Two girls are sitting and chatting at Central Park in Connaught Place. Suddenly, a man sitting next to them starts harassing them.
Visitors at the park watch him harass the girls continuously, but no one bothers to stop him. After a while, one man comes forward and accosts the man who is harassing them.
The entire scene is filmed by a hidden camera crew as a social experiment to see how the public reacts to a situation in front of them. The man who was harassing them was, of course, an actor hired by the film crew to make people react to what he was doing.
Videos like these are becoming very popular online and a number of budding film-makers have taken to conducting social experiments to convey a message. From anti-smoking campaigns to showing how women are disrespected in the country, the videos deal with a variety of subjects that brings out the hypocrisy in society.
Actor Varun Purthi conducted an experiment to see if people will stop to help a bleeding victim on the road.
“After hearing numerous stories from victims about how they were left bleeding on the road and nobody helped them, I decided to conduct an experiment to record the reactions of people. I was on the road with blood all over me and nobody stopped to help.”
“People come out holding candles to protest rape, but when put in a situation where they can help they do nothing,” he added. Varun believes these videos go viral as they stir the emotions of viewers and encourage them to share these.
Delhi University student Rohan Sinnha said videos of such experiments are quite popular among college students as they start discussions. “The videos are well shot and are more effective than the boring public interest videos we watch before the start of a movie in some theatres. Some of them come up with innovative campaigns and are sure to motivate people to help others or stop something that is wrong.”
Naman Sharma, CEO and co-founder of U’th time, which has been behind some of the videos that went viral, feels the impact that these videos have in the long run will change society. He feels that by addressing social taboos, adding humour to social campaigns and by keeping intentions pure, these videos can awaken the youth of the country.
Naman, who has a background in research, said they come up with an idea and a hypothesis before planning an experiment, but are very happy if they are proved wrong. However, it is not always the case.
“Many film-makers do it so that they can gather YouTube hits. They edit footage to bring out a conclusion they want. It is sad that people want to sensationalise social media as well and spoil the good work others are doing.”
Sensational or not, the next time you come across someone who needs help do the right thing. You never know when a film crew could be ready to shame you as a part of their social experiment.
