Meet Astuti Anand whose viral videos strike a chord with every Bihari

“I dropped a year to prepare for NEET. I came to Delhi for preparations, however, it didn’t happen. My mother wanted me to drop out another year or go abroad or take admission in any private college in India. But I didn’t want to study the same thing for another year and chose physiotherapy at LPU (Lovely Professional University) in Punjab. My college life was spoiled due to the coronavirus and my passion for acting almost died in those years,” she said in Hindi.

“However, our college still organised cultural activities online. Since classes were also online, I stayed at home. I received a notification on our college application one day about an upcoming online cultural fest. I thought, why not give it a try and see what comes of it,” she added.

Completely unfamiliar with stand-up comedy, Anand decided to give it a shot and signed in for a competition that had senior theatre artists performing from her college. She secured the third spot, which reignited her acting keeda after four years. “I got a third rank in stand-up comedy. So from there, I got the idea that I could do comedy. Then I created an Instagram account but only did lip-sync videos. I had just 162 followers back then. I started posting videos regularly but did not get many views,” Astuti said.

Whether it’s through comedy sketches or social commentary, most of the characters played by Anand are inspired by real-life experiences, quirks and emotions. Speaking about how her creative process, she said she often steps out looking for content. “I go down memory lane for content. I think about my school life. To be honest, I am the characters I play. I am not a maid or an aunt. I am nothing. My mother calls me twice a day and she has so much panchayat (gossip) to share. She talks to me daily for an hour. Either she will talk about her in-laws, her mother’s family, or about herself, or that Papa did this today,” she said.

“I never stop thinking. If I ever need any other idea, I go out. I go out on the road, sit and observe what people are doing. So, I get a lot of concepts like that. For example, I got the concept of bargaining. Or someone’s mom is sitting on a bike. Or the shopping one. Look, mom is saying this. So, why don’t I bring it in the form of content?” the content creator continued.

Born in a middle-class Bihari family, content creation was a new job profile that Anand introduced her family to. Despite a remarkable number of followers on Instagram and subscribers on YouTube, convincing her mother about online safety was still a challenge. “My mom didn’t want me to quit my studies. She is still under the impression that the internet is not a safe space, especially for girls. No parent knows that you can earn money. They want their child to be independent. So when I started earning, she understood I could be independent,” she said.

Anand also mentioned how her brother encouraged her and supported her unwaveringly throughout. “My brother convinced my mom more than I did. He has always asked me to do whatever I feel is the best for me,” she said hailing her brother.

Social media can be taxing for content creators or social media influencers at times, particularly due to trolls. Dealing with online negativity requires a thick skin and Anand has never feared it. When asked about how she deals with trolls and mental stress on the internet, she said, “I used to cry the whole day initially. I used to overthink every bad comment. Later, I understood that people will say both good and bad things on the platform I am on. So along with that goodness, we will have to accept these things too. I have learned to accept those things. Now when someone says something, I ignore it completely. But sometimes when I get a little stuck, I think I should reply. So I reply very lovingly and pin it up and then my followers take care of them.”

While many think being a public figure requires little effort, there are indeed days when the creative tap just doesn’t flow. Unlike others, Anand doesn’t believe in stressing over it and instead takes a long nap. “Main so jaati hun (I go to sleep),” she laughs. “I go to sleep, and then I think, okay, I’ll do it the next day. I’ll sleep the whole day, and then I’ll wake up the next day, so I’ll have a different energy inside me. And I have a lot of concepts, I think most of them come in the washroom,” she adds.

Anand, who was popular as a mischievous kid during her early years, desires to work in a television daily soap, if only to fulfil her mother’s wishes. “My mom loves TV serials and I want to work in a serial some day. Things are in talks and something big may happen by September this year,” she concluded.

Astuti Anand has a fan following of 1.4 million on Instagram and over 7,62,000 subscribers on YouTube.