Tales from Kalu Malli
The Youtube culture is a fast growing one in Sri Lanka, and with that one would be quick to observe several upcoming Sri Lankan Youtubers as well. ‘Kalu Malli’ is one such fast growing YouTube channel which hit 11,000 subscribers recently. This week we sit down with Kasun Gunasekara, the face behind ‘Kalu Malli’.
Pix courtesy KaluMalli
My wait was a short one and a young man, with a bright smile was soon to come through the doors of a small coffee stop, in the heart of Rajagiriya. ‘Are you Kalu Malli?’ I whisper to which he nods.
Kasun says he is completely self taught and has been making videos since 2005. His interest was piqued, when his friend purchased a smart phone. “A Nokia 6600 if I recall,” using this, the pair began to record funny skits, but could never upload it because they didn’t have access to the internet at the time.
Sooner, Kasun began editing his own videos using a Pentium 3 machine (probably considered an antique today) and windows movie maker. His passion continued even after he finished schooling in Galle, and moved to Colombo, to pursue a degree in software engineering.
He first publishing his content on Facebook and sooner as the enthusiasm grew, Kasun’s friends advised him to start a YouTube channel. This he did, back in 2014 under the brand name ‘Kalu Malli’.
“I didn’t push it too hard because this was my hobby,” he tells us adding that due to that reason, he didn’t want to focus on likes, comments and shares.
In 2015 Kasun made a basic Dubsmash video of about six seconds. He relates that this was a reaction video. After about an hour since it was uploaded, it went viral, surpassing 100,000 views. To this day, the video has gained almost 1.5 million views. “It was through this video that ‘Kalu Malli’ gained recognition,” he recalls.
When it comes to making videos, Kasun explains that he doesn’t stick to a particular genre. “I try vlogging, music videos, parodies and crowd sourced videos as well.” Even on his channel, Kasun does not limit it to one type of content. This he feels works to his disadvantage too, “because people tend to recognize you more for your work, when you stick to a type of content.”
Kasun, however, adds his personal touch to the video, through the editing process. ”I try to blend the footage with the sounds etc and when I do that and watch the video again, if they do blend I get that satisfaction,” Kasun explains.
The key to making his content interesting, according to Kasun is to have a proper start, a flow and an ending, even with the simplest idea. “I try to maintain that in every video and while doing that I try to keep it as short as possible too.”
Marketing also plays an important role, because a suitable thumbnail and caption could attract larger viewership. “You have to think about your audience and how to reach them and that is important. When you do this it’s easier to get people’s attention,” he says.
The first video on his YouTube channel, was the ‘misheard Sinhala lyric’ video. This, he posted with an English caption and thumbnail. After two years since its existence, it managed to gather 22,000 views. But just last year as he watched the video again, Kasun felt that it needed more views, so he downloaded it, cut out the boring parts, used a Sinhala thumbnail and caption and shared it on Facebook. The video got 700,000 views in seven days.
It not always clear skies though, because according to Kasun, his biggest frustration is people stealing his videos, furthermore Facebook has no safeguard for this, as opposed to YouTube.
We move on to ‘earning money on YouTube’, to which Kasun says that if you’re trying to earn from the platform itself, this will probably be a long wait. But the positive note is that when you start making more videos people notice you and start reaching out to you for work. “And just like that I’ve worked with several leading brands in Sri Lanka.”
As we draw to a close, Kasun tells us he has got a list of ideas for the channel this year. This also includes an original song. Kasun’s goal is to keep his hobby alive, whilst still providing exciting content.
Look out for more exciting content on Kasun Gunasekera’s channel KaluMalli on YouTube – or http://bit.ly/2EDvIQV