Bareilly's digital boom: How labourers, painters, scrap dealers turned YouTube stars; meet the million-follower club of Hajiyapur
Take Javed Hussain, for example. He used to work as a labourer, making Rs 200-300 a day. He now runs a comedy channel on YouTube that has 5.6 million subscribers. 'I never thought this would be my profession. Now I create skits and also give work to others.'
There are several such success stories in the area, and not necessarily limited to the youth. Md Movin, 65, who used to collect scrap for a living, started his channel 'Chacha' on YouTube in 2022.
It now has around 7 million subscribers. 'I funded my eldest daughter's wedding from my video earnings. I plan to do the same for my three other daughters,' says Movin. 'I've gone through a lot of pain in life, but I tried to keep smiling. I use that jolly side in my videos, which are mostly inspired by my own experiences.'
But no success story here is bigger perhaps than that of Ishaan Ali's. A political science graduate with an MBA, Ishaan was struggling to land a job when he turned to YouTube.
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Today, his channel, @IshaanAli11, has 36 million subscribers, placing him among India's top digital content creators. Inspired by Ishaan's success, his younger brother, Aadil, followed suit. His channel, @AaadilAli11 has 1.2 million subscribers.
Their father, once a bicycle mechanic, couldn't afford to build a home. Today, the brothers are raking in crores.
'I had a dream that people would gather around me like they gather around Sallu bhai (Bollywood actor Salman Khan),' Ishaan told TOI .
What sets Hajiyapur apart is not just the success stories, but the scale of transformation. Where once power cuts were routine and unemployment rampant, nearly every household today has someone experimenting with digital content — from cooking to comedy, stitching to social issues.
Arshad Ali, 23, used to earn Rs 400-500 a day painting walls. Now, he makes short comedy videos for his channel @ArshadAli11, which has close to a million subscribers.
And it's not just entertainment. Akash Kumar, 29, a trained journalist who struggled to and a job in a mainstream newsroom, began reporting on social media instead. His Facebook page, 'The Gali Mohalla Show,' covers issues in remote areas and garners close to 10 lakh views a day. 'Initially, I just wanted to show media houses that I am a good reporter. But now, it has become a source of income. I recently bought my dream car,' he says.
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Maareesan movie review: If one were to make a list of the most disgustingly problematic Malayalam movies of all time, Villali Veeran (2014) would be a strong contender for the top spot from the last decade. While most films from that era featuring Dileep — accused of masterminding the sexual assault of a fellow actor in 2017 — were imbued with repugnant tropes, Villali Veeran stood out as the first among equals. Besides being an extremely shoddy film overall, it was loaded with high amounts of misogyny, and not to mention the many, many rape 'jokes'. Hence, when its director, Sudheesh Sankar, makes a comeback as a filmmaker after a decade, it's not unreasonable to have reservations about the movie. But considering that Maareesan features Fahadh Faasil and Vadivelu, can we afford to ignore it either? Soon after his release from prison, Dhayalan (Fahadh) returns to thievery and is on the hunt for something big, so that he doesn't have to waste time stealing small items like mobile phones, purses containing only a little cash, and bikes parked at movie theatres anymore. As a part of this plan, he breaks into a house that night where he meets an ageing man, Velayudham Pillai (Vadivelu), chained to a window. Scared by Dhaya's threat, Velayudham tells him that there's no money at home, but promises to pay him by making a withdrawal from an ATM. Meanwhile, the old man reveals to the thief that he suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, which is why his son has handcuffed him to the window. At the ATM, Dhayalan notices that Velayudham has about Rs 25 lakh in his account. After paying some money to Dhaya, Velayudham decides to leave for either his daughter's place in Palakkad or his friend's in Thiruvannamalai. 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Maareesan movie cast: Fahadh Faasil, Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Vivek Prasanna, Sithara Maareesan movie director: Sudheesh Sankar Maareesan movie rating: 2 stars Anandu Suresh is a Senior sub-editor at Indian Express Online. He specialises in Malayalam cinema, but doesn't limit himself to it and explores various aspects of the art form. He also pens a column titled Cinema Anatomy, where he delves extensively into the diverse layers and dimensions of cinema, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourse. Anandu previously worked with The New Indian Express' news desk in Hyderabad, Telangana. You can follow him on Twitter @anandu_suresh_ and write (or send movie recommendations) to him at ... Read More
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