inbrampton.com Exclusive: YouTwoTV Wins an MMVA

Published June 28, 2017 at 1:03 pm

Harjit Bhandal and Jaz Saini are more than their YouTwoTV brand on YouTube.

Harjit Bhandal and Jaz Saini are more than their YouTwoTV brand on YouTube. The two inspiring creators are fresh from winning the Fan Fave Much Creator award at the 2017 iHeart Radio Much Music Video Awards (MMVAs), they’ve done brand deals with Bell, Nestle, Coke, M&Ms, Subway, and McDonalds, and they’ve garnered international success, with subscribers on YouTube from the U.K., the U.S., India, and Canada – all within the span of a year and a half.

Since its official launch on February 8, 2016, Bhandal and Saini’s channel has drawn over 120 million views and 580,000 subscribers. Their channel is all about relatable content, showcasing hilarious short videos on topics like relationships, growing up, work, and school. They also run a vlog channel with daily vlogs, YouTwoVlogs.

Oh, and did I mention, they were born and raised in good ol’ Brampton?

These grounded Brampton-natives and Zelda fanatics sat down with inbrampton.com to chat about winning an MMVA, their success as creators and how they got started, what’s next for them, and their thoughts on Brampton.


How did it feel to win the Fan Fave Much Creator Award?

Bhandal: It happened so quickly. We’ve only been doing this for a year, so we never thought we’d win an MMVA, like, ever. And the fact that we got it within a year of doing this is insane.


How did you find out you won?

Saini: We were already on the red carpet, working. We were doing a Coke brand deal and then we got rained on. And they were like, “I feel really bad because your hair is ruined,” so they sent me upstairs. So, I was getting my hair done and then one of the girls that works at Much, she ran upstairs and she was like, “We need you guys right away!” We thought it was for a creator walk. We were freaking out upstairs, by ourselves, but it was exciting!


You two got big pretty quickly. How did you start, and how did you get to this level?

Saini: We started YouTwo TV in February 2016, so it’s been a year and a bit. And we actually came up with the name here (at William’s Fresh Cafe). We weren’t sure about the idea and we were so busy with our own personal channels, and I was like, “Okay, Harjit, let’s just go to a coffee shop, make this a thing, and talk about it.” We got here in like five minutes and he was like “Okay, well, what would you want to call the channel,” and I’m like “How about YouTwoTV?” And he was like, “There’s no way.”

Bhandal: I was. I was like there’s no possible way (that the username would be available), so I pulled my computer out and I checked, and it was there – so, we took it! And I feel like after the fact that we got the name, that’s when we started banging out videos. Before the name came, it was just a thought, and then when the name came, it was a serious thing all of a sudden.

Saini: We were like, we have to do this.

Bhandal: And after that, it was just videos, videos, videos.


Where were you in your lives when you came up with the idea?

Saini: So, Harjit was doing film.

Bhandal: Yeah, I was doing film, so I shot engagements and weddings and all that stuff.

Saini: And then I went to school for social media, and I did the whole nine-to-five thing. I worked in social media, but I was just in between jobs, so I was working at two restaurants and at Shoppers Drug Mart – so I was working three jobs – and I was doing my own channel. We were both working full time, basically, and we just made this work. I didn’t want to get a job in my field because I knew YouTwoTV was going to happen. I was just like, forget looking for another job! And we decided, we’re going to support our dreams until our dreams can support us.

Bhandal: And we’ve been full-time since October.


Where do you get your inspiration from?

Bhandal: Just day-to-day things. Like, say we’re at a coffee shop and we see one tiny thing happen, we’ll take that tiny idea and turn it into a bigger video. A lot of our videos are about relationships, too, so we’ll pull from our own relationship to come up with ideas.


What’s your favourite video you’ve made?

Saini: If your relationship was a reality show.

Bhandal: Struggles of having strict parents.


Coming from South Asian backgrounds, what do your parents think of your work?

Saini: I’ve always been a free spirit, so my dad was kind of like, she’s going to figure it out eventually, but – literally this month – once he saw me get an MMVA, now he’s taking it seriously, and yeah, literally, he’s never believed in me until now.

Bhandal: It’s almost the same for me. My parents were always like, go to school and get a real job, and obviously, they just want you to be successful, and able to, you know, make money and live. And they don’t understand what the internet is, so when they see you making videos on the internet, they’re like, what’s the point? But now that stuff is starting to pick up, and now that we’re getting deals and awards, now they understand it, and now they support it.

Saini: But i think we’re luckier than most people, because our parents are super understanding.


When did you notice things were going uphill?

Saini: I think it was when our first video hit a million views, things you do when you’re home alone. I was like, wait, a million ppl are watching us?


Did you expect any of this?

Bhandal: The thing about us is, we always expect the biggest things to happen because we feel like the things you put into the world are what will happen. And if you keep saying, “We’re only going to do this,” or, “We’re only going to do that,” that’s the only thing that’ll happen to you. So, we’ve always been like, “We’re going have a million subscribers, we’re going to have ten million subscribers, we’re going to be in movies, we’re going to be in TV shows.” That’s always in our minds, that’s just the way we think.


How did you two meet?

Saini: We met on set at a video shoot. I was working as an assistant, like for social media stuff, and he was filming the video, and that’s when we met. But when we actually started talking, we were both flying to india for work.

Bhandal: And then we got back, started talking, and eventually got together.

Saini: Two and a half years ago, in March, 2015.


What would you say to aspiring YouTubers?

Saini: Start. Be consistent. Be you. And don’t care about what other people think. I think the biggest thing about putting yourself out there is you care too much about what other people think. And we like to tell our homies to stop caring and just do you.


What’s next for YouTwoTV?

Saini: We want to do a tour because we’re stuck in this bubble where we see all of our fans online, but we want to meet them, and hug them, and get to know them. So, we definitely wanna do a tour. We even want to do a TV show, like on Netflix.

Bhandal: We want to move to L.A. a year from now – fingers crossed, hopefully!

Saini: We always want more, and there are always bigger dreams. Our life right now was just a dream for us a year ago.


What do you think of Brampton?

Saini: We love Brampton! Except for the traffic. And the insurance rates.


What do you want to tell our readers?

Both: Subscribe to our channel, and follow us on Instagram!


Brampton should definitely keep an eye on Bhandal and Saini, who seem to live with a positive, can-do, “first Brampton, then the world!” mentality that’s brought them this far.

Click here to check out their videos, here to follow Saini on Instagram, and here to follow Bhandal on Instagram.

For us at inbrampton.com, we hope to see them hit whichever screen they choose next – go, Brampton!

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