New Delhi: Arunabh Kumar, also fondly known as The Cuteyapa Guy (TQG), is the Founder and former Chief Experimentation Officer of Viral Fever Media (TVF) Labs – one of India’s leading YouTube channels. Arunabh Kumar from a small town in Bihar is also known for producing popular web series like Kota Factory, Panchayat, TVF Pitchers, Tripling etc.
family background
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Born on 26 November 1982 in a middle-class family, Arunabh Kumar’s childhood was spent in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Right from his childhood, he took keen interest in extra-curricular activities in school and never hesitated to express his views and opinions even on the most complex subjects. Since his parents wanted him to get better education, they moved to different cities and eventually settled in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Arunabh, who came out of Vidyashram School of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, later moved to Kota to prepare for IIT JEE. Through his hard work and determination, he was able to clear the prestigious engineering exam and moved to the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur to pursue B.Tech in Electrical Engineering. Both his father and mother Prenshila Kumari are retired school principals. she has two brothers. Arunabh met his wife Shruti Ranjan in 2013 at IIT Bombay, where she was pursuing her master’s in environmental science. The two got married in 2022 after dating each other for a long time. His wife Shruti started her career as an RTT practitioner and now works as a Theta Healing practitioner. He is also a part time photographer.
career in filmmaking
After obtaining a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering, Arunabh joined the US Air Force in Bombay in 2006 as a research consultant. At the time, he was preparing to move his base to Tokyo. This was the time when he decided to resign from his job and pursue a career in filmmaking. He approached many production houses but most of the times he faced rejection. However, his struggle came to an end when he got a job offer from Red Chillies Entertainment as an assistant director in 2017. There, his job responsibilities included running around, taking printouts, and helping with every task.
He also worked as an assistant director on Farah Khan’s hugely successful film ‘Om Shanti Om’, starring Shah Rukh Khan. After three years of hard work and struggle due to financial crisis, he started writing short films and documentaries, making music videos and shooting advertisement and corporate films for steady income. He also considered starting his own TV show, The Engineer’s Diary, and sent an offer to MTV. However, the channel rejected his offer. At this point, due to this rejection, Arunabh shifted his focus to YouTube – a global video-sharing platform.
Launch of TVF
In 2010, he launched The Viral Fever (TVF). Despite a slow start, the channel rose to fame with the video “Rowdies” – a parody of the MTV show Roadies. Since then, TVF has not looked back and with the release of shows like Pitchers, Tripling and Kota Factory, the channel has gained immense popularity and now has around 11 million subscribers. His ‘Permanent Roommates’ was the second most watched web series in the world.
Although there is no official confirmation, but Arunabh Kumar’s net worth is believed to be in crores today. Arunabh’s name was embroiled in controversy when several sexual harassment complaints were filed against him, which led to his stepping down as CEO of TVF in 2017. However, he rejoined the company after his name surfaced.
Awards and Honors
Arunabh is the recipient of several awards and honours. In 2014, he was named Newsmaker of the Year by AFAQs. In the same year, he was also named Man of the Year by Men’s World. In 2015, he made it to Fortune’s Top 40 Under 40 list. In the year 2015, GQ Magazine also included him in the list of Most Influential Young Indians.
In 2016, he featured in The Economic Times’ 40 Under Forty list. In 2021, he won four flikes Filmfare OTT Awards 2020 for the first season of Panchayat. Her shows including Kota Factory, Yeh Meri Family and Gullak have received 9 out of 10 plus ratings by IMDb.