They are fiery. They are fearless. They say it like it is. Be it the lesser known contributions of the East in pushing back invaders or the nuances of Dravidian politics, or calling out double standards in mainstream reporting, YouTube content creators are emerging as a credible alternative source of news and views for the engaged public.
Here are some passionate voices out there, that you won’t regret hitting like, share subscribe!
Started by Piyush Rai to raise a voice against anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat forces, The QuestionHour Bharat has 20,800 subscribers. The topics he covers are across the spectrum from politics, social issues, international news to reviews like this one on Bulbbul calling out anti-Hindu scenes:
The New Indian, started by veteran journalists Rohan Dua and Aarti Tikoo, has an impressive library of 1338 videos in a short span of 2 years. Focussing on news from the ground, the channel has shorts, livestream videos and curated play lists. They also feature some interesting interviews like this one with former R&AW Chief Vikram Sood
3. Jambavan TV
With 83,500 subscribers, Jambavan TV aims to be a broad-spectrum news and entertainment channel. With tongue-in-cheek humour in colloquial Tamil, most videos are news analysis by anchor Arun, with interesting analogies from movies to cricket. In this video, he looks at the meeting between Kamal Hassan and Rahul Gandhi, comparing it to the hit Kamal movie Aboorva Sagodararagal, where Kamal plays twins – a short and repressed circus clown and a playboy.
4. Yaatrigan
Spanning the range from nationalism, security and politics to spirituality, Yaatrigan is a Tamil YouTube channel with 30,700 subscribers. The Shorts cover current events with humour, including missionary messages in films and political doublespeak. The channel also features live coverages of events like the Jallikkattu and the Sabarimala Makarajyoti festival. Videos cover news and analysis like this interview with Ravindran Duraiswamy on the TN political scene.
5. Vedant Media
It is difficult to believe that this channel is Satya Tiwari’s passion project and not day job. The Hindi channel aims to focus on shining a light on the real history of the country, and uses movie reviews to tell that story. With extensive research, he brings out lesser known facts, comparisons. With about 15,700 subscribers, his top videos have more than several hundred thousand views. He also makes some interesting historicals on lesser known events like this one on the Royal Indian Navy Revolt.
This small but hard-hitting Hindi-English bilingual presents news analysis on a broad range of topics including politics, entertainment and foreign affairs in the form of expert interviews. The anchor Mini brings analysts, scholars, journalists and public intellectuals to the show and engages them in interesting conversation to bring out key issues. Like this one with Robert Spencer on the Nupur Sharma controversy.
7. Bharat Verse
Focussing on the Universe of Bharat including politics, history, entertainment and sports, the channel by Saurabh Ojha also presents roasts, reviews and well-researched exposés. This Hindi review of Avatar 2 explaining the underlying sanatana philosophy was a huge hit on all social media.
This little treasure of a channel shines a light on the obscured history of the east of India – including the ancient civilization, dynasties, culture and religion of Bengal. The videos well-researched and are presented as slides. The Resistance of Bengal series explains the role of the traditional kings of various dynasties in pushing back the invaders’ onslaught and features many lesser known battles, like this one.
This channel in Hindi is an important voice from the North East. Assamese Janpeace Live covers a wide range of news and social events, including hate speech by politicians, religious violence, legal system, temple administration from UP to Tamil Nadu and Nepal to the UK. He also runs explainers like this one, on potential divisive outcomes had the communal violence bill of 2011 been passed.
10. Mediyaan
With 41,800 subscribers, Mediyaan is a full-fledged news and entertainment channel in Tamil focussing mainly on Tamil politics. Apart from political commentary and interviews, there’s also coverage of sports, finance, culture and entertainment as well as historical analysis, like this series #Olam on Tamil contribution to the freedom struggle.