HT Brunch Cover Story: Keep calm & carry on

HT Brunch Cover Story: Keep calm & carry on
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It’s a striking picture that Ajey Nagar, aka CarryMinati, puts before me—of him shutting the door to his room, hitting play on a suspenseful background score, dimming the lights and scribbling dark, twisted stories at four every morning.

This is not a visual you’d necessarily ascribe to the 22-year-old gamer and digital content creator who has amassed more than 45 million subscribers on YouTube alone, with 52.6 million followers across social media platforms, and whose channel ranks as one of the most subscribed-to in Asia. In fact, it’s almost ironic that the man perceived to be the enfant terrible of India’s digital content ecosystem, accused of being a cyberbully because his roasts of celebrities, aren’t so much roasts as downright arson and whose language in his videos can often be called obscene, could be… sensitive?

But after all the streaming sessions, the many IG and YouTube lives, and shooting for videos is done, it’s the 4 am hour that is Ajey’s corner of solace, his own world, unknown to everyone else. 

The 22-year-old gamer and digital content creator has amassed more than 45 million subscribers on YouTube alone, with 52.6 million followers across social media platforms, and his channel ranks as one of the most subscribed-to in Asia; Bucket hat & jumper by Zara; Pants by Benetton; Slides by Crocs (Shivamm Paathak)
The 22-year-old gamer and digital content creator has amassed more than 45 million subscribers on YouTube alone, with 52.6 million followers across social media platforms, and his channel ranks as one of the most subscribed-to in Asia; Bucket hat & jumper by Zara; Pants by Benetton; Slides by Crocs (Shivamm Paathak)

“When people meet me, it’s almost as if they actually expect me to abuse, rant and be rude in real life too,” says the Faridabad, Haryana boy. “But I’d like to take that as a compliment.”

Fighting the flash 

Ajey is known for celebrity roasts and marathon gaming streaming sessions, and has recently forayed into music and short-form videos, including one that’s a satirical take on cancel culture. And it all began when he was in class VIII.

That’s when he got his first PlayStation, which turned his life around “in a weird way,” to the point where he’d nearly cut off all connections with his friends and the real world. 

“For the next two years, all I did was sit alone in my room playing games like an introvert,” he recounts. “But it also allowed me the liberty to learn about game development.”

Nothing would prepare him for the fame, and the varied reactions he would get for his videos—not all of them pleasant. 

Get to know CarryMinati aka Ajey
Get to know CarryMinati aka Ajey

“When I started doing this, my aim was just 50,000 subscribers,” he says. “But when I reached 10 million, I blanked out. I’ve been very unlucky in life otherwise and this was the only time something had worked out.”

When I put to him a line from the recently released trailer of Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming film, Elvis, where Austin Butler’s character says that “it could all be over in a flash”, Ajey acknowledges the impermanence of his own fame, but adds that he can’t possibly let himself be carried away with thoughts of it all ending in ‘a flash’. 

“Of course, there will always be someone better but all I can focus on is my creation and what I do with the responsibility that comes with it,” he says. “As humans, we’re fragile creatures, and whenever I’ve let my fame get to my head in the past, life has slapped me back to the ground.”

He says that it helps that his audience is growing with him, since he started out when he was 16. “The things they are going through, I am going through too. I don’t have a father-son relationship with my audience,” he states.

Ajey is known for celebrity roasts and marathon gaming streaming sessions, and has recently forayed into music and short-form videos, including one that’s a satirical take on cancel culture; Hoodie by Six5Six; Cap by H&M; Pants by Benetton; T-shirt by Adidas Originals; Slides by Crocs; Accessories by Zara (Shivamm Paathak)
Ajey is known for celebrity roasts and marathon gaming streaming sessions, and has recently forayed into music and short-form videos, including one that’s a satirical take on cancel culture; Hoodie by Six5Six; Cap by H&M; Pants by Benetton; T-shirt by Adidas Originals; Slides by Crocs; Accessories by Zara (Shivamm Paathak)

Pushing boundaries 

Ajey would be lying if he said that hate comments, accusations of him being homophobic and transphobic through his videos don’t affect him. 

“The other day while streaming, I got a stray comment from some user asking me why I make such videos,” he reveals. “Even that got to me.”

But he cannot possibly let the criticism of using crass and abusive language get to him. “There is a lot of local and cultural context and differences that I don’t expect everyone to understand and accept,” he admits. “But when someone says that my content wasn’t enjoyable in the first place, that affects me more.”

He is conscious of the fact that the content he puts out, particularly some of his expletive-laden roasts, will never fly in front of his parents. He does acknowledge them as his “censor board” but is grateful that they understand the distinction between performance and reality. 

“People assuming I’m rude in real life is akin to expecting the actor playing Spider-Man to actually throw webs about,” Ajey says. “My parents understand that it’s performance. And I hope people who question my intent also realise that it’s all scripted, rehearsed, performed.”

Ajey’s journey through the years
Ajey’s journey through the years

And yet, for how long can he sustain his characteristic hyperactive delivery brimming with relentless satire, double entendres and an all-round penchant for toying with the sanitised boundaries of cancel culture?

“Of course, you reach a saturation level if you only keep doing the same thing,” he says. “But I’ve surrounded myself with sketches, music, scripted short-form videos and other multimedia, and this is proof enough that I’d like to push my own boundaries, even though the audience wants what it wants.”

Pulling together

In the face of the criticism that his content receives, Ajey remains concerned with understanding why people love him. 

“Their reasons for love have nothing to do with my videos or the abuse or the jokes but everything to do with the bond that I establish,” he says. It’s the same bond that he derives from the gaming community that he says is brimming with introverts like him. 

“When we are playing a game together, all our breathing is synchronised,” he pauses, gathering his words. “For us, as a bunch of introverts, that is a safe space in the privacy of our rooms.”

Ajey is conscious of the fact that the content he puts out, particularly some of his expletive-laden roasts, will never fly in front of his parents; Jacket & T-shirt by Six5Six; Pants by Benetton; Slides by Crocs; Accessories by Zara (Shivamm Paathak)
Ajey is conscious of the fact that the content he puts out, particularly some of his expletive-laden roasts, will never fly in front of his parents; Jacket & T-shirt by Six5Six; Pants by Benetton; Slides by Crocs; Accessories by Zara (Shivamm Paathak)

In the past, Ajey was considered too young to be an artist and hardly taken seriously.

“People would take me for granted because of my age,” he says. “I’ve given this craft 10 years, so how’s my success any less valid compared to someone who ventured into this field at 30 and later became successful?”

Although he will make his acting debut alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn in the thriller-drama Runway 34, in the role of a social media sensation, the idea of pushing boundaries, he hopes, will stretch well into the future. 

It’s the 4 am “twisted and dark stories” that he hopes will be adapted into series and movies someday. “I’ll tell you the first two stories I’ve written so far that are really dark and quite unlike what I’ve done so far, this is off the record, so in the first one…”

From HT Brunch, March 20, 2022

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