Prajakta Koli started off as a radio jockey, but her life changed drastically after a digital content creator from the network, One Digital Entertainment, spotted her and realised her potential. After much contemplation, she decided to give it a shot in 2015. Today, in a span of 3 years, her channel is one of the fastest growing adding an average of 50,000 new subscribers every week. All pictures/Prajakta Koli Instagram
When Prajakta Koli started her channel in February 2015, there was a lot that wasn't going for her. "Ever since I was young, I wanted to become an RJ. But when I finally landed a job with a radio station, I realised how miserable I was at it," she says. Things changed when she Instagrammed a series of videos with Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, who had come to the radio station to promote his film. In one of videos, Koli and Roshan are seen having a bizarre conversation, which begins with her saying, "Oh My God!" and the superstar repeating it
Prajakta Koli nailed it with her first upload. The five-minute monologue, where she rambles about the 'types of singles on Valentine's Day' — like the narcissists who gift themselves teddy bears to feel loved — won her over 1,000 views within minutes of being uploaded. Within a month, she was glad to leave the radio station, and make the switch to vlogging
Prajakta Koli has gone on to become one of India’s biggest female comedy creator and a successful entrepreneur at the age of 24. A noteworthy feat owing to the fact that no other Indian female comedy creator has reached such a milestone at such an early age
Prajakta Koli's knack to connect with her audience on a personal level is one of her most noted abilities. Prajakta is frequently called as a special guest to various on-ground events like the YouTube FanFest and Comic-Con, where she receives a spectacular response
The Thane girl who has become the latest comic talent in town, insists by saying, " But I am not a comedian." "Comedy is very tough, and I can't do it at all." Prajakta Koli also collaborated with Collins Key, one of the biggest YouTubers with over 11 Million subscribers and was also announced as the Viral Queen of 2017 at the IWM Digital awards
Prajakta Koli was invited by the Obama Foundation to attend the town hall meeting by former American President Barack Obama in India in December 2017, where she used her channel to raise awareness for several social campaigns. Prajakta has also been part of initiatives like One.org's #GirlsCount Campaign and YouTube and Instagram's Safer Internet Day Program
Prajakta Koli's initiative on Body Shaming called #iPledgeToBeMe saw women reach out to her from all over the world and she received a whopping 2,500 emails in just the first few hours of the release. People professed that they felt better after sharing their personal stories of body shaming with her and applauded her for championing the initiative
To highlight the issue of body shaming further, Prajakta Koli even shot a video called Shameless, an extension of the initiative, bringing several well-known artists such as Gaurav Gera, Raftaar, RJ Malishka, Sahil Khattar, Mithila Patkar and many others together. The video focused on truly embracing one's inner self and was an instant hit among the audiences
A chirpy Prajakta Koli talks her viewers with unabashed confidence about things and people, that one never thought could be funny. Her content revolves around everyday people including the weird men one might have dated or women who quarrel in the compartment of local trains , Koli's funny and crazy observations about them, more often than not, are hilarious
What makes Prajakta Koli's videos worth a watch, is her ability to see humour in the mundane. While she might come across as just another perky young girl with an uncanny knack for wit, none of the things she says is imaginary. 'Most of us choose not to see the funny side of things,' says Koli
Prajakta Koli scripts her own content and then shoots them at her home. She gets help from two of her close girlfriends, who assist her with the camera and editing. The challenge is to keep the channel running. 'Once every few months, I have a week where I just can't think. Sometimes, the pressure to live up to the expectations of your followers can be hard,' she says
Despite those stray moments of self-doubt, Prajakta Koli has created innumerable videos till date, and has no plans to move away from her comfort zone. 'YouTube is a lovely space to be in,' she says. 'There are lovers and haters. One of my trolls once told me that I don't deserve to live and it did affect me, but I take it all in my stride.'
We spoke to Prajakta Koli recently and here she what she said when we asked her about her journey from Radio Jockey to a YouTuber. She says, 'The dream was to become a Radio Jockey. I grew up preparing for it. But life had other plans. I ended up running into Sudeep from One Digital Entertainment when I was a Radio intern. He saw me filming a lame instagram video and suggested I should start making YouTube Videos. Sounded like the most bizarre idea at the time, but look at us now. BEST DECISION EVER!'
Talking about her childhood, she says, 'I was an average child academically, but loved dramatics, arts and performing. I always knew I wanted to be an artist.'
Her channel on which she showcases her videos is named 'Mostly Sane'. Intrigued, we ask her the reason behind it. She says, 'Honestly, that is the first name I came up with. And we were running out of time because we had to make the channel live and I couldn't think of any more. No particular reason!'
Being a very young content creator, we ask how she prepares for a new video. She says, 'All of the content I produce comes from personal experience. I call the genre of my content - Observational humour. So the process is literally just observing everyday life and making notes.'
We asked Prajakta Kohli what the USP of her videos was, she says, 'I think the reliability factor has been in our favour on the channel so far.'
As a creative person, where some videos works and others don't, we were wondering what Prajakta thought which video is her favourite one, and which one she thinks could have been made better. She quips, 'Types of Rickshaw Passengers, Types Of Relatives, Auditions Gone Wrong, Types of Tuition Teachers. Oh and SO many videos can be done better. Every week a new video goes up and the next day we are like - Oh Boy! We could have done that better! (sic)
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