‘To survive, be different’

Silver Creator Award for Zhovezo Resu’s Naga Manu Production

Morung Express News
Kohima | October 26

There has been an escalation of YouTube channels especially during these two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the words of 28-year-old Zhovezo Resu, “if you have to survive, you have to be different. You have to think out of the box.”

And that is exactly what he has done with his visual contents on his YouTube channel- “Naga Manu Production”, which he created in the year 2018. After three years of creating videos, especially fuelling it with energy and passion for sports, he has received the Silver Creator Award or Play Button from YouTube for reaching 100,000 subscribers.

“It belongs to every ‘Naga Manu’- the very reason I started the channel and without whom, I would not have achieved this milestone. Without watching or sharing, this platform would not be this big and it’s because of you all that we have come this far. This Silver Button is dedicated to all the subscribers”, he related to The Morung Express.

A year ago, one of his videos titled “Special Task Force demonstration” had fetched over 1.2 million views. However, when he first started on the journey of creating visual contents for a worldwide audience, it has not been easy.

Bombarded with negative comments, at one point of time, he confessed, he started to think he should give up on it altogether.

“Whatever video it may be, you put in so much effort. It takes hours and hours and when you upload, if you start seeing only negative comments that can affect you so much. Initially, the negativity took a toll on me, but along the way, I learnt to ignore and just move on,” he recalled. In those days, he would draw more motivation from the 1-2k views that some of his videos would garner, which eventually led him to build more contents.

“People think we earn a lot of money on YouTube, but it’s not like that. We do it just out of passion,” he went on to say. Overall, he further enlightened that he has earned a total of Rs 1.5 lakhs from the time it got monetised till today. He has invested that amount in a camera.

Asserting that it takes years and years, he put across that, “only maybe in another 5 years, I may be stable doing this.” 

“With one lakh subscribers, I am not rich,” he pointed out. But for him, the best thing about being a YouTuber is being able to promote a Naga, and impact somebody’s life. “It makes me feel good that I am doing something good for the society or for somebody,” he expressed in this connection.

In the meantime, he believes that YouTube has a lot of scope for everyone. “Basically, you can do anything you want.

There is so much of content you can make be it sports, music, entertainment, or show the world, our tradition, culture, etc., or if  you have a niche, an area of interest you think you can build a content on. But you need to focus on that and start building your audience. If Naga people are not watching, don’t worry, there might be another country that’s watching because YouTube is universal,” he put across.

He started “Naga Manu Production” with a particular interest in sports, but realising that in the context of Nagaland, sports is seasonal, which is why contents also become seasonal, he has also moved on to explore entertainment, culture and other areas.

On achieving the silver button, he further expressed, “I first thank God for the blessing for which, I was able to achieve this feat.” “There are many people behind the scenes who have helped me in achieving this feat, so thank you all for your constant support and feedback,” he added while making special mention of his friends, Jenbu and Rajat.

 “This is not the end, I won’t call this a success, but a beginning of a new career. Do continue to support in whatever you can as we grow together in this platform. What’s next? It’s time to speak in gold language,” he articulated.

A sports enthusiast and a freelance journalist, Zhovezo Resu is from Chetheba Town under Phek district and has a master’s degree in Mass Communication from St Aloysius College, Mangalore.