india abuzz over velfie craze
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

When a selfie is not enough

India abuzz over 'velfie' craze

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today India abuzz over 'velfie' craze

Employees test app
Mumbai - Arab Today

Move over selfie, India is embracing the "velfie" with Bollywood stars, sporting heroes and even politicians taking and posting videos of themselves online using a range of new mobile apps.

From lip-synching famous movie scenes and quizzing political leaders to interviewing job candidates, Indian tech firms are betting on the latest craze to grip social media -- the video selfie.

"2014 was about selfies... 2015 is for #velfies!" screams the blurb for Velfie, a smartphone app similar to Dubsmash where users mime songs or quotes to pre-recorded audio before posting the clips on social networks.

German-developed Dubsmash has rapidly become a global phenomenon since its launch in November and has been downloaded more than 50 million times across 192 countries, according to its website.

The global craze is sweeping the Indian film industry, with numerous stars entertaining legions of loyal fans with dubbed videos which are uploaded to popular sharing platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Actors Salman Khan and Ranveer Singh, and actresses Sonakshi Sinha and Richa Chadda are just some of the Bollywood stars to have embraced it, lip-synching everything from Hindi film dialogue to lyrics from Western songs.   

A short clip of Khan and Sinha miming lines from a 1971 Indian movie has been liked more than 71,000 times on Instagram, while hundreds approved of Chadda's turn from controversial American hip-hop song "Baby Got Back".

Rammohan Sundaram, co-founder of India's Velfie, which was launched in April, said videos were a more entertaining way for Bollywood royalty and other celebrities to engage with their audiences.

- A Twitter made of 'velfies' -

"A selfie is only one picture but a 'velfie' can speak of emotions that you just can't render in a single photo," Sundaram told AFP.

"Selfies will remain because pictures will always be there but we're creating a whole new space that's more exciting, more engaging and more social in nature," he added.

Film star Akshay Kumar used Velfie recently to promote his film "Gabbar is Back" by asking fans to dub their favourite line from the movie to win a chance to meet him.

Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh is also a fan -- his lip-synching of one of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan's most well-known movie lines has been liked 12,000 times on Facebook.

The app -- which is free and limits videos to ten seconds in length -- has been downloaded 200,000 times and is already operating in around 140 countries, according to Sundaram.

He said its pause-and-play feature and the fact many of the videos are accompanied by subtitles differentiates it from Dubsmash.

"We've also made a lot of enhancement filters that make the videos look really good," the tech developer added.

Sundaram said Velfie plans to expand to become a "video social network" in the coming months, essentially a Twitter-like timeline consisting solely of video selfies.

Users will also be able to live-stream on the platform and Sundaram hopes brands will use it to advertise, generating revenue.

- Quizzing politicians -

Another new Indian-based app available on Android and iOS is Frankly.me, which allows netizens to pose questions to celebrities, sports stars and politicians who then answer with video selfies.

Users of the app, launched in January, are also able to vote for certain questions to be answered, increasing the likelihood of a response, according to co-founder Nikunj Jain who says Frankly.me is aiding democracy in India.

In Delhi elections earlier this year, Aam Aadmi Party candidates including leader Arvind Kejriwal fielded thousands of queries directly from voters and then posted videos of themselves replying.

"For the first time in the history of this country we had a state election where candidates were using this platform to talk directly to the electorate and people voted based on the responses," Jain told AFP.

He said more than 400,000 questions have been asked and around 30,000 have been answered so far on Frankly.me.

"Casting directors are also using it to do auditions and companies are using it for hiring," Jain added.

He said that while popular video app Vine was about "broadcasting" short videos, Frankly.me aimed to create "rich, two-way conversation" with people replying to each other when it was convenient for them.

"We believe that video selfies can be the primary mode of all non-urgent communication on the internet," Jain stated.
Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

india abuzz over velfie craze india abuzz over velfie craze

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

india abuzz over velfie craze india abuzz over velfie craze

 



GMT 05:03 2017 Saturday ,21 October

EMPC denies transfer to new administrative capital

GMT 10:50 2014 Friday ,07 November

UAE Fables and Folklore

GMT 12:10 2017 Tuesday ,07 March

Poachers kill rare giant elephant in Kenya

GMT 00:31 2016 Thursday ,08 December

Kuwaiti-European group considers investing $1bn

GMT 12:31 2017 Thursday ,06 April

At 73, Barry Manilow comes out of closet

GMT 18:34 2017 Friday ,10 February

Malabar Gold to open 11th Saudi showroom in Jubail

GMT 16:18 2017 Monday ,02 October

Saudi university to open driving school for women

GMT 16:20 2017 Wednesday ,18 October

French parliament adopts tough anti-terror bill

GMT 02:18 2017 Tuesday ,03 October

Egypt's Sisi says spoke to Donald Trump by telephone
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday