Ours is a world of hashtags. The markers of our success and relevance are the number of likes, shares or retweets on social media. As @Gaurav says in Going Viral Pvt Ltd, if you are not on social media, you are dead. “Viral” is the mantra that makes and breaks lives these days and this is the world Amazon Prime Video’s latest offering #GoingViral delves into.
Created by stand-up comedian-playwright Anubhav Pal and starring Kunaal Roy Kapur, Kubra Sait and Prabal Punjabi among others, the web series Going Viral Pvt Ltd is all about a company which creates viral content for social media. And it is no easy job.
Check out the trailer here:
Going Viral Pvt Ltd is an eight-episode spoof on the behind-the-scenes engineering that go into the making of viral social media content. What makes it work is that unlike many of its contemporary ventures, the series does not take itself seriously. It doesn’t try to delve into deep philosophies or make wise statements. It simply has fun.
@Gaurav (Kunaal Roy Kapur) - yes that’s what the man calls himself - is the creative head of the company ‘Going Viral Pvt Ltd’, which has churned out several viral videos. It’s a name to reckon with in the business and people come to them to become social media sensations. His team consists of his wife and CFO Natasha (Kubra Sait, who combines her canny business sense with her sensuality to bring in the money), go-to-boy-for-everything Frehan (Prabal Punjabi, who’s besotted with Natasha), meme-queen-cum-chief-strategic-officer Shravika (Aneesha Shah, also a kleptomaniac), and the jugadu Peon (Abhinav Chaturvedi, a social media specialist himself) along with a bunch of interns.
Going Viral Pvt Ltd creates this absurd yet somewhat true-to-life world where people are hired because they are 25 years old; a schoolboy suitably called Shishu heads the company; everything from goats to snakes and even kidnappings are orchestrated in an attempt to create viral videos; likes, shares and comments are the only things that make life worth living; staff bill the company for stress; interns have to Google the word “villain” to know what it means.
What goes viral is equally imbecilic of course - a naked man making bird sounds along with market share predictions, goons in action, a troll being trolled, an extramarital kiss and so on.
But then, we are all familiar with the stuff that go “viral”.
The writing, if not superlative, is pretty serviceable, and you have all the contemporary references thrown in - from GST and bhakts to Hinder (Tinder, silly) and Vrishi Kapoor (Rishi Kapoor).
Now if you are working for the social media segment, you would probably find yourself protesting against Going Viral Pvt Ltd. You would say your work is way more serious and not as ridiculous as the things shown in the series. Which assuredly it is.
Going Viral Pvt Ltd however highlights the absurdity of the world of social media which parallels and sometimes threatens to replace the real one from people’s minds these days. So, if you are not LOL, it’s because you recognise a lot of truth in it.
The actors fit into their roles flawlessly. Kunaal is a delight as the bumbling, easily excitable, easily snubbed boss and husband with sudden strokes of genius. Special mention must be made of Aneesha Shah as Shravika and Abhinav Chaturvedi as the peon - wonderfully familiar characterisations.
The series also has a number of cameos and Rajat Kapur as the “original Bollywood villain” and “desh ka molester” Dr Khoon, is simply brilliant. Some inspired casting there.
Going Viral Pvt Ltd is fun and fluffy and full time-pass, as the saying goes. It makes you think precisely because it doesn’t make any overt attempt to. Go and give this a watch.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)