In mid-2010, Shahid Ansari, a sales executive with a good internet connection and loads of time, logged on to Facebook and was soon hooked. One of the biggest draws for him was the abundance of humorous content the social media platform offered. “I always liked jokes and funny forwards. WhatsApp was in its infancy in 2010 and yet to become the beast it is today. At that time, with the release of Rajinikanth’s new movie Enthiran , Rajinikanth and CID were popular themes for jokes and offered a lot of scope for content. I had plenty of free time, and I decided to create a page, fusing these themes together,” says Ansari, one of the founders of the content-generation platform ‘Rajinikanth vs CID Jokes’, that went on to transform into RVCJ Media. With more than 14 million followers on Facebook; 1,14,000 Instagram followers; and a similar fan-following on Twitter, the group leads the generation of viral humorous content in India, on everything from celebrities to films, shows and politics.
Special Arrangement
Talking about the journey, Ansari, says, “We reached 20,000 followers in a very quick time. Initially, I used to post only text-based jokes. However, the follower count had started to stagnate. Around this time, Ankit Mor, one of the followers, messaged and asked if he could contribute.
“Ankit knew the working of Facebook algorithms and was a professional at creating memes. With his help, our reach expanded and we decided to set up a website.”
Soon Harpreet Singh, who was a technical head with an IT company, also joined them. “He helped out with the technical aspects and SEO optimisations, and that helped us expand reach and views. We were listed as one of the top websites in the Alexa rankings,” says Ansari.
Initially, they balanced full-time jobs with the page and website in the backdrop.
Special Arrangement
“However, as our reach expanded, we decided to quit and focus on the website full-time. Our aim is to make people laugh and have a good time,” says Ansari.
Does poking fun at celebrities and political personalities get them into trouble?
“Not really. Our aim is to look for the humorous element in everyday events. We manage a team of around 40 creators and aim at giving stressed-out professionals something to laugh about and think of at the end of a gruelling day at the office,” Ansari explains.
Though he never anticipated its success, today Ansari hopes to do this for many years to come.
