MUMBAI: Dino James, a young music sensation, from Bhopal, came to Mumbai, a few years back, like several others for becoming an actor but evidently, life had other plans.

After a few earlier setbacks and a gruelling phase of depression and the following suicidal thoughts, he decided to give life a second chance via his music. He took to YouTube and started uploading his songs. Today, he is one of the most well-known YouTubers with just nine songs; over one million subscribers and over 40 million views on his channel. In an exclusive chat with radioandmusic.com, Dino James talks about his success journey as well as personal life.

How would you introduce yourself to the audience?

 I am just a regular individual, who writes, sings and makes music. I don’t get carried away with the ongoing hype as well as have no extraordinary materialistic goals in my life. There are a lot of goals, which I want to achieve, which are also related to my work, family, which I am completely passionate about. I have lived an average life, which is the reason, I can connect to the basic, ‘Indian emotion'.

If you could elaborate on how did YouTube happen to you?

There was no plan. I did Girlfriend because I was in a situation, where I just wanted to take anything out. That was a period of my life, when I did not realize and I never wanted to get into rapping as a career, though somehow I had it in me. So there was no mantra. Everything happens for a reason. You do certain things and realize that it is not your cup of tea. And sometimes it prepares you for what your god given destiny is. I started my career as an Assistant Director, and then went into acting. I did everything in the film industry and then did not understand what’s going on. Later on, I started prepping for my song and its production and everything. I have an experience behind this as I have put in a lot of work behind it.

How challenging was it?

There were a lot of challenges, but let’s not forget what you love doing. I don’t get up cursing my day that I have to go for a shoot or a recording, or I have to write something. This is something I know that I am very good at. So, challenges do eventually become surprises and gifts. Also, you learn a lot. When it comes to the success of the videos, I am pretty much sure that even Aamir Khan didn’t have a guarantee that Dangal would create a huge record after shooting for the film. All I do is give my 100 per cent to the audio, content and rest everything is up to destiny and people and if you give your best it will definitely reach people.

YouTube has provided a platform for artists to showcase their talent. How much it has helped you?

Earlier since there were no platforms, so people used to leave what they were doing because they knew either they had to come to Mumbai to collaborate with a label, production house in order to project their talent to the world. So yes, there are negatives and positives, but it has helped me a lot. I have experimented, waited for the reaction of fans, who have not only welcomed me but have also liked my songs. This gave me the confidence to carry on. For me, YouTube is an amazing platform.

As a YouTuber how do you deal with negative comments?

I have said a line in my songs, you can’t keep everyone happy. Even Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have haters. So, it really does not bother me. I have seen life, people, and friendships very closely. I have also seen people completely breaking down, losing their job, money, going completely off track after a breakup. I, therefore, try jetting these thoughts into my music.

What message do you want to give to your fans?

I want to thanks to all the people, who have been listening to my music. Also, remember that nothing is impossible in life. So, rather than just sitting, cribbing and deciding that things are not going to work out, you have to take an action, be ready to fail again and again and eventually, you will learn from your failures and would reach where you aim to.

Any plans on coming up with new projects/songs for your YouTube channel?

I have a lot of ideas, songs and music coming up. I have got a great team, a great set of songs and it's going to be content all the time.

 Well, Dino James is widely known for his songs Girlfriend and Yaadein that hit ten million and over eight million views mark respectively. He recently collaborated with Akriti Kakkar on Valentine’s Day for a song called Tujhe Meri Yaadein, which received over three and a half million hits.