Meet the damsel in digital world

By now you would have definitely been able to hear words like 'Macha', 'Maam' and 'Da'. That's how Niharika has won hurts of millions of people through her incomparable ranting videos.

While the pandemic led to all of us finding a source of entertainment in social media, thanks to Niharika, Youtuber and Content creator who entertained her followers from round the world. While the internet took over India's entertainment scene during the pandemic, she was the centre of this phenomenon whose Instagram reels have paved the fastest way to one million-followers. She rose to fame during the time when people were low on creativity and couldn't pull themselves to be productive, Niharika kept churning videos after videos to keep her followers entertained.

Her Instagram reel videos are not loved and relatable even for the Bollywood celebrities like Sonam Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor. It was a big day when one of her video was posted by the former actor and current Minister in the Union Cabinet of India, Smriti Irani resharing her video on her story and tagging Niharika with a caption 'Everytime…next time I know what to say, Mindblowing'

Sharing about her journey in this digital world so far, Niharika shares, "It has honestly been an incredibly overwhelming experience so far and I couldn't be more grateful to everybody that watches and supports my content. I honestly took to content creation as a creative outlet as a college student and it's still exactly that for me and will always be. I do what I do because I genuinely enjoy it and it makes me happy and I'm definitely going to focus on doing just that for as long as I possibly can."

Niharika is presently pursuing her MBA at in California and these crisp 30-second videos are a comedic and relatable take on our everyday life events peppered with accents that serve as a fun reflection on the South Indian way of life. But you might be wondering what 'NM' in her name and Instagram handle stands for? NM stands for 'Nothing Much', which is even the name of her second Instagram account.

For Niharika, the ideas for the contents come naturally. Sharing about the same, Niharika says, "My rants are literally how my friends and I talk or vent to each other about the silliest things that we experience so I'd like to say it comes very naturally to me and what I do online is just observational comedy that I package with my own spin on it, to make sure my personality comes through in every video as well, along with the content."

It was definitely not easy for her to stay away from her family during the lockdown but ironically Niharika rose fame during the pandemic.

She adds, "The first few months of lockdown I definitely did not make any type of content because I was already living in a foreign country away from my family and when the pandemic hit, it just got too much for me to have to deal with but eventually when I started to wrap my head around the fact that this might just be the new normal, I started tapping into my creative outlet to make me happy and I don't even know how but here we are and I couldn't be more grateful. Thinking of becoming a viral influencer anytime in your life, I don't think anyone ever does. It's one of those things that just happens when you really don't see it coming but I'm just extremely grateful to have a platform where I can just absolutely be myself."

After moving to the US to pursue her MBA, Niharika took a long break from content creation, making it difficult for her to balance everything.

However, when the world sort of came to a standstill due to the pandemic, she needed to do something to get her mind off of it. Content creation has always been her creative outlet and that's what she resorted to. Getting back on YouTube still didn't feel right at the time for her and so she tried to dip her toes in short format content creation on Instagram.

Niharika's journey was in short, a speedy road of wining hearts of her million followers. She is one of the top creators who joined the millions club within no time.

Sharing about her journey from 100k to 1.6 million followers, she says, "Honestly, I still cannot believe that any of this is real. I haven't fully processed it yet. I don't know if I will ever be able to entirely process it but I'm just incredibly grateful to each and every person that showers me with an overwhelming amount of love. Every little compliment, message or comment I get motivates me to work even harder to deliver quality content to the best of my ability and hopefully make my audience smile at least a little in the process."

Niharika has come a long way at a very young age and sharing about the positive and negative side of it, she says that overwhelming is the word that accurately describes how this whole experience has been for her and it is an incredible feelingto be loved for doing what she loves doing and just being herself.

She adds, " I guess I wouldn't say bad but what can be challenging sometimes on social media is getting addicted to external validation and sort of letting your self-worth or value be defined by it. I just make sure to consciously make an effort to not let any of it be it positive or negative get to my head. The biggest challenge for me is trying to balance academics and content creation which are two completely different things that require me to function in two almost opposite time zones.

She also shares that as a content creator, there's always the pressure to be consistent with content creation which can sometimes be a little difficult. For her, the incredible amount of love and appreciation that her audience gives her is more than enough to fuel her to keep going.

"I honestly enjoy making any video where I play a creepy uncle or a dude because I look so ridiculous doing what I do that I can't stop cracking up whenever I catch my reflection anywhere. I've always been an over enthusiastic child that got myself in trouble for talking too much or just being too naughty and my parents always wondered when I would possibly calm down (Spoiler: I never did calm down). I initially started out in the digital space when I was in the second year of engineering and my friends really encouraged me to try out something in the YouTube comedy space," says the digital icon.

Niharika ends saying that her future plans include a lot more content, a fully running YouTube channel, a MBA degree, some vlog style content and hopefully lots of laughter.