Twenty-five-year-old Surat-based YouTuber Parbrahm Singh started a reaction video channel three years ago choosing scenes and trailers from Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films to react to. “My attitude previously was typically North Indian, generalising films from the South. But I have learnt to appreciate them. Intervals and introduction scenes are given great importance in these films, and the overall content is great,” he says, sharing how he takes a few moments to boost himself up before recording a video to ensure the reactions are spontaneous 
and energetic.

Reaction videos are part of the digital content explosion that the world has seen in the last two years of the pandemic, with creators capturing their emotional reactions evoked by films, trailers, web series and music videos on camera for their followers. But the genre is not new, says Singh, pointing out that news and roast channels also produce a kind of reaction video, the idea behind them being the same, where people watch these to learn of other people’s reactions to things. Confounded? The genre has attracted criticism from consumers of digital content for the apparent lack of effort that goes into making them. “People feel that they eat into the views of other creators,” admits Singh, who studies the films he reacts to, so that his audiences feel connected. Sharp editing work also ensures the videos remain crisp.