The Viral Tamil wedding: How social media changes culture

Revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies - it happens when society adopts new behaviors. Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody

Two weeks ago Dilip Kumar and Mohana Rajan tied the knot at the Sree Maha Mariaman Temple in Singapore. What could have been a fairly non-descript event for the world at large is now a mini internet phenomenon. The YouTube posting of the bride’s entrance that I picked up on Facebook now has over a million views in just six days. Meanwhile the video title has undergone a minor change too. The title now sports a copyright symbol that was not originally there. Copyright or not, thousands of others will want to imitate Mohana’s idea and post their own versions for the world to see.

Watch video:

As a person fascinated with the power of social media and how it is changing us humans, I indulged in some low level digital forensics. I looked up Mohana’s YouTube channel to learn more about her influences.  And you know straight off that MsMohanaRajan, as the channel tells us, is into dance. Tamil, Hindi and remixes of Kolaveri Di show up on her interest graph.

To learn more I reached out to Mohana via YouTube mail and she was happy to answer my questions.  Her premise for the entrance video was simple. She and her husband wanted to make their wedding memorable, hence they thought of doing something different. Mohana, who is a trained dancer, took it upon herself to make a splash. Dilip who is not big into dance made his entrance differently. Both the videos were shot by some friends and put online by Mohana so that her mum could watch it. Pretty unspectacular.

Honestly I was hoping for more. Like the story of LXD, Legion of Extraordinary Dancers , as told by film maker Jon Chu at TED two years ago  on how the web is helping street dance evolve. Or did the couple watch the  JK Wedding video, I wondered, one of YouTube’s most viral fan generated wedding videos.  Or this one where T Mobile spoofed the Royal Wedding? Mohana is not sure.

Two Tamilians get married. Hundreds of such events happen around the world every weekend. So what was remarkable about this one that got a million people excited?

Call me old fashioned, but I still have this rather traditional, bordering on religious, view of marriage. Dliip and Mohana’s wedding videos however have been a mind opener. Why not?

We are becoming people of the screen wrote Kevin Kelly in this seminal article in NY Times a few years ago.  When technology shifts, it bends culture, he propounded. It is people of the screen who are sharing Mohana’s videos and helping it gain viewers across the social web. The success of this has alerted traditional media channels like radio stations and others to further add to its impact. Also, she is getting offers from strangers asking her to help them come up with unique themes for their weddings.

But has this one video changed the wedding world? It’s hard to say at this point. But one comment among the 500 others is fairly significant. “I will try too do the same in my marriage. God bless u guys..!” (Typos included.)