Everyone is scrolling through short videos: Creator Himanshu Shrivastav

From Madhya Pradesh’s Gairatganj to becoming one of Moj’s top creators with over five million followers in about a couple of years, it has been nothing short of a fairy tale for Himanshu Shrivastav. Unlike many others who had already established a sort of a digital footprint by way of their presence on banned Chinese short-video app TikTok , 26-year-old Shrivastav achieved this feat without being attached to the platform. The ride, though exhilarating, has been riddled with challenges. “People in my hometown never considered dancing or acting as a viable career option. Fighting that thought process and pursuing my ambition of making a career in dancing was mentally pressing,” says Shrivastav. From zero views on Moj, Shrivastav’s deft dancing moves earned him lakhs of followers and he went on to win the Moj Superstar Hunt competition (in the dance category), racing past some 5-6 lakh contenders. “That was a turning point in my life. I started getting various opportunities with Moj like promotional campaigns and eventually moved to Mumbai,” says Shrivastav. The creator has collaborated with Bollywood biggies like Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha for various Moj projects and today owns a dance studio in Mumbai.

Shrivastav says short-video as a trend will continue to thrive and the space will grow manifold in the coming years. “People these days have very little time and they want to make the most of it by watching good content. When I observe people in local trains, I find that almost everyone is scrolling through short –videos,” says Shrivastav. However, the grueling task for creators will be to create distinct content and set themselves apart from competition that is only deepening with each passing day. The fight is all about grabbing viewers’ eyeballs. “The general notion is that making a 20-30 second video is a breeze. But the hard reality is that most people scroll through the videos for the first two seconds and if they don’t find it engaging, they stop viewing it,” says Shrivastav. Shrivastav is diversifying his content slate to stay relevant. “I don’t want to keep myself in the comfort zone,” says the young creator.

Shrivastav says that aspiring creators should use their talent as a stepping stone to build their careers in the industry. Whether they hail from a small town or a big city should not be a deciding factor. “If you make good content, people will notice you and you will never know when you become the face of the audience,” says Shrivastav.