Dhruv Rathee (Hindi pronunciation: [d̪ʰrʊʋ raːʈʰiː]; born 8 October 1994) is an Indian YouTuber, vlogger and social media activist. He is known for his YouTube videos on social, political and environmental issues. As of June 2024, he has about 28.7 million subscribers across all channels and 4.86 billion total video views.

Dhruv Rathee
Rathee in 2019
Personal information
Born (1994-10-08) 8 October 1994 (age 30)
Rohtak, Haryana, India
NationalityIndian[1][2]
EducationKarlsruhe Institute of Technology
Occupations
Spouse
Juli Lbr
(m. 2021)
Children1
Websitedhruvrathee.com
YouTube information
Channels
LocationBerlin, Germany
Years active2014–present
Genres
Subscribers26.3 million (main channel)
33.84 million (combined)[a][4]
Total views3.65 billion (main channel)
6.04 billion (combined)[b][4]
Contents are inHinglish
100,000 subscribers2017 (Dhruv Rathee)
2020 (Dhruv Rathee Vlogs)
2022 (Dhruv Rathee Shorts)
1,000,000 subscribers2018 (Dhruv Rathee)
2021 (Dhruv Rathee Vlogs)
2022 (Dhruv Rathee Shorts)
10,000,000 subscribers2023 (Dhruv Rathee)

Last updated: 08 December 2024

Early life and education

Rathee was born into a Hindu Jat family in the Indian state of Haryana. He received his primary education in Haryana before pursuing higher education in Germany. Rathee earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, followed by a master's degree in renewable energy from the same institution.[5][6]

Career

Rathee is mainly known for his political videos, which mainly contain fact-checking and explanatory content.[7] According to ThePrint, Rathee was one of the first Indian users to use YouTube as a political platform, having started uploading travel videos in 2013 but by the end of 2013, he started shifting his prospective towards political and social topics.[1]

Alongside his serious content, Rathee launched Pee News, a satirical "fake news" segment.[8] Additionally, from 2017 until early 2020, Rathee wrote opinion columns for ThePrint.[9] Dhruv's coverage of 2018 BJP-AAP scuffle was considered as one-sided and half the story.[10]

In July 2020, Rathee began another YouTube channel called Dhruv Rathee Vlogs, where he shares his international travel vlogs. In addition to his travel vlogs, Rathee hosts various shows, including DW Travel of Deutsche Welle and Decode with Dhruv of Netflix India.[11] He also hosts a podcast on Spotify called Maha Bharat with Dhruv Rathee.[12]

As of February 2022, Rathee began a shorts channel to share 30-seconds fact videos. The channel offers a quick and accessible way for viewers to engage with the information Rathee presents.[13] In September 2022, he faced controversy when a video he posted about the political crisis in Pakistan was blocked by India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ministry claimed that the video contained a distorted map of India, in which parts of Kashmir were depicted as part of Pakistan or "disputed".[14] In March 2023, he also faced copyright charges from Dabur on his video titled "The dark-side of cold drinks". In an order, the Calcutta high court ordered social media platforms to remove the video.[15]

On 18 April 2024, Rathee announced five new YouTube channels focusing to publish dubbed videos in five Indian regional languages, which includes Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada languages.[16]

Personal life

Rathee is a resident of Germany. In November 2021, Rathee married his long-time girlfriend Juli Lbr at the Belvedere Palace, in Vienna, Austria.[2] Their first child was born in September 2024.[17][18]

In media

In 2023, he was included in TIME Magazine's list of Next Generation Leaders.[19][7]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Subscribers, broken down by channel:
    • 26.3 million (Dhruv Rathee)
    • 3.18 million (Dhruv Rathee Vlogs)
    • 4.36 million (Dhruv Rathee shorts)
  2. ^ Views, broken down by channel:
    • 3.65 billion (Dhruv Rathee)
    • 0.52 billion (Dhruv rathee vlogs)
    • 1.87 billion (DRshorts)

References

  1. ^ a b "Who Is YouTuber Dhruv Rathee? Indian Creator's Net Worth Is Rs 27 crore, Takes Home Rs 48 Lakh Every Month". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Love Across Borders: Indian YouTuber Dhruv Rathee Marries German Girlfriend Juli at Vienna". News18. 28 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "The Year Indian Comedians Took Politics Seriously". The Wire. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b "About Dhruv Rathee". YouTube.
  5. ^ "'Persistence and patience are the hallmarks of success': YouTuber Dhruv Rathee". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  6. ^ "From 'practising Hindu atheist' to 'All Lives Matter': Who exactly is Dhruv Rathee?". Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  7. ^ a b Rajvanshi, Astha (5 October 2023). "Fact-Checking Indian Media Is Tough. Dhruv Rathee Uses Youtube to Do It". TIME. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  8. ^ Ghosh, Devarsi (16 May 2018). "Meet Dhruv Rathee, the 23-year-old YouTuber whose videos are infuriating Modi's admirers". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Dhruv Rathee, Author at ThePrint". ThePrint. 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  10. ^ Rampal, Nikhil (5 November 2018). "Dhruv Rathee among those who shared half the story behind BJP-AAP scuffle". ThePrint. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Money Heist: Dhruv Rathee decodes Netflix's 'Spanish Masala Blockbuster'". The Indian Express. 31 October 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  12. ^ "YouTuber Dhruv Rathee Talks About Entering Into Audio Space, Says 'Podcasts Have Small But Dedicated Audience' - Exclusive". News18. 9 November 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Dhruv Rathee Shorts". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  14. ^ Quint, The (26 September 2022). "Govt Removes 45 YouTube Videos, Including Dhruv Rathee's, For Spreading 'Lies'". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  15. ^ "Calcutta HC orders social media platforms to take down video of Dhruv Rathee mocking Real fruit juice". DNA India. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  16. ^ Staff, T. N. M. (4 April 2024). "Dhruv Rathee starts YouTube channels in five languages including Tamil, Telugu and Kannada". The News Minute. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  17. ^ "Dhruv Rathee announces birth of first child with sweet photos; fans celebrate new arrival". The Economic Times. 21 September 2024. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  18. ^ दुबे, स्नेहा (21 September 2024). फेमस यूट्यूबर ध्रुव राठी बने पापा, शेयर की बेबी बॉय की प्यारी सी तस्वीर (in Hindi). Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  19. ^ Anand, Nisha (6 October 2023). "Dhruv Rathee among TIME Magazine's 'next generation leaders 2023'; YouTuber reacts". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.