The documentary on Arvind Kejriwal, An Insignificant Man, released on November 17 and made freely available on the internet shortly afterwards (bottom), has brought the Aam Aadmi Party leader back into the limelight.
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, just two days before the film was released – when the social media promotions for and discussions on the documentary were at their peak – a YouTube channel named Hidden Gems released a video titled A Significant Man – trailer. The subject of the supposed film: Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
From the look and feel to the title, the reference was obvious. A comparison of the two trailers reveals as much:
Watched over 1.2 million times, the video did not, however, point out that it’s a so-called trailer of a non-existent film. Apurv Sharma, owner of Hidden Gems and creator of the trailer, told Scroll.in, “I used this video as a platform to take people back to the time of elections and provide a full perspective to the situation. I compiled together specific media clips of Modi to take the viewers back to 2014, and remind them of what the situation was before and after the elections.”
Apparently, the video was not intended to be a parody or a spoof, or an expression of fandom for Modi. Nor was it a counter to the documentary on Kejriwal, claimed Sharma. “Like a news channel, I presented both good and bad opinions and ideas in a non-biased manner, so that it’s up to the viewer to decide for himself,” he said.
In fact, he acknowledged, nobody bothered to clarify whether the video clip was indeed a trailer for a real film or not. Sharma maintained that the video was a social experiment of sorts, to check whether people would react instantly, as they usually did on social media.
“Take the Snapchat controversy, where Snapdeal had to suffer the consequences, or the harassment incident with the Dangal actress,” he said. “People in India don’t reflect, think back or analyse situations. We just react quickly. This ‘trailer’ was a reminder to people to remember the past, reflect, and then respond.”
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