It is often observed that restraint leads to curiosity. With the BBC documentary — India’s Daughter, based on the December 16 Nirbhaya gang-rape, featuring views of the Indian society at large and one of the rapists’ interview, has triggered a somewhat similar response.
India’s Daughter has already gained a status even without it being screened before a mass audience. The government on Thursday, served a legal notice to BBC after the channel ignored its advice and broadcasted the controversial interview of the Delhi gang-rape convict, even as it asked Youtube to remove the documentary, given its sensitive content.
As the Indian government officials drummed up publicity for the film in a way that was beyond the imagination of any marketing executive — calling for its global ban; complaining about defaming India; worrying about the impact on tourist dollars — BBC brought forward its telecast by four days, to capitalise up on the curiosity the film has aroused worldwide.
Even though YouTube has banned the interview of Mukesh Singh (28) on Thursday, around 3, 00,000 people have already seen the video in UK and similar views were obtained from India. Moreover, Indians being well aware of the controversies and the consequences that could follow, some of the viewers have gone ahead and downloaded the video.
“I knew that the video would be removed soon from YouTube, so instead of watching the one-hour documentary, I downloaded it first. I have saved the video on my laptop so that I could watch it later. In the evening, I got to know that the video has been removed from YouTube. As a result, many of my friends approached me to get a copy of India’s Daughter,” said Ankit Tiwari (name changed), a journalist working for a Delhi-based magazine.
On the other hand, Pooja Singh, a psychologist in a private clinic of South Delhi said: “It is human nature — if one is instructed to not to do something, she/he will definitely do it. A similar thing happened when the DPS MMS came up in 2004. The moment some Indian news channels aired the news, viewers started flooding the YouTube.”
“Usually negative hypes have greater impact than positive publicity. It increases awareness among people who were not the target audience,” said Ritu Sinha, a Delhi University student.
“Once the video is public, it is impossible to stop circulation. The government and police can at the most, ask the hosting site to block it, but in the cyber world, it will keep popping up,” said Ishan Sinha, a cyber expert, who imparts cyber crime training to various state police forces.
The video is already circulating on social media websites and WhatsApp.
India’s Daughter has already gained a status even without it being screened before a mass audience. The government on Thursday, served a legal notice to BBC after the channel ignored its advice and broadcasted the controversial interview of the Delhi gang-rape convict, even as it asked Youtube to remove the documentary, given its sensitive content.
As the Indian government officials drummed up publicity for the film in a way that was beyond the imagination of any marketing executive — calling for its global ban; complaining about defaming India; worrying about the impact on tourist dollars — BBC brought forward its telecast by four days, to capitalise up on the curiosity the film has aroused worldwide.
Even though YouTube has banned the interview of Mukesh Singh (28) on Thursday, around 3, 00,000 people have already seen the video in UK and similar views were obtained from India. Moreover, Indians being well aware of the controversies and the consequences that could follow, some of the viewers have gone ahead and downloaded the video.
“I knew that the video would be removed soon from YouTube, so instead of watching the one-hour documentary, I downloaded it first. I have saved the video on my laptop so that I could watch it later. In the evening, I got to know that the video has been removed from YouTube. As a result, many of my friends approached me to get a copy of India’s Daughter,” said Ankit Tiwari (name changed), a journalist working for a Delhi-based magazine.
On the other hand, Pooja Singh, a psychologist in a private clinic of South Delhi said: “It is human nature — if one is instructed to not to do something, she/he will definitely do it. A similar thing happened when the DPS MMS came up in 2004. The moment some Indian news channels aired the news, viewers started flooding the YouTube.”
“Usually negative hypes have greater impact than positive publicity. It increases awareness among people who were not the target audience,” said Ritu Sinha, a Delhi University student.
“Once the video is public, it is impossible to stop circulation. The government and police can at the most, ask the hosting site to block it, but in the cyber world, it will keep popping up,” said Ishan Sinha, a cyber expert, who imparts cyber crime training to various state police forces.
The video is already circulating on social media websites and WhatsApp.