Before Mandip Bakhunchhe co-founded Chhalaang, a broadcasting and media production company, his audience knew him as YouTuber SuperMandip.

One of the few content creators in the country when YouTube was relatively new, SuperMandip became a household name among teenagers, winning hearts through the screen with his quick-witted charm and short comedy sketches.

It had all started when he began creating content for a short-form video hosting service, Vine. When the app shut in 2016, he started uploading compilation videos of vines along with a few comedy skits of his own. “I was 16 when I uploaded my first video on the SuperMandip channel,” he tells ApEx. And since then, it’s been a strange journey.

Throughout the years, he has collaborated with popular Nepali content creators such as Sabin Karki and Fun Revolution TV. Since he started his channel in 2016, he has garnered almost 50,000 subscribers and more than 4.3 million views on the video-sharing platform.

While his uploads have dwindled in the last year, SuperMandip is still known for his comedy sketches to satirical skits, and long video series. His Vine compilation videos alone have hundreds of thousands of views.

Mandip has now found his true passion in making short movies. “I have always been in love with filmmaking,” he shares. “I remember watching Spiderman movies as a child and wondering how they were able to create such an iconic masterpiece.”

His love for the movie industry only grew as the years went by and he started making videos on his father’s phone and old cameras. It was this hobby that had led him to create content on Vine and eventually on YouTube.

“Most people know me as a YouTuber. But I want to be known for my movies,” he says.

And that’s exactly what he’s going after right now.

He has penned countless scripts for skits, movies and TV show— while some of it has been converted into videos others haven’t seen the light of day.

These days, Mandip is busy working as the head of production at Chhalaang. But he hasn’t given up his dream of making movies of his own.

He believes that his experience in the company is only fueling his passion. He is constantly surrounded by artists and creators of all kind. And when he’s not working, he’s writing.

He has even found an outlet in poetry. And some of his verses have been transformed into songs. “I’ve been playing guitar for almost a decade now,” he says, talking about how his songs came to be. He was just humming a few songs when he started singing a few of his own lyrics.

“It wasn’t really supposed to be anything, but I played it for a few of my friends and they encouraged me to turn it into a song.” In the last nine months, SuperMandip’s channel has released Afno ta aafu matrai. The song has received half a million views,.

Even though he plans on releasing more of his music work in the future, and has already recorded more than two songs, he doesn’t consider himself a musician. “It’s a hobby more than anything,” he says. “And I truly enjoy the process. But my passion is filmmaking.”

Despite his love for creating content, one could easily see the lack of consistency in his YouTube uploads. When asked about this, he told ApEx that he believes his time as a content creator has come to an end.

“I’m not giving up on YouTube,” he says. “I will be uploading videos every once in a while. But I want to focus more on my career in the movie industry rather than on the YouTube space.”

Even though the online platform has given him much-needed experience and growth, he’s found it difficult to build a career on it, one of his biggest issues being financial compensation. “It’s hard to get sponsors when you are small creator,” he confesses. “And even when you do get paid, it’s irregular.” The last few years have been a wake-up call for him, forcing him to do a reality check on his priorities.

“I believe that everything has a right place and a right time,” he says. “I am grateful for everything that YouTube has given me, but I’m also happy to be known as a former content creator because it’s time to explore newer, larger things.”

According to him, the right delivery to the right audience is what makes a story great. His audience has evolved since the creation of SuperMandip. And since he has a fair share of his stories to tell, he’s now only waiting for the right time to deliver them.