale from Dil Se, and A.R. Rahman shared it on his feed.
Ankit, earlier, has been part of the immensely popular The Viral Fever. He is currently working full-time with EROS STX as a promo producer. He reveals, “I don’t have to divide my time between creating music videos and my job. So, I make videos whenever I have time. The content you see on the OyeAnkit page is what I like to make and have fun making.”
He affirms, “I have learnt all my skills from the internet, whether it is what I do at my job or what I put out on social media. I don’t have a professional degree in the things I do. I learnt some tricks and software through the internet and by meeting good individuals.”
When asked if he knows how to make a video viral, he describes, “You can write a relatable script and good captions. The video needs to reel the audience in within the first five seconds to keep the audience hooked for the next 10 seconds. There is no guarantee that your content will go viral. You continue to work on things, and one day, it will all work out.”
YASHRAJ MUKHATE
BEST KNOWN FOR: ‘RASODE MEIN KAUN THA’ REMIX
A little over a year ago, netizens wanted the answers to two burning questions. First ‘Rasode mein kaun tha?’ and second, where was Yashraj Mukhate all this while? Yashraj Mukhate is a music producer and composer. His musical twists to dialogues from TV serials and reality shows caught people’s attention. His viral tracks have led to him interacting with the legends of the music industry, and interviewing music maestros like A.R. Rahman, Amit Trivedi, and Salim Merchant, and names like Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Taapsee Pannu have made videos on his tracks.
Mukhate’s musical journey and initial learning began at home at the age of three, and today, Mukhate is one of the biggest internet stars in the country. In fact, he even credits the internet for a lot of his knowledge. “I learnt most of my technical skills from the internet, right from how to reduce noise from audio files to installing various devices.”
He not only creates content for social media, but is also creating original songs, he already has two major collaborations, one in Hindi and another in Marathi. But not everything Mukhate makes goes viral. One of his favourites is an original composition titled Tinka Tinka (can be seen on his YouTube channel’s banner) has not even crossed a million views. He says, “No one watches a 30-second video only once, which results in several views. I shouldn’t compare my short content with my original compositions. If I make a good song, it will remain a good song even after 10-15 years. My aim is to make a good song, but it doesn’t matter if I cannot get many views on them. Short content is what people are looking for on Instagram and YouTube right now. I can give them that, but I can continue to make original compositions, which will be relevant even after many years from now.”
RONIT ASHRA
BEST KNOWN FOR: HIS TIKTOK VIDEO ON ALIA BHATT
Ronit Ashra is a teenager who turned some of the biggest social media enthusiasts into his fans using his expressions. He imitates actresses and social media stars on his page, complete with the get up that the actress is sporting in the video.
Ashra was popular on Instagram with about 200K followers, but he used to get only 50 likes on his Instagram posts. He started making videos five years back with musical.ly, which later became TikTok. Today, he has a follower count of nearly two million. In an interview with The Quint, Ashra said, “Ever since I crossed the one million mark, I put a lot more thought into what and who to post about.”
He went viral when he posted a video on Alia Bhatt on TikTok. The rest, as they say, is history. He also went viral when he posted a video on Ananya Panday that received two million views. Panday has even shared some of his work. She once wrote, “Doing me better than me @ronit.ashra.” In another story, she wrote, “Faaaab,” followed by a laughing emoji.
He posted a video on Yashraj Mukhate’s Rasode Mein Kaun Tha and Shehnaz Gill’s Tommy, that also went viral. Together, the two videos received over six million views. His popularity got him to promote a streaming service show wherein he mimicked some 75 characters. Well, we can agree that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
ANSHUMAN SHARMA
BEST KNOWN FOR: HIS VIDEO ON HOW TO MAKE A RITVIZ SONG IN TWO MINUTES
Anshuman Sharma, a musician by profession, made a video called How To Make A Ritviz Song In Two Minutes? The video became so famous that Ritviz himself commented on it. It established him into the big leagues of viral video creators. The musician came up with more videos like How To Sound Like Prateek Kuhad In Two Minutes, I Made A Drake Song In Hindi. Every video is wackier than the other.
Sharma got into music at a young age, courtesy of his father. He received a Casio keyboard as a gift, and he figured out how to play the national anthem all by himself. Seeing his skills, his father hired a classical music teacher for him.
He used to make covers and post them on his social media platforms. His music caught the audience ’s attention even before his Ritviz song went viral. One such video gave him his lucky break in the music business. He reminisces, “I made an experimental music video using the Game of Thrones theme song. Salim Sir (of Salim-Sulaiman fame) spotted it, and commented on my post. I then asked him if I could intern with him, and he graciously agreed. I moved from Delhi to Mumbai to intern with Salim Sir, and within two months, I graduated to work with him full-time.”
Besides his work on social media, he was credited as Additional Music Producer in the background score team of Coolie No.1, starring Varun Dhawan. He was also credited with Additional Music Production on the music video I Am a Disco Dancer 2.0, starring Tiger Shroff. He explains that his original songs may get overshadowed because people enjoy the remix of an existing popular song even more. He adds a lot of vocals in a remix to make it sound unique.
Recently, he produced an original called Laapata, written, composed, and sung by Shivansh Jindal. He gets to work with far more people than before, and is offered new opportunities daily. He admits, “I’m currently working on songs that are sung by other singers, but the overall sound would be mine.”
Even after creating multiple viral songs, he is unsure about what makes a video go viral. “No one really knows how to make a viral video. If they did, then everyone would only be making viral videos. If people relate to it, they’ll share, and it’ll click. Like in a new series, I’m making pop stars sing in Hindi. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but Drake made one, and it received about three lakh views.”
One can always say that Sharma takes someone else’s content and runs with it, but he has the perfect answer for that complaint. He clarifies, “When remixing a song, you either experiment with the song and try to make it better, or get views by making something similar to the original. Even when people make an original song, they have a frame of reference. Making an original is a lot easier. Remixing a song is more technical than that. You have to make a different or better song than the original, and it is difficult.”
