Be it Ramamurthy uncle with his English-Kannada mix or Nandini who danced to the tune of the popular Barbie song’s Kannada recreation, characters created by content creators from Karnataka have been gaining national recognition now.
In the last few years, the Kannada content space has gotten richer with creators from all over the State coming to the forefront with various dialects and languages of Karnataka.
For most of these creators, making content in Kannada came naturally. For instance, Danish Sait, a pioneer in this space, said, “I always knew regional was the way to go. The heartland is where the numbers are. When you appeal to the local sensibility, the world gets on it. Discoverability is at its peak now and people are open to the culture that they did not grow up with. I got AB de Villiers to sing a Dr. Rajkumar song. That was an iconic thing. When the world is watching, why not present my local content,” he asked.
Content is the key
But creators agree that success depends on the content. Vikas, popularly known as Vickypedia, whose ‘Naanu Nandini’ became a sensation overnight, said, “Audiences are very receptive to content in regional languages because they can connect with the content presented. We have audiences from other States mainly for how it is presented and the stories we tell. I also get comments where viewers mention that they are picking up the language through our videos.”
While they do not really use content as a teaching tool, creators said that they look at it as a way to fix common misconceptions about their native region and mispronunciations.
Arya V., a creator from Bengaluru who lives in Canada, said with audiences from everywhere, content creators can do quite a bit to enhance the reach of the language itself while also helping non-native speakers get the nuances right.
“Most people get the nuances of the language wrong because they are not aware. Some people mispronounce dosa or say Kannad out of a lack of awareness. I think my content provides an opportunity to easily fix these small things,” she said. Although her mothertongue is Malayalam, Ms. Arya identifies herself as a “true blue Bengalurean.”
The wave of diversity
Diversifying this space is content in other languages of Karnataka - Tulu, Konkani, Beary, and Kodava takk. For these creators, this is a way of shedding some light on the culture and elements that are unique to them.
“In Kodagu, there are only a handful of content creators who produce content in Kodava takk. I create content related to our culture to ensure it resonates with the younger generation who might be drifting away from our traditions and customs. These may be small steps, but their impact can be significant when pursued consistently,” said Bishen Ponnanna, a content creator from Kodagu.
Pavan Krishna Kulkarni, known as Udaal Pavya on social media, famous for his Uttara Karnataka content, said slangs vary in different places.
“When we write our script, the slangs are organically integrated into the content. A lot of people are now familiar with our slangs which are not predominantly used in Bengaluru,” he added.
Ground to the ear approach
The creation of content for a larger audience while also keeping it authentic is a challenge. Popular stand-up comic and content creator Sonu Venugopal presented a unique way of her research: “I attend as many functions as possible as I feel that any gettogether is a breeding ground for content. But as it is comedy, I also exaggerate it a little bit. When it comes to certain words that I might not be aware of, I ask my mother who checks it with my grandmother”
Krishna Jorapur, known on Instagram as GJ Krish, said while there is no dearth of content, when it comes to infotainment, more Kannada creators are needed as there is a large Kannada audience base.
