If internet censorship happens it might have very different repercussions: YouTuber Madan Gowri
Madan Gowri’s ability to win the audience with his flair for explaining complex subjects in simpler ways made him South India’s biggest YouTuber. Madan’s channel is all about informative videos on topics that range from current trends in science, philosophy, history, politics and humanitarian issues. He fearlessly speaks on complex issues which has gained him a strong following.
In an interaction with Everything Experiential, we unfolded Madan’s political views, highlights from his journey, challenges of digital content creation and much more.
Excerpts:
Q1.You are the biggest YouTuber of South India with 3.6million subscribers currently. What got you to YouTube?
It was quite early that I realized the power and impact of Digital medium. I thought why not make a career out of it? So, Digital revolution happened in India after Jio and I saw my dream coming true.
Q2. Do you ever feel like making videos only in Tamil narrows down your viewership to South India?
Tamil is the mother tongue of nearly 10crore people so there’s a humongous market and I am nowhere near the potential market so I don’t think there’s any restriction. Also, regional content is a huge thing and must be promoted.
Q3. Having talked about Tamil I would like to jump straight to the question of the hour about the New Education Policy and the three language system. CM Palaniswami recently passed a strong statement that ‘Tamil Nadu will never allow three-language policy’. What is your point of view on the entire language conundrum?
Just like Hindi is your mother tongue, Tamil is mine and it’s not easy to force your mother tongue to somebody else. Let the people make a choice if they’re comfortable in learning Hindi let them learn and if they are not then don’t enforce it on them.
Q4. After the tensions in the Galwan valley, the government had a tough time managing international relations. How do you perceive the ban on 59 Chinese apps by the government as a step towards nation’s safety and integrity?
It’s nothing but politics. I don’t see banning Chinese apps as safeguarding the integrity of the nation. Imagine the life of all the content creators who earned a living out of it. There are 190 countries in the world and India is one of the very few who have banned Tik Tok, so what about the integrity of other countries?
Q5.You shared a heartfelt message on your Instagram after the demise of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. There is a lot of debate about how media reported Sushant’s death. Media trial has even reached Youtube now where you can find numerous theories for the same. How do you perceive this evolution of disinformation?
There are a lot of rumours around and I am highly against that. Now, if you look at the media trial there’s a hustle of getting the truth out. I’ll give you the example of Bennix and Jayaraj’s case that happened in Tamil Nadu. Initially, the case got sidelined but the moment extensive media coverage happened the government intervened. Ultimately the government stepped it and declared that yes, it was the fault of the police. Even in Sushant’s case we can see how narratives are being changed initially it revolved around mental health, then nepotism and now something else. But yeah, media helps in both ways, if there are cons there are pros as well.
Q6. You raise your voice for a lot of socio-political issues. You influence the opinion of 3.6million people. Do you have that fear of threats or do you ever feel vulnerable?
The threats that people make on internet are not real. The person sending you threats might just be a 15yr old. W are at the beginning of internet revolution so nobody is clear about what is happening but it’s really not a big deal. There are also serious ends to it which I won’t deny. The problem is the moment we ask for boundaries to be set that people on internet must follow. Once there are rules and internet censorship like in China, there probably will be very different repercussions.
