Most urban Indians are now familiar with AIB, or the All India Bakchod. The four man comedy collective has captured the imagination of today's youth with their wildly successful YouTube videos which take a swipe at politicians, actors and cricketers. Their YouTube videos are a rage, especially the one on Alia Bhatt, which generated more than 5.7 million hits.
Groups like AIB have helped comedy move from niche to mainstream. There is an explosion in demand for comedy acts. As a career, it has suddenly become a cool option for young people.
Founded by Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, the group was later joined by Ashish Shakya and Rohan Joshi. All India Bakchod was registered as a company last year. And the four creative entrepreneurs are now attempting to scale their venture, with considerable help from their managers, Only Much Louder (OML).
What made them successful? How did they develop their creative instincts about what works with today's youth? How do they hope to make their venture sustainable?
Together with our partner Boom Live, we conducted a special Hang Out on Air on August 5th, 3 p.m. The panelists included -
Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, Co-Founders, AIB.
Ajay Nair, Director, OML
Pratiksha Rao, Head of TV and Entertainment Partnerships at Twitter India
Aayush Soni, Independent Journalist and Contributor at Founding Fuel.
The session was moderated by Indrajit Gupta, Co-Founder, Founding Fuel.
The event was live tweeted and is storified below