Love it or hate it, the TikTok app seems to amaze and engross and fascinate a large chunk of the world's population. The video making app reminds me of the old Hindi adage, बन्दर के हाथ में उस्तरा (which loosely translates to putting a dangerous weapon in the stupid person's hands). Just a cursory glance at some of the TikTok videos making the rounds will reveal incredible levels of inanity, insanity, silliness and a profound need for attention. To hear that there is to be a TikTok ‘film festival’ is to truly wonder if the world has gone completely mad.
This presumably is where all those with delusions of talent and showbiz ambitions will congregate to show off their short few-second-long videos.
The general reaction to this was disbelief. However the poster advertises cash prizes of ₹33,333, ₹22,222, ₹5,555 and so on. Either this is an elaborate prank or an outright scam or humanity is, truly in peril.
This Twitter user seems to think that a TikTok film festival is a great idea. Perhaps they have an entry or two they think will win?
Seen here is one of India's most famous politicians doing what he does best – create 'memorable' TV moments. Perhaps this is the inspiration for a lot of TikTok videos?
We are bombarded by content all the time and attention spans are shrinking steadily. So TikTok’s tiny videos (literally and figuratively) are truly a phenomenon of their times.
As I have long said, the internet is hugely democratising. It has leveled the playing field in so many ways. Talented people who would otherwise be doomed to obscurity find platforms to earn recognition, fame and money with very little resource expenditure.
The ‘festival’ is going on in Pune right now and will last till the 20th of August when the winners will be adjudged and given a trophy along with the prize money. The city that used to be known as the 'Oxford of the East' is celebrating this event.
According to organizer Prakash Yadav, there are 12 categories for participation such as prank, horror, including serious social and environmental issues.
There are TikTok stars and influencers who have significant fan followings. Social media influencers actually manage to make money from their fame and following. We may think it’s all about kids fooling around with a phone, but this is big business. This is not to be sneezed at!
Look at the phenomenon of ‘Mature Bag Guy’. He made one video speaking about how college kids should aspire to a more mature bag after school. His video went viral, the Amazon bag sales soared. Vaibhav Vora, aka Mature Bag Guy has now landed a fashion deal and his other Facebook video for Brand Factory has over 5 lakh views.
TikTok itself has become big business now. Last year it was in the news for sponsoring a film festival in Egypt. The company behind TikTok, ByteDance, is now going into smartphone manufacturing. 15-second videos are big business – the world may not have gone completely mad, but its reality has been altered irretrievably, that's for sure.
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