If you reckon with the word, ‘Q-tiyapa’, then you’ve probably heard of Arunabh Kumar, the founder of The Viral Fever.com. For over two years, their videos have gone viral, just like they planned, especially their spoofs, Rowdies on the popular youth reality show, Roadies or their Gaana Wala Song, a spoof on Student of The Year’s Ishq wala love and of course their mash-ups on Gangs of Wasseypur, as Gangs of Social Media. The popularity is obvious, The Viral Fever has over 10 million views on their Youtube Channel with over 60000 subscribers and about 30 million minutes have been watched.
Arunabh Kumar describes himself as a media vagabond who dabbled in many things in the media world before he decided to go solo. An IIT-Kharagpur graduate, Arunabh quit his cushy job in the US Air-force and found himself an opportunity to work with Red Chillies Entertainment as an assistant director for Om Shanti Om. He then made a couple of short films, music videos and freelanced with various ad agencies. After pitching ideas to big media conglomerates, Arunabh realised that they had a ‘pigeon-hold’ idea about ‘what would work’ and they weren’t willing to let go of the formula. “I wanted to create content that people could relate to and something which would be well-liked by people living in metros and cities — an evolved show,” says Arunabh. When things did not work out, Arunabh decided to make use of the bandwidth connection and created a platform online. “I laid down the plan in 2010 and we shot our first pilot, ‘Inglorious Seniors’ — a spoof on ragging in colleges with an Inglorious Bastards like twist to it,” says Arunabh. Considering that most college students have access to internet, the video became viral in the college circuit and a prominent feature on Facebook feeds. Arunabh explains that the way in which people access content as drastically changed, especially when it comes to college or school students, “Everyone has a computer, a laptop and a good internet connection,” says Arunabh. A year later, Arunabh set up a micro-studio and during this time, he met others who shared the same sensibilities in humour. The Viral Fever is loosely based on the popular American website, College Humor — dedicated entirely to the funnies, with original sketches, parodies and web-series. “I want The Viral Fever to become one of the biggest youth networks in the country and someday, the world,” smiles Arunabh. The team is now dedicated to creating exclusive content for their website — “We want it to be a one-stop comedy hub,” says Arunabh. The website is currently privately funded by Arunabh, who does corporate films, the website has now opened up to product marketing and more.
Must watch
Q-Tiyapa Series: Q-tiyapa is a twisted sense of humour according to Arunabh. Watch the Rowdies and their latest Rowdies XXX that features Ayushman Khurana as well.
Musical Parodies: Their mash up of Ishq Wala Love is worth your while, especially with the bits about “burning the pink tree!”
Originals: Watch Munna Jazbaati, an over emotional and sentimental character get through his internship
Mash Ups: Gangs of Social Media 1 — a take on Valentine’s Day and Facebook; Part 2 is a take on IPL and Facebook
