CULTURE ‘I WORKED HARD ON SOCIAL MEDIA’
Rapper Baba Sehgal talks about the latest phase of his career, finding success on social media and how he handles negative comments
Not many people think highly of Baba Sehgal’s pun-laden tweets and somewhat crazy lyrics. But the musician’s refusal to take himself too seriously has won him hearts as well as thousands of followers on social media — he has over 57k followers on Twitter. In an interview with HT Café, Baba, one of India’s first Hindi rappers, talks about how the music industry has changed over the years, his popularity on social media, and how he handles criticism. Kala Ghoda is a very popular arts festival. I’m glad that they approached me for the festival, as it encourages independent artistes like me, who release their songs on the Internet. I’m quite excited about the performance. I think it’s more or less the same. The only thing that’s changed is the approach, and you can reach a wider audience due to the Internet and social media. You can work from home today. The market right now is only the Internet — YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc. There is no strategy as such. When I first started using Twitter, I used to tweet things like “good morning” or “how are you”, and I realised that my tweets were boring. So I tweeted a funny rhyme and I got 150 retweets. I realised that my tweets have to be interesting. Then I started writing tweets such as the ones you see today, like “Chappal chhoti ho jaye to paon me nahi aati, biwi moti
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Baba Sehgal is performing at Asiatic Steps for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on February 11, from 6pm. ho jaye to baahon me nahi aati”. I didn’t have a strategy, because I didn’t know that doing this would fetch me recognition. I worked hard on social media, because it takes a lot of time to stay active on these platforms. I have made it a point to spend at least a couple of hours online every day. I love creating funny content. I get a lot of negative feedback, but that feedback is sometimes so good that it inspires me to work more. Also, when someone writes negative comments, there are people who defend me. I think it is incredible that someone is taking the time to write a comment on my posts or videos. And if you read these comments, they are not harsh or rude. I’ve told my team not to delete any comments even if they are abusive. Call for entry: All participants need to submit their entries before February 9, 2017. Video duration: All entries must be between 15 seconds and three minutes. The duration of the video should not exceed three minutes.
With an aim to celebrate the independent spirit ofof film-making at the HHindustan Times Kala Ghoda Film Festival 2017, Snapdeal is giving aspiring film-makers an opportunity to present their work to industry sstalwarts. The company is soliciting submissions for Unbox Stories, a short ffilm festival. The top eentry will be promoted aacross all of Snapdeal’s ssocial platforms, and the winner will also be able to showcase his or her work to people from the film industry. Snapdeal is one of the collaborators of the festival, which is synonymous with innovative art and fresh talent. The theme of the festival, ‘Chase Your Dreams, Unbox Your Potential!’, has been kept in sync with the festival’s celebration of a hero’s spirit.
Kanika Kalra, vice president of marketing, Snapdeal, says, “As a start-up, we believe in the potential of upcoming talent in India that can be unleashed. The Kala Ghoda film contest gives bud budding film-makers anan opportunity to pre present their work on aa pplatform like no oth other. The brand’s sta stance of Unbox ZindagiZi is based on ourou core philosophy th that states when pe people buy things fromfr Snapdeal, they don’tdo just buy objects; theyth get the tools they need to fulfil their aspirations. It is a rich space for budding film-makers to explore.” The videos will be judged by a panel comprising Gaurav Sharma, chief programming officer, Fever FM and Radio Nasha, Udita Jhunjhunwala, curator, Hindustan Times Kala Ghoda Arts Festival Cinema Festival 2017 and Tavishi Rastogi, editor, HT Café. The top 10 videos will be promoted across Snapdeal’s social handles. The top three most-voted and liked videos selected by the jury and the audience will be featured at the Kala Ghoda festival. The winner of the contest will get an opportunity to present their project to National Award-winning film-maker, Madhur Bhandarkar (above).