This is not strictly a Business post, but I thought it would be interesting for readers, so putting it across…
We have always been known to adopt things from the West from the fast food culture to the dressing styles to lot many other things as well. There are youngsters (me included) who are pretty ok with the change and say that one has to move on with times as the society is changing. And there are others who are always against adopting anything from the West, even if they eat McDonalds and wear Lee or Wrangler. But since the last couple of years, a dangerous trend has started in Indian society or so we have realised as it came out in the open – The MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) culture!
In 2004, the infamous DPS RK Puram scandal rocked the nation when two school going students were caught in the act in a video clip. After the incident there were people who downloaded the video just for the fun of it. And there were others who started a slander campaign against the girl. There were also many others who said the girl was innocent.
What people didn’t think that this would start a culture. A culture of such voyeuristic pleasures which has driven people to do anything just to get that share of fame or money. MMSs started flowing around like SMSs – from the MMS of Riya Sen and Ashmit Patel to the latest JNU porn clip which was, as they say shot like a porn film. As is always the case this also started a trend of Bollywood flicks like Dev D and Love, Sex aur Dhokha to name a few.
So what’s going wrong? Is something wrong with us as a society? Are we desperate for that extra bit of fame? Is there no other way of earning money? Or am I just too old fashioned? I keep wondering about all this and more.
For starters, the question arises on why don’t partners (and here its mostly the girl) refuse to get filmed when they are in the act with their respective boyfriends or husbands? Why is it that such an act has to be recorded on camera? Does it really excite someone to watch it over and over again. More often than not, it shows a kink on the part of a guy instead of anything else. It shows that the guy is desperate for whatever reason to show this to his friends or keep for later use.
On another front I am surprised at the gullibility of a girl who agrees to get filmed when she knows of the dangers. Clips have been released to the market at the whim of a fight erupting between a couple or someone wanting to take revenge. And girls end up as fools not knowing where to go rather than commit suicide.
Interestingly in the case of the JNU MMS clip, reports say that the filming was so clear and technologically advanced as the students wanted to upload this on a foreign porn website? Reason? Just to get some extra money.
What about the parents of these students? What about their life when such a clip moves around in the market? What will society say? Who will take them for a job? I really wonder if people care for such things. Or is this another move to satisfy the voyeuristic pleasures of the desperate male population? Even Bollywood celebrities, who don’t get many movies seem to have found the perfect way to remain in public memory. Sometimes I really feel, am too old fashioned when it comes to such things.
What do you think of the MMS culture which has penetrated the country skin deep?
