By Iylia Marsya Iskandar
Bill Gates has presented us with a quote “Content is king,” and in this social networking era, it is definitely proven to be true.
In January, a husband and wife from Sungai Siput, Perak started uploading their cooking videos on YouTube, not realising that their channel would become a hit among Malaysians with over 387,000 subscribers to date.
S. Pavithra and her husband M. Sugu has been the centre of attention on social media not only with their usage of Malay language in their videos but also the diversity of recipes they share including Indian dishes, thus attracting subcribers from different age groups and background.
“I am also in awe of how suddenly a lot of people have been subscribing to our YouTube channel when we are in fact very new, there is a lot that need to be improved in our content,” said S. Pavithra.
S. Pavithra shared her journey when they first started their channel, “My first cooking video was on tilapia grilled fish and in a span of only four days, I have gotten about 5,000 subscribers and received an email from YouTube that allows us to monetise our videos.”
The couple started their YouTube journey after being recommended by a close friend who is also a YouTuber to share cooking videos on the website.
Their main goal is to share easy everyday recipes with ingredients that is easy to obtain with minimal utensils. S. Pavithra said she does not need any expensive utensil but sufficient to use one frying pan, one cooking spatula and two pots including one rice cooker.
With these, S. Pavithra said that she chose to speak in Malay as she is fluent in the language. If she chose to talk in Tamil, not everyone will understand, hence her decision to choose Malay so all Malaysians can benefit from her video.
To record their videos, she only used a smartphone which is put on a sturdy surface but it still turned out enjoyable with the help of her husband.
If her husband is cooking, she will help introduce the ingredients and talk through the steps because her husband is quite timid. The editing process is done after their meal while their children are sleeping.
“The most exciting thing is reading positive feedbacks from netizens especially those who support us and want us to share more videos. There are also some people who asked us to share Indian recipes and this is very exciting,” she shared.
Among those who tried their recipe is Malaysian body-builder, Sazali Samad and a Japanese Youtuber, “Ichang RM” with the chicken curry recipe.
“Sugu Pavithra” was also trending on twitter with netizens giving positive feedbacks on her clear explanation of the steps and asking other people to stop skipping advertisements on YouTube to show their support.
One user said, “I’m watching her videos and NOT skipping any ads. Puan deserves every cent of the YouTube ads revenue. Her content cheers people up. We need to keep watching!”
Another user said, “My mum tried her (Sugu Pavithra) biryani recipe today and it is sooo good and easy!”
Despite the enormous amount of attention they are receiving, the couple do not regard themselves as celebrities but are still the “same” Sugu and Pavithra. They only wish for everyone to keep on following their videos and try the recipes they shared.
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