The Viral Fever (TVF) and Arunabh Kumar Journey

Viral Fever is an online entertainment company founded by Arunabh Kumar. It is one of the most famous online content creators in India famous for its small comedy videos and intriguing web series.TVF rode into the new dawn of ‘never seen before’ internet entertainment or web series format in India. All TVF shows like Permanent Roommates, Pitchers, Tripling caught the fancy of new-gen audiences like no other.

How it All Began?

The Viral Fever was founded by IIT Kharagpur alum Arunabh Kumar. Always being inclined towards filmmaking, he continued to pursue his passion even while pursuing an engineering degree. He quit his job to try his hand at production which landed him his first big stint as an assistant director to Farah Khan on the blockbuster Om Shanti Om. He continued to work on his scripts and short films during that time.

In 2012, Arunabh along with Amit Golani, and Biswapati Sarkar released their first video called Rowdies starring Naveen Kasturia and Deepak Kumar Mishra on YouTube and the video soon crossed over a million views and became viral. Its massive success led to the group finally launching of the company The Viral Fever. The motivation to start TVF, according to Arunabh Kumar, was to reach out and engage with the millennial generation who seldom watch TV anymore.

Arunabh Kumar Steps Down

An FIR was filed against Arunabh Kumar at two Mumbai police stations (MIDC and Versova) for allegedly harassing an ex-employee of his firm. He had been booked under Sections 354 and 509 of the IPC, relating to outraging the modesty of a woman and molestation. After being arrested and released on conditional bail, the CEO stepped down after tweeting an open letter.

“TVF was, is and always will be larger than any one individual and I believe we have only just started on our path-breaking journey to be a young global organization. In the wake of the recent events, what really breaks me is the blemish on the brand’s true promise. I have therefore decided to step down as the CEO of TVF. I will be available as a mentor for the content team as they continue to deliver the stories you love us for,” he wrote.

A New Venture Begins

Arunabh Kumar had been working on a new comic book venture, Indusverse, for over a year, along with co-founders Alok Sharma and Saumin Patel. According to Kumar, the “core idea” behind Indusverse, which was launched in February 2020, is to establish a studio that will bring to life contemporary stories that are ambitious and entertaining Indusverse has released three titles, part of its first set of Comic books YearZero which was launched by Bollywood director Vasan Bala and actor Jaaved Jaafri. The three titles of the YearZero set are – The Beginning, Outrage and  Stunt. 

Indusverse is presently working on nine more titles, out of which, three will be sequels to the current books and the rest will be new ones, with new characters and new stories. The stories will be set in India within the present time and space.

The books are available for sale now on the Indusverse website in both hardcopy and softcopy, and the team wishes to leverage and utilize the lockdown and social distancing to help people discover new stories and unique and innovative mediums of storytelling which is taking the whole world with a storm.

Written By - Riya Chhikara

Edited By - Vaibhav Sharma