''Dekh Le'' is a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

dealing with the subject of men ogling women in India. It was produced by

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various film theory, theoretical, history of film, historical, and film criticism, critical approaches to film, cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media stud ...

students at

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

-based Whistling Woods International Institute of Film, Fashion & Media and released on 16 December 2013, the first anniversary of the

2012 Delhi gang rape The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved the gang rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-ye ...

. It garnered one million hits in its first week on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Background

On 16 December 2012, a horrific gang-rape of an Indian girl took place in a crowded moving bus in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, the national capital of India. The event was followed by various

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

s in which masses took to the streets in various Indian states, demanding the government to form stricter laws regarding women's public safety. The media industry voiced its concern in its own way. One such way was the women-empowerment

ad campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...

'Dekh Le', launched one year after the incident.

Content

The 90 second video shows four different scenarios where women are made to feel uneasy and uncomfortable by male gaze in everyday life situations. It shows women at a red light, in a bus, on a train and at a cafe, being subjected to leering male eyes. In order to retaliate, these women show mirrors to the men; on seeing how bad they look while staring at a girl, realize their mistake and are forced to take their eyes off. The video concludes with the four empowered women going about their business, free from prying eyes.

Song

The

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

was sung by

Sona Mohapatra Sona Mohapatra (born 17 June 1976) is an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist. In addition to her own material, Mohapatra has recorded remixes of songs by David Bowie, with " Let's Dance", and INXS, with "Afterglow", with the latter provi ...

and composed by Indian composer

Ram Sampath Ram Sampath (born 25 July 1977) is an Indian composer, music producer and musician, who started his career composing advertising jingles for Mumbai-based advertising industry, subsequently he started composing for pop albums like ''Tanha Dil'' ...

. The

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

line "Dekh Le Tu Dekhta Hua Kaisa Dikhta Hai" translates as "Look how you look while you are looking at me."

Reception

The advert received a lot of media coverage, both on online news websites and blogs, as well as in physical newspapers and magazines. Rheana Murray from

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

described the video: "Video from Indian arts group shows leering men what they look like." Deepa Kunapuli from Upworthy wrote "It's meant to start a conversation about what empowerment for women looks like." Emma Cueto from Bustle writes, "The video is great, both in its very realistic – and uncomfortable – portrayal of men staring at young women, and also in the message it is trying to send. Hopefully it has a big impact, and not just in India." Aditi Shome Ray from DNA described the ad: "This ad on women empowerment will make men cast their eyes down in shame." IBNLive described the ad as " The commercial sends out a strong message to show how ridiculous men look like while ogling at women." As of 8 December 2018, the video stands at more than 6.1 million views on YouTube and has also hit the theatre screens of India.

References

External links

*{{YouTube, SDYFqQZEdRA Indian advertising slogans 2013 quotations 2013 films Feminism in India Indian feminist films Films about social issues in India Indian short films Public service announcements Sexual harassment in India Viral videos