Recently, social media was abuzz with videos of a young woman enacting the fictional character 'Manjulika' while chasing and scaring passengers inside the Noida-Greater Noida metro train. She was not alone as two men dressed up as characters from the popular Netflix series 'Money Heist' and K-drama 'Squid Game' on board the metro also showed up in a separate video.
While many speculated that the video was meant to be a prank or shot to gain social media likes, the truth is completely different. Turns out, it was all part of a clever marketing strategy for BoAT, a Delhi-based electronic gadget brand. The actors donning the odd costumes entered the Metro in a promotional video featuring the collaboration of BoAt and Netflix.
Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) also confirmed that these videos were part of a commercial advertisement shot on the metro premises with its permission.
"This is to clarify that video going viral on various social media platforms is a part of a commercial advertisement shooting which was held on December 22, 2022, under approved NMRC Policy for Film Shooting. Also, this video clip is morphed and edited'', NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
See the tweet here
"The NMRC has approved Film Shooting Policy where it provides its infrastructure, including rolling stock on a rental basis to earn non-fare box revenue. Ad film shooting was carried out by M/s Creative Productions (A Delhi-based film production house) for 'boAt air dopes' on the NMRC corridor," Mrs Maheshwari added.
BoAT also shared the two-minute advertisement on Instagram which shows the fictional characters roaming around the metro compartments. However, after some time, they start listening to music on a boAt speaker and headphones.
"Sound so powerful your favourite characters came to life. Our all-new Stream Edition is what caused the recent #ViralMetroIncident," the company clarified in the caption.
Watch it here:
While some people were impressed with the cleverly placed advertisement, others weren't convinced by the clarification, saying public infrastructure should not have been used in such a way. One user wrote, ''Is it ok to harass/scare people in the name of advertisement? To make money, will they allow the company to make fun of ordinary people?'' Another commented, '' Are the ppl in the train hired as well? Or this was done with their knowledge Or they were caught unaware? If the latter is true .. it is called harassment.''
A third said, "So that Manjulika in Metro video is an Ad for Boat Headphones. Damn, great work! Got the video viral out of sheer absurdity of what is happening there."
