The criteria to determine a celebrity in Youtube is mainly through their number of subscribers, their content and the composition of their posts- i.e what genre does their posts belong to- entertainment, politics, current affairs, education, technology, songs, gossips, content curation etc. In recent times, motivational and spirituality related content have also started gaining immense popularity in all digital media platforms especially Youtube. The range is also very vast- we have life advisory channels like ‘mindvalley’, ‘the art of living’, ‘men sutra’, ‘the academy of ideas’ etc. Then we have spiritual masters like, Sadhguru, Swami Prabhadanda etc focused on a philosophical and divine view of life. The last subcategory are individual youtubers like Himesh Madaan, Vivek Bindra, Thomas Frank etc who aim at providing tips and suggestions in living a happy and productive life.
One person or rather Youtuber who however have defied all such boundaries is Sandeep Maheshwari. Starting way back in 2011 with single digit subscribers, he is now one of highest subscribed Indian Youtuber with around 13.5 million subscribers, 259 videos and 700million+ views( as of January, 2020). One reason which makes him even more special is that among the top 5 highest subscribed Youtubers, his content stands out as very unique since three out of them are entertainment channels( Amit bhadana, bb ki vines and Ashish Chanchalani Vines) and one is a channel based on the latest gadgest and their reviews (Technical guruji). Sandeep Maheshwari is the only one(among the top 5) whose content cater to people having real problems and with advice having an embellishment of intense philosophy and life skills with a mix of spirituality. He also has a channel dedicated entirely to spirituality, named- Sandeep Maheshwari spirituality with around 829k subscribers and 92 videos. His ability to deliberate and discuss on any issue is what makes him so special and different. He initially started with posting videos of his ‘life changing seminars’ with thousands of audience where he talked at length about his personal struggles and his journey to success. This seminars were indeed life changing for many (including me). After his ‘last life changing seminar’ video which crossed over 10million views, he switched to ‘India tours’ and now have transitioned to studio sessions with limited audience of around 30-40 people. All of his live sessions are completely free and are regularly uploaded in Youtube. A plethora of people register for his sessions by filling the form in his website and then the lucky few are decided through a computerized mechanism. One more very unique feature of his channel which distinguishes him from the rest is that all of his videos are hundred percent add free as the purpose behind all his videos is to help people rather than commercial success and fame. He has not attended any Youtube festival and has apparently not accepted any awards that Youtube gives after crossing a particular threshold of subscribers. All of his videos are completely dedicated towards solving problems of individuals and encouraging them to adopt an optimistic view on life. His personal story of success under adversity makes hi channel all the more popular and special.
This is how his website describes him-
“Sandeep Maheshwari is a name among millions who struggled, failed and surged ahead in search of success, happiness and contentment. Just like any middle class guy, he too had a bunch of unclear dreams and a blurred vision of his goals in life. All he had was an undying learning attitude to hold on to. Rowing through ups and downs, it was time that taught him the true meaning of his life.”
While opinions about him and his post may differ, his objective undoubtedly is genuine.
Social media management CIA 1- Keshav's blog 