‘CAN’T ALWAYS EXPECT NICE WORDS’
YouTuber Carry Minati finds it funny that the people he roasts are not as offended as those who react to his roasts
Carry Minati finds it funny that the people he roasts are not as offended as those who react to his roasts
In May, the now banned app TikTok’s review on the app store bombed from four stars to one star. The reason behind it was the 21-year-old YouTuber, Ajay Nager aka Carry Minati. His roast video, titled YouTube Vs TikTok - The End, almost became the most liked nonmusic video on YouTube in India in 24 hours. It was later taken down by the video sharing platform, alleging it of cyber bullying and abusive language. But Minati doesn’t agree. “I do not support any kind of cyber bullying, trolling, abuse and harassment, and I have disclaimers. I do get shocked when people react to my videos as a form of harassment, because that’s a total disrespect to my art,” says Minati.
His journey started at the age of 10, when he started posting videos on YouTube. In 2015, he came up with the moniker
Carry Deol, posting videos of himself playing a video game, while mimicking actor Sunny Deol. It then became Carry Minati, as he started “roasting” people. That’s when the then 17-year-old took the biggest decision in his life. He chose not to give his class XII board exam for Economics, dropped out of school and decided to make videos for a living. “I’m glad I took the leap of faith, as no degree could have ever earned me the respect and the love I enjoy today by giving audiences an escape from commonplace monotony,” he says.
Four years and over 24 million subscribers later, it looks like he made the right decision. Not only is he the most subscribed individual creator on YouTube India, but his channel is also the most subscribed in Asia. “I don’t look at all these numbers because I know when you go up, you go down, too. It does add a lot of pressure. But I believe responsibility doesn’t need to be uninteresting and stereotyped,” he shares.
But as Minati himself points out, “social media is such a volatile playground where every word can be misconstrued,” especially in the case of comedy roasts. Not only because they are often brutal and personal, but also because Minati feels it is a “new concept” in India. “You can’t always expect people to say nice things about you. You need to be a sport, when bad things come your way,” he says.
He also reveals that he gets requests from various people to roast them. “Funnily, the people I roast are not as offended and disturbed as the haters who react to the roasts,” adds Minati. Amir Siddiqui, a former Tik
Tok user, who was roasted by Minati in the now-deleted video, had considered it to be an “honour” to have been roasted by the latter. So, Minati
“takes criticism in a healthy manner” and tries to “improvise”. However, at times, it does “disturb” him, especially when the criticism “is out of context or based on assumptions”. But, he puts that frustration to good use. The anger he felt after his video was deleted made him release Yalgaar, which now holds the record for
most number of likes for a non-music video on the platform. “[After my video was deleted] I stayed confined in my room for days and bottled up the angst. When the volcano erupted inside me, Yalgaar was born,” says Minati.
Despite all the accusations, he doesn’t regret his choice. While he admits missing “regular college life”, he is happy he made a “bold” decision.
No degree could have ever earned me the respect and the love I enjoy today by giving audiences an escape from commonplace monotony.
CARRY MINATI,
YouTuber