The duo, Ranga and Chamal popularly known as Janayi Priyai chose to perform comedy as they believed that both had the ability for it. “We thought of selecting a different path, we could have easily chosen the television. The first video we made we shared on our personal Facebook accounts. We did not even have a Facebook page and later we moved to YouTube. It was on Facebook that we gained most of the fans.
“Although it would have been economically beneficial to just put the YouTube link on Facebook as well, we thought of posting two clips, one on Facebook and another on YouTube,” says Ranga.
When asked how they select the topics for their videos, Chamal said that from the day they decided to make videos, both agreed to leave out politics, controversial issues and also current issues.
“If we create something based on those topics, it would not last long. Such videos are popular among people for a limited period of time, so we do not wish to make such videos. The main reason for most of our videos to reach more than a million views is because our concepts are distinct and not based on issues mentioned above.”
If you are a fan of “Janayi Priyai” you would have probably noticed that they choose their concepts carefully and refrain from using unnecessary words/ humour in their videos.
“We do not use any unnecessary jokes nor do we use such words in any of our videos. We have quite a unique fan base, especially, small children love us.”
Having done more than 50 videos over one and a half years, Janaa and Priyaa said, their main goal is to make people happy and laugh through their videos. “We are focussed on giving something good to our fans. Our only aim is to make them laugh, which is a very difficult thing. We take about a week to decide on the concept for a video. After several brain storming sessions we pick up the best concept to base our next video and then we get the feedback from our friends. We release the video only after that. So, it is quite a long process.” They have around 217,000 likes on Facebook and 27,000 YouTube subscribers. They release a video every Friday between 5 and 7pm. Chamal says, once they upload a video they monitor it for a couple of hours and it gives them a rough idea on what the response would be.
“Some videos reach 50,000 hits within that time and some get 100,000. A lot of videos went viral, so that we did not need to boost our videos. We want to make good comedy videos which would make people want to share them. So we spend time when choosing the concepts. If you do something worthwhile, there is no need to “boost” the videos since it happens automatically,”he said. Commenting on the popular notion, “We do not care what people think. We are doing what we want”, the duo says, adding that, “Whatever you do should be something good. If you focus solely on views, controversial topics would certainly take you where you want to go. But, we do not believe in that and it is not what we think.” They stressed that they are not ready to risk the image of “Janayi Priyai” at any cost.
“Always, the credit goes to the fans. It is our duty to give them something good through our videos. Where is the responsibility when someone says they do what they want and tell them, watch if you want? That is rather selfish. We are here only because of the fans so we should be grateful to them. They made you popular, so respect that. The problem is, most people tend to forget that artistes have a social responsibility.” Janaa and Priyaa are planning to have their show for the first time in New York and Washington in the U.S. in November, and in March, 2018 they will be flying to Australia for another show. “We are planning to do a show here as well. We are still in the process of writing the script. We feel lucky to have fans around the world and would like to tell them that we would be coming to see them soon with our show.”
To fellow YouTubers who wish to make comedy videos like them, the duo says, one should always maintain a standard and try to do something good. “We have built a name because we always wanted do something good and give something good for our fans. If you want to be in this field for a long time, that is the way.
Make sure you maintain what you have earned, which is the audience. Always cherish them because you are here because of your fans.”