The Mumbai Police is currently trying to figure out how to take a Snapchat video off Facebook and Google.
Comedian Tanmay Bhat's Snapchat video making fun of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and singer Lata Mangeshkar garnered enough outrage on Sunday for it to result in a First Information Report filed with the Mumbai Police.
As a result, Additional Commissioner of the Cyber Crime Cell Yashwant Pathak told ANI that they had got in touch with Google, YouTube and Facebook to block the video that some had complained to be offensive.
In touch with Google,Facebook and Youtube to block #TanmayBhat 's video and also find out IP address: ACP Yashwant Pathak,Cyber crime cell
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 30, 2016
Bhat's video, captioned Sachin vs Lata Civil War, uses Snapchat's face-swapping technology allowing him to appropriate the faces of the celebrities. With both played by Bhat himself, the video has Tendulkar and Mangeshkar arguing about who is the better player – Tendulkar or Virat Kohli – using humour that hasn't gone down so well with the more sensitive crowd.
Mumbai's parochial political parties, the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, saw the opportunity to beat the Maharashtrian offence drum and file FIRs against Bhat for outraging their sentiments. Many also took to Twitter to decry Bhat's "cheap" humour, with actor Anupam Kher using the opportunity to tell people how many awards he has won.
I am 9 times winner of #BestComicActor. Have a great sense of humor. But This's NOT humor. #Disgusting&Disrespectful https://t.co/sTuTfbAOrU
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) May 29, 2016
Reports suggest the Mumbai Police is currently talking to legal experts about whether it can actually block Bhat's video, now that Section 66 of the Information Technology Act is no longer around. The government would most likely have to use sections of the Indian Penal Code that are usually invoked in such cases if they want to take the video down.
Tendulkar and Mangeshkar themselves have, at the time of writing, not said anything about the matter.
TV channel NewsX, however, has.
Bhat knew he was going to get into trouble when he posted the video, putting out the disclaimer that, "I obvously love Lata and Sachin, just having some fun." Bhat's comedy troupe, All India Bakchod, has had similar legal troubles in the past with its AIB Knockout show.
He also later tweeted, jokingly, that Snapchat, which many more people are now talking about, should pay him for the publicity.
Please pay me @Snapchat
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) May 30, 2016
NewsX decided to take this seriously, and took the editorial line across its channel and online that Bhat was not just content with "cheap PR" but was also demanding money for it.
For 'cheap PR,' 'wannabe' comedian insults legends. Wants cash for insults too. #AIBTanmayRoasted coming up next only on #NewsX.
— NewsX (@NewsX) May 30, 2016
AajTak got in on the game too.
Breaking News: AIB वीडियो मामला: कॉमेडियन तन्मय भट्ट ने स्नैप चैट से मांगा पैसा #aajtakhttps://t.co/9sk8tHNITL pic.twitter.com/kDf2Ceay1P
— आज तक (@aajtak) May 30, 2016
This failure to understand Bhat's humour, from the news channels and the Mumbai Police, naturally got plenty of reaction on Twitter.
Shout-out to all the poor #teens who will have to spend the rest of the week explaining Snapchat to their older relatives.
— Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) May 30, 2016
#lifegoals face swap with NaMo on snapchat and read @RanaAyyub's book :P
— Unkle Pornational (@NotSoSnob) May 30, 2016
NewsX right now pic.twitter.com/lTvQ15zgF4
— Rohan (@mojorojo) May 30, 2016
That YouTube ban in Pakistan does not look so improbable now does it?
— Ankur Bhardwaj (@Bhayankur) May 30, 2016
Sequence of Events... pic.twitter.com/0nP1adpWxH
— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) May 30, 2016
Cyber crime aces spotted getting into auto, asking driver to take them to @thetanmay's house.
— samit basu (@samitbasu) May 30, 2016
To paraphrase Sorkin, "Were you sick the day they taught journalism in journalism school?" https://t.co/oLxBOFp0aD
— Ashish Shakya (@stupidusmaximus) May 30, 2016
Every joke is taken seriously and every thing serious is taken as a joke in this country. This is what we have become. Children of Clause 2.
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARangarajan1972) May 30, 2016
who else feels suuuuper protected by a Cyber Crime Cell that's currently contacting Google to take a Snapchat video off Facebook?
— Rega Jha (@RegaJha) May 30, 2016
Sachin should pay @thetanmay for keeping him relevant today
— peeleraja (@peeleraja) May 30, 2016
Utha le re, deva. https://t.co/qZvggCwiyU
— Sahil Rizwan (@SahilRiz) May 30, 2016
How much longer before every stand up comic has to sing the national anthem before every set?
— Preeti Vangani (@Pscripturient) May 30, 2016