Indian YouTuber’s mannequin challenge video on demonetisation shows you how it’s done

Social media certainly is quirky. There’s no doubt about that. The oddest things can go viral and with no apparent reason. Take the mannequin challenge for instance. What is it, you ask? You and a bunch of friends ( man’s best friend included) pose like mannequins while someone else shoots a video of the whole thing. But why? We honestly don’t know. As with the Harlem Shake before it, and planking, and the ice bucket challenge , and just about everything else that went viral, it’ strange, and strangely appealing at the same time. You just can’t tear your eyes away from the scenes. Take this one with dogs, for instance:

Or how about this one direct from the White House (yes, it’s gone that far):

Making a mannequin challenge video isn’t that hard. On the surface, there’s not much to it. What’s so hard in getting people to stand still and shoot a video of them? Nothing. However, the devil is in the details. As with any photograph or other art form, a successfully orchestrated mannequin challenge needs a story—it needs depth. You need to imagine a scene, then freeze it and then shoot it. Sure, that dog is looking mighty fine in his little bow-tie, but to what end? Is he going to a party? Maybe he’s got a friend waiting for him in the driveway. Who knows? Without a story, a mannequin challenge is just people standing still. Be YouNick seems to have understood that concept, as you can see from his take on the mannequin challenge below:

Firstly, he’s picked a great topic — demonetisation, and secondly, he’s frozen a scene that will hit home for each and every one of us at some level. That one scene has managed to capture the very essence of demonetisation. You’ve got everything from guys filling forms, to people standing bored in line at the ATM, to girls taking selfies with the new notes to a slugfest with the bank guard. He’s even thrown in a “Sonam Gupta bewafa hai” reference for good measure. It’s almost perfect. Now that’s how you make a great mannequin challenge video. As you can see, making a mannequin challenge video isn’t all that hard. As Master Yoda once said…