Gaurav Taneja and the problematic rise of family vlogging on YouTube

The year was 2019 when Flying Beast (aka Gaurav Taneja) shot to fame and became a mainstream YouTube vlogger. Taneja, an IITian, bodybuilder, pilot and an aspiring vlogger started his YouTube journey with a channel called FitMuscleTV where he shared fitness tips and workout techniques with his two million odd subscribers. Soon, he started a new YouTube channel ‘Flying Beast’ which now has a whopping 7.5 million followers. Like all vloggers, Gaurav didn’t get instant success. He kept churning out vlogs after vlogs and showed his honest, unabashed self to his followers. His fun banter with his wife Ritu Rathee Taneja (who is also a pilot), the cute antics of his daughter Rasbhari Taneja and his humble origins and middle class family image propelled his rise to fame as his viewers couldn’t help but relate to his hunger for success and making the best of whatever limited resources he had as a middle class child born in Delhi. Gaurav’s success story - him coming from a humble background and making it big as a vlogger, inspired hope in his subscribers who felt that they too could achieve the great heights of success, much like Gaurav. In the years to come, Gaurav’s success only grew manifold. He received multiple brand deals - from MamaEarth to protein powders and fitness supplements - he even performed at YouTube fanfest on multiple occasions and met the US President Barack Obama. That was when his fall from grace began.

Child Abuse And Violation of Privacy

As Gaurav’s popularity increased, he was also massively criticised by some of his followers. One of the major reasons why he received criticism was his choice to put his private life and his kids on display on YouTube. Most of the thumbnails of his YouTube videos show his daughter Rasbhari and his newborn Pihu either crying or looking disturbed. Coincidentally, these were also some of Gaurav’s most-viewed videos. In a day where the Internet is full of pedophiles and anti-social elements that could misuse Rashi and Pihu’s images and their identities, Gaurav’s decision to put them on display didn’t sit right with some of his followers. In one of his vlogs, Gaurav’s daughter Rasbhari gets badly injured and has cuts on her body due to a minor accident at home. Gaurav, instead of rushing her to the hospital and giving her first-aid, picks up the vlogging camera and shoves it in Rasbhari’s face as she continues to bleed and cry. He eventually rushes her to hospital and vlogs the entire ordeal. In another vlog, Ritu, Rashi’s mother, decides to pierce her ear at home, without the use of anesthesia or expert supervision. Rashi cries in pain and Gaurav, no points for guessing, turns off his vlogging camera and starts recording his daughter who is in pain.

This does not end here. In another vlog, Rashi ends up dropping Gaurav’s smartphone from the balcony of their house. Rashi is overcome with guilt and cries inconsolably. At one instance, Ritu proceeds to hit Rashi as she gets scared. However, the worst of it all is when Gaurav went as far as recording Rashi’s mental and emotional breakdown on his vlog. In one of his vlogs, Rashi wakes up from what seems like a nightmare and Gaurav records her entire experience on camera. Several critics, especially on social media forums like Reddit and Discord, have raised their concerns over the blatant violation of privacy and consent of Rashi for the sake of content. Some psychologists went as far as suggesting that Rashi might never have a normal childhood and might as well grow up to have severe mental and emotional issues because of her childhood being put on public display.

Animal Abuse Allegations

Flying Beast also received criticism for his mistreatment of his family dog, Mau. As he went to shoot Smart Jodi, a reality show, with kids and wife Ritu in Mumbai, he left his dog Mau at a shelter for days. That’s not all. He refuses to let Mau climb the furniture of the house and is seen being abusive to him as soon as he climbs the beds. Several people of the popular Reddit some r/InstaCelebsGossip suggested that Mau is suffering from severe separation anxiety and emotional issues because of being repeatedly being left in shelter homes and Gaurav and being abandoned by his family. One cannot help but wonder - why would someone as well-read and educated as Gaurav, adopt a dog knowing fully well that he cannot care for him due to his busy schedule? Why would he put Rashi’s most vulnerable moments on the Internet and vlog her breakdowns for the entire world to see and in the process, violate her consent and privacy?

Legal Threats To Journalists

Then, of course, comes Gaurav’s never-ending saga of lawsuits. Earlier in May, Gaurav had tweeted an image of his family performing havan and claimed that a family in Bhopal has survived the poisonous gas leak because they performed Agnihotra havan. The tweet was criticised by Twitterati as it not only spread misinformation, but also insulted the victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Mint, a subsidiary of Hindustan Times, has published an article calling for brands to disassociate with the popular YouTuber by claiming that Taneja peddled propaganda, apart from reeking misogyny, child abuse, and abuse of their pet dog. Gaurav was quick to send a legal notice to Mint and sued journalists Shephali Bhatt and Abhishek Baxi. However, the court dismissed the lawsuit. To put things in context, Gaurav has not only tried to silence journalists by threatening them with lawsuits, he has conveniently refused to acknowledge the criticism he has received over the blatant child abuse, animal cruelty and now, a birthday party gone wrong.

Birthday Surprise Ends In Arrest Gaurav’s birthday surprise planned by his wife Ritu landed him in jail. Ritu had taken over Gaurav’s Instagram account and planned a ‘surprise’ for him where she booked a metro coach at Noida Sector 51 metro station. She also invited fans to show up at the metro station and celebrate the special day. It is important to mention that Gaurav has over 7 million subscribers on YouTube. While Delhi metro allows booking of coaches to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions, any Delhiite can vouch for the fact that no metro station has the capacity to handle a crowd that is as huge as Gaurav’s fanbase. What happened next was terrible but expected. There were massive traffic jams, overcrowding, stampede-like-situation and a major threat to public safety. Videos on social media showed crazy fans of Gaurav running around him, trying to take selfies with the vlogger. Also in the crowd were Gaurav’s daughters Rashi and Pihu who looked visibly traumatized due to the large footfall and overcrowding. Soon, Gaurav was arrested for violating Section 144 which was imposed in Noida (which somehow both Gaurav and Ritu forgot as they invited Gaurav’s fans). Gaurav and Ritu were arrested but were eventually released on bail the same night

The two were seen celebrating Gaurav’s birthday on Insta stories. In the next couple of days, Gaurav continued to share memes poking fun at him on social media handles and released a statement clarifying, “It is pertinent to mention here that these fans were not violent nor did they raise any objectionable slogans neither harmed any public property. Their exemplary behaviour speaks for the example that Mr. Taneja and Ms. Rathi has been setting for their fans and followers in their videos. Nonetheless, the Noida Police proceeded to register a case under Sections 188 & 341 IPC. As a result of the same, he was briefly detained and then released within a couple of hours. Needless to say, we would be pursuing appropriate legal remedy.”

One cannot help but wonder why someone as educated and aware as Gaurav didn’t anticipate the massive footfall at the metro station. Why would he endanger the safety of not just his fans but also his wife and their two daughters by asking fans to show up in large numbers to celebrate his birthday? From child abuse, animal cruelty to disrupting public order - Gaurav Taneja’s antics are highly problematic to say the least. What is particularly alarming is that several brands like Mamaearth continue to associate with him and YouTube India doesn’t call him out for his problematic videos. If journalists try to throw light on his behaviour, he is quick to silence them with lawsuits.

Rest assured, Gaurav Taneja is proof that being well-read and educated does not mean one is educated and well-aware. Will his antics stop? Only time will tell. However, his fans, all 7 million of them, must stop enabling the problematic and downright sick behaviour of their idol.

Read all the  Latest News **,**  Trending News **,**  Cricket News **,**  Bollywood News **,**  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook **,**  Twitter  and  Instagram **.**