To kill a mocku' bird!

Adding a humourous spin to the concept of documentaries, Social Media Hubby is a ‘mocku’mentary that addresses the elephant in the room: On the cheap thrills young adults indulge in on social media, all in the pursuit of 15 minutes of fame —which has been the easiest to amass, owing to the free and anonymous nature of the platform, in the digital era.

The YouTube video is directed by Shravan Narayan Aithal, a Bengaluru-based techie cum YouTuber, who roped in Sparsha RK and Naveen Shankar to play the lead roles. In a candid chat, they share the inside track...

“We intended to use Social Media to make a mockery of people who misuse the platform. Opinions are often projected as expert views online and it’s silly,” begins Sparsha RK, a popular songstress in the city, who plays the lead role in the mockumentary alongside Naveen Shankar. While the plan started out as a collaboration with forthcoming Sandalwood flick Gultoo, which releases today; the relevance of the subject egged the team on to give it equal visibility to let it stand on its own. Naveen Shankar, who plays the male protagonist in this documentary, also features as the lead actor in Gultoo. Asserting how the lack of ownership and responsibility on the part of a majority of users on digital channels is an issue needing attention, Naveen adds, “There are many concerns online today. While we make use of humour to spread a message, the point is to ensure that we use social media to enhance our lives, not let it dominate us.”

All it took was three days to wind up production, and director Shravan Narayan Aithal believes digital is the way forward — especially to bank on. The title, though sexist, is very gender neutral, believes Shravan. “Despite the title attributed to a husband, the story or rather the content is gender neutral. We have people from varied ages, and social strata posting absolute rubbish or rather, letting go of the beauty of experience for a good instagram picture or a facebook post. I hope this documentary kicks some sense into people or rather reflects on idiosyncrasies that most of us are guilty of committing on social media. In all honesty, the stuff you watch on YouTube, in terms of content, is fresher than what is portrayed or telecast on TV. I’m glad most of us are gauging the platform.”  But, that said, there’s no taking away from the fact that content — digital or otherwise — is king.  Shravan adds, “The trash you see online is solely because people don’t need good content. Shit sells, unfortunately. But, I believe a lot of people are there, making an effort to change how things are currently.”

Barely a week-old, the video has already garnered over 4k likes. “The reach has been encouraging, but there’s a lack of adequate celebrity support shows. I wish we had bigger celebs promoting us,” he quips and signs off.