The recent diktat by the DMRC to ban filming Instagram reels inside metros has put the growing craze around these snacky videos under the spotlight. Increasingly, several people can be seen shooting and posting Instagram reels on their account in a bid to go viral
Meta-owned Instagram introduced Reels, a feature highighting one-minute-long videos, in 2019 soon after India banned TikTok in order to leverage the growing demand for home-grown videos. Insta reels gained impetus during the Covid-19 lockdown when several people started posting their videos and enjoyed massive traction as most of the people were glued to their social media platforms in absence of any other source of entertainment
As long as these reels are produced within a private space, they are harmless but the increasing number of reels being shot in public space has become a problem for others as not everyone would be comfortable in the presence of a camera around them which also invades their privacy
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said “filming reels, dance videos or any other such activities that may cause inconvenience to the passengers is strictly prohibited inside the Delhi Metro”
This comes after DMRC posted several memes to discourage shooting reels inside the metro trains such as “Delhi Metro mein passenger bane, pareshaani nahi (be a passenger, not a nuisance)” and “Dance is fun but Delhi Metro mein Na-Naacho Naacho Naacho”, a slogan based on the Hindi version of the Oscar-winning song Naatu Naatu from RRR
In January, UP Police fined Instagram influencer Vaishali Chaudhary Khutail Rs 17,000 for violating traffic rules by stopping her car in the middle of a highway to shoot a reel
Another person in UP was apprehended by the state police for drinking and riding a bike on the road in a bid to create a viral reel
As per a report, the parents of a 13-year-old child had to consult a psychiatrist with a year-long history of irritability, using foul language and being irregular to school. He would often lock himself in his room for hours and hours, After a few sessions, he revealed that he was binge-watching Insta reels
There has been a rise in instances where people are breaking laws to create viral reels. Prince Dixit’s birthday reel on the Delhi highway, or YouTuber Joravar Singh’s Farzi-like video shot in Gurugram’s Golf Course road, are some examples where social media influencers seem to be crossing boundaries to create viral videos and Instagram Reels