(January 13, 2025) In March 2024, Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda shared a reel on Instagram. It was a short video on corporate terminology spoken by an ‘uncle from Telangana’, who is baffled by all of it. The creator was DesiEntropy, then a new entrant to social media. The post took off immediately, garnering more than a million views. It would be fair to say, a star was discovered!
Started by Virginia-based Global Indian Deepak Karamungikar, the Instagram account DesiEntropy, started in December 2023, was slowly but steadily garnering attention owing to its tongue-in-cheek humor and the unique Hyderabadi dialect used, Dakhni. Devarakonda’s shout out nudged the account into mainstream, giving Deepak a fillip.
With his trademark wit, humor, and relatable content, the 42-year-old has been garnering eyeballs ever since his entry into the world of content creation. In the clutter that is social media, Deepak stands out because of his reliability—he could just be your uncle in the family or the neighborhood, making wry observations about the world!
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Starting out
Born into a Maharashtrian family who been in Hyderabad for generations, Deepak recalls having a relatively happy-go-lucky childhood playing marbles, getting in trouble, and always being outdoors! He began his career in advertising and branding, before making the decision to move to the US in 2013 to pursue his Masters from the University of Texas in Information Systems. The decision to move was not easy, and involved leaving his family behind in India.
“I was lonely and depressed having left my wife and young child in Hyderabad. I moved with just 600 dollars, so there was a bit of financial anxiety too,” he recalls. But soon everything fell into place, and with his family joining him in 2015, things settled down. Working with an IT company, he could’ve been any other Indian American living a textbook life in the US but for his passion to explore and pursue his dreams. Deepak realised he wanted more from life than corporate success, and decided to follow through on a longstanding dream – writing a screenplay for a Hollywood film.
Exploring newer avenues
Then, in December 2023, Deepak Karamungikar stayed back in the US while his family went to India for a short visit. During that time, Deepak realized that he had something on his hands that he had been missing for a while—leisure. There were no school pick-ups and drop-offs; he jokes. So, on a whim, he started his Instagram account with the idea to explore his penchant to tell stories and make people laugh.
The timing was just right. He explains, “For most Indians who move abroad, the first five to eight years are full of chaos. They have to get a visa interview, fill out hundreds of forms to move, then get a job, ensure their family is settled, and so many other multiple factors.”
He wanted to capture the feeling of disorder Indians face in the US; hence the name DesiEntropy, which also pays homage to Deepak’s favorite director, Christopher Nolan, who captures the concept in his movie, Tenet.
Deepak Karamungikar, aka, DesiEntropy
Life of a content creator
The videos and reels made by Deepak are simple and precise. Picture a middle-aged man in a crisp kurta, sometimes with a tilak, mimicking a Hyderabadi uncle (named Narsing anna) who’s hilariously baffled by corporate buzzwords. This is the magic of DesiEntropy—a perfect blend of charm, chaos, and comedy.
“The funniest things always happen in the simplest ways. There is always an uncle or an aunt in our own families who always has us in splits. It’s just that their humor is confined to family living rooms, and through DesiEntropy, I’m bringing that humor to the larger world,” states Deepak.
To a large extent, humor works due to the element of surprise. Deepak Karamungikar has perfected the element of spontaneity and timing ensuring his content always evokes a laugh. Add the fact that his topics are something everyone can relate to (from technology fails or Hyderabadis ordering at a restaurant), which ensures the audience remains hooked till the end.
The content creator usually finishes a reel within a week or even less. The social media universe is enormously fickle with no guaranteed success, and he agrees. “There are only four seconds to capture the audience’s attention. So no long introductions or sentences; ideally, you start off with a joke and speak about universal topics—from fridges to remotes—so that the viewer can connect with it.”
Last year has been one of learning for him. Some videos, like the meeting mania in the Corporate world, have garnered nearly a million views, while others (which he thought would do well), like a Telangana guy explaining Interstellar, did not do as well as expected. While he goes to get requests for topics, Deepak has decided to stick to themes guided by his intuition, which he feels is the only secret sauce working for him.
Writing at the core
Find Deepak Karamungikar’s books here
Writing has always been at the heart of Deepak’s life, and he has also authored eight books, including The Alterant, a science fiction novel which intrigued readers with its fusion time travel and alternate universes. Over the years, his writing also evolved to include screenplays, most notably for the Telugu sci-fi web series Nuvvu Evaru. He has written two stories for the Independent Telugu movie anthology, Twisted Tales.
2024, however, has a watershed year, and the content creator agrees. “None of my books have given me the level of acceptance or engagement my Instagram account has given. Now, things feed off each other, and more people are aware of my novels due to my work as a content creator,” he smiles.
For him, though, the ultimate goal remains to write a screenplay for a Hollywood movie. Ask him why, and pat comes the answer. “I’m an avid movie buff and even today, I watch 100 movies in a year across languages and genres. I firmly believe sentence formation remains the ultimate art, and it is my goal to ensure my words are immortalized on the screen.”
Deepak Karamungikar, Creator of DesiEntropy
Juggling a job, an Instagram account, and writing endeavors along with a growing family has certainly not been easy. He credits his family (wife Bhavna, who is a teacher, and kids Akshata and Atharva) for the support and the belief that passion will find a way to overcome any obstacle.
2025 will see more content from Deepak. And more laughs. Beyond hoping his long-standing dream of being a screenwriter for Hollywood comes true, he aims to also work on expanding his reach. He runs a channel with longer-format videos on Youtube (with topics ranging from philosophy to physics), which he aims to take to a larger audience.
As he puts it, “Stories are my way of giving back to the world which shaped me. If they make even one person think, laugh, or feel understood, I’ve done my job.”
For those who follow his work, Deepak is more than a storyteller; he’s proof that when you let your imagination lead, there’s no limit to where you can go.
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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar[/caption]
