Is the "groundbreaking" Kalki Koechlin video powerful poetry or an ad?
Two videos of the same poem by the actor show that one's poetry in performance, while the other is crafted communication.
Have you seen the new "groundbreaking" video (below) by Kalki Koechlin yet? How about the video of the original version of the poem, from May 2015 (above)?
The former is so searing it will burn you, social media posts told me.
"Stop everything and watch Kalki’s scathing takedown of the media and the way it tells stories of crimes against women," read one. "Best thing on the Internet today", read another. A Twitter search for "Kalki" showed people rapturous over the brilliance of the piece.
I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. This seems to be the latest in a line of ad films using feminism as a prop – which has quickly acquired the label "femvertising".
Koechlin performed her poem at a Mumbai venue last year, sans the glossy packaging. It was real, it was honest, and it made an impact.
The new video, though, is a presentation from a women's lifestyle brand. It's a slightly shorter version of the original poem, put together with slick visuals and edited in a way that actually reduces the impact of what could still have been a powerful statement against mass media making money with stories about women that feed the male imagination.
(And frankly, cut the audio, and it looks like a cold cream commercial.)
It consolidates Koechlin's positioning as an intelligent performer. But what else does it achieve?
As for being "scathing satire"? Maybe viewers should decide.
