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The Story Behind Dhruv Rathee

Now, he educates millions of people in India and all over the world

In a world where fake news runs rampant, finding the truth about current events, politics, and science can feel like an uphill battle. There’s nothing worse than being bombarded by misinformation on important topics, such as corruption in the government you voted for. Dhruv Rathee was someone who saw the misinformation and propaganda on the internet being used against vulnerable groups who didn’t have access to accurate information  — and decided to do something about it. 

Dhruv Rathee began his content creation journey because of all the misinformation on the internet, and is now on a mission to make accurate information accessible to everyone, especially in his home country of India. 

Dhruv didn’t start out that way though — his channel initially focused on his passions of filmmaking and video content creation. As a student in Europe, he also posted travel videos featuring theme parks and the places he visited. 

As he became more aware of the amount of disinformation on the internet, as well as how this disinformation was being used as propaganda, Dhruv decided that watching it happen was something he couldn’t do. In 2016 he posted the video that would change his life, and his channel has only grown more popular since. 

Dhruv Rathee’s approach to his content is simple. His YouTube channel specializes in taking complicated matters — such as world events and politics—  and explains them using simple words and processes to make them accessible and so that anyone can understand them. 

An example of this is his video series on the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. This is a current event, but his series goes back decades to dissect the circumstances and events that enabled the Taliban to seize power. 

Dhruv does this so that his viewers can understand how these events happen, and to show the complexity of current events. There’s a story behind every war, political event, or tragedy, and to only look at the event on its own means having a very limited understanding of it. Only focusing on the events of today also means that it’s easy for assumptions to be made, and so creates an environment where fake news can spread. 

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The topics Dhruv dives into aren’t limited to politics, and he has a variety of playlists on his channel with topics that range from interesting science, delving into political theory like communism, history, and travel videos. Basically, anything that interests him, goes, and it doesn’t have to be political or controversial to grab his interest. 

Approaching information in a simplified yet thorough way was a hit with the people of India. Dhruv’s channel now has over 7 million subscribers. He continues to travel and give commentary on politics and social events, even garnering some controversy along the way. Let’s see where he started, and where this YouTuber is headed in the future. 

Who is Dhruv Rathee?

Dhruv was born in Haryana, India, in 1994. He considers himself an atheist Hindu —  someone who is an atheist but is culturally Hindu. Dhruv’s first language is Haryanavi. He graduated from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany with a degree in mechanical engineering, then went on to complete his Master’s degree in renewable energy. 

Dhruv launched his YouTube channel in 2014. As an avid film enthusiast, his channel at the time primarily posted content centered around filmmaking and video creation, a stark contrast from the fact-checking content he posts today. 

But the seeds for his future content were already evident even in the early days of his channel. In fact, one of his very first videos was created to criticize the Narendra Modi government, which had been elected earlier that year. 

Dhruv studied in Europe and has remained there since he graduated with his Master’s. He now travels Europe and creates content centered on topics that interest him, but he also has a vlog documenting his travels around the world. His travel vlog has over a million subscribers on YouTube. 

Achieving Fame 

Despite already having a political video up as early as 2014, Dhruv achieved virality in 2016  when he posted a video debunking fellow YouTuber Ajay Sehrawat’s claims of Arvind Kejriwal’s “ineffective” administration. Rathee said, “When I saw people sharing Ajay Sehrawat’s videos without checking the facts, I realized the need to present actual research in front of them so that they understand the truth.”

Lawyers got involved along with the police, who issued Dhruv with a warning. Dhruv went on to debunk the contents of the warning, and the conflict escalated. 

The controversy launched Rathee into the public eye, and today he’s one of the most popular YouTubers in India. Popularity because of controversy doesn’t last, however, and Dhruv has retained the attention of his audiences through the years with integrity and accurate reporting. Years after going viral for the first time, Dhruv has built a platform that people trust more than official news platforms. 

It was Dhruv’s first political video from 2014 that summarizes who he is as a person and as a creator, so let’s dive into that a little more. 

As Dhruv puts it, he was inspired to act rather than watch because of the corruption and hypocrisy of his government. Seeing the effect it had on many people across India, and seeing how people were accepting the lies of the government and certain media channels, Dhruv decided to create his own video to stand against the fake news and corruption. This became BJP Exposed: Lies Behind The Bullshit, and was his very first political video on his channel. 

“Modi had said he was anti-corruption but he joined hands with the corruption-accused [BS] Yeddyurappa. Then, things like Modi’s lack of interest in Lokpal [Bill] and the vice president of BJP’s Delhi unit getting caught on camera offering bribes made me angry.”

Dhruv decided to channel his anger in a productive way. Now, he educates millions of people in India and all over the world. 

Today, Rathee is based in Europe and creates videos dedicated to busting myths, checking facts, and holding his local government in India accountable. He says he has no intentions of returning to India at this point in time, but clearly cares deeply about his home country and continues to make videos that hold corrupt governments accountable. He chooses to do many of these videos in Hindi to make his videos more accessible to those living in India, but his videos have translated English subtitles. 

Rathee’s integrity and dedication to the truth has earned him a number of awards and nominations, including being nominated for the Inspiration of the Year Award at the 2018 Outlook Social Media Awards, alongside Medianama’s Nikhil Pahwa, public policy professional Meghnad S, Indian Police Service officer D Roopa Moudgil, and AltNews founder Pratik Sinha. 

Dhruv has also collaborated with Netflix India, where he hosts a show called Decode with Dhruv, a series of videos that explain pop culture and the issues surrounding the culture of famous TV shows and films. He also collaborated with NDTV India to break down and analyze the 2019 election cycle. Dhruv is currently hosting a travel show with Deutsche Welle, documenting travel throughout Europe, and hosts a podcast on Spotify delving into how things work in India. 

Learn From Dhruv

Dhruv has spent nearly a decade educating millions of people on a variety of topics from science to current events. He’s been invited to host educational programs and documentaries, has offered political commentary on India’s election cycle, and has a show on Netflix India. 

You may be wondering how Dhruv gets all this done in a day. He’s a teacher, a traveler, a digital nomad, a political commentator, and a creator. And he makes it look so easy. 

It’s clear to anyone that Dhruv is a fantastic teacher, and he knows how to organize his life so he can get everything done in the same amount of hours the rest of us get every day. He’s just really good at it. 

Figuring out how to organize your time so you can balance your life and achieve your goals isn’t easy though, and it can take years to figure out how to do it. Dhruv’s done it already, and now he wants to teach you to do it, too. 

Dhruv has joined Nas Academy and is launching his course Productivity: How to Do a Million Things All at Once. In this class, Dhruv shares how he manages his work-life balance, his strategies for setting and conquering goals, beating procrastination, and how to be successful in every area of your life. You don’t have to spend months or years of your life trying to figure out how to manage your time to become productive through trial and error. Dhruv has it all worked out, and is going to teach it to you using his signature teaching style that millions of people have already benefited from. 

This is more personal than a YouTube series, though. Productivity: How to Do a Million Things All at Once is a series of pre-recorded video lessons created by Dhruv, drawn from his years of experience as a successful content creator and expert time manager. You won’t just be passively learning by watching videos though, and you’ll get a balanced mix of video learning along with activities to practice. At the end of your course, you will create a productivity plan for success that you’ll be able to use and adapt for years after your course experience ends. 

In addition to your videos and productivity plan, you’ll also have access to resources and exercises to help you plan your day and set goals to further yourself. 

Learning is an experience, and that experience is best shared with others. Collaborative learning has been proven to increase retention and results, and so you will join a community of people from all over the world with the same goals as you, so you can support and hold each other accountable. You’ll work through this course together and graduate together. We also believe in community because you never know who you’ll meet! 

All learning material and videos have lifetime access. And, remember that Dhruv is passionate about education  — and so you’ll be meeting him at the Meet the Creator session after your graduation. You’ll get the chance to learn from him in a live, remote-learning environment. This is all a part of Dhruv’s mission to be the change and to take action to make a positive impact on the world. 

Be the change — change your life and sign up today!