'Truth costs too much'
In this hour of chaos and emergency, 21-year old Anas Khan, an emerging independent artist on Youtube, attempted to promote peace through his work. However his music video 'Main Nahi Janta, Main Nahi Manta' faced restrictions because of the sensitive content it has, as claimed by Youtube. (It has clips of the ongoing protest against CAA and NRC, police brutality against students)
Throwing more light on the issue Khan says, "Comments have been blocked on my latest Youtube video and Instagram has restricted my account from sharing its link. It's high time the concerned authorities understand that our youth is quite sagacious to watch sensitive content and know what to take from it. Blocking away accounts and texting abilities won't be fruitful."
"Moreover, I don't understand the logic behind preventing people (youngsters) from watching protest videos and vandalism created by police, when they are the same people who are spearheading the protest. Apparently, the truth costs too much," he adds.
Khan, who loves addressing social issues through his art, is currently working on another video inspired by acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
Talking about the journey of becoming a Youtuber, the artiste says, "I had a hard time learning and understanding the entire process of making and sharing videos on Youtube. It took a lot of my early years to empathize with its functional order – how exactly YouTube marketing is done and more. It is not a child's play to write something meaningful, compose it, record and shoot it and then promote it in a way that it reaches the target audience."
Few of his songs have done pretty well and now Anas has started to gather attention internationally.
Although his work deserves much more appreciation nationwide, authorities usually restrict the videos as it influences the youth easily.
Despite all the problems, Anas is very positive about the future. He feels that the best part about being a freelancer is, there are absolutely no boundaries. "I can promote my art in whatever way I want and no matter how hard the authorities make it, nobody can stop an art to spread, it has its ways," he concludes.
