Pati Patni aur Woh Follower

Last week 32yearold Kavita Suryavanshi shared a screenshot of a comment on a Reel It was in line with her usual content of lipsyncing to popular songs or filmy lines decked in a saree and traditional Maharashtrian jewellery The comment referred to her physique in a derogatory way and when called out the man resorted to profanity Suryavanshi shared a screenshot and her 43000odd followers rallied around to report himPratiksha and Vishal Bankar post both individually and as husband and wife The fact that she is with her husband in her Reels does not discourage trolls from commenting on her clothes PicsInstagramFor thousands of women creators on Instagram this is a daily battle between staying true to their content and not letting vile comments into their head But for some like Suryavanshi the battle is to be fought on two frontsmdashhome and social mediamdashbecause they are marriedWith every profile midday examined or interacted with over a period of three weeks we found some traits in common The first was that regardless of their outfit the creatorrsquos mangalsutra and sindoor were loudly on displaymdashlonger than most worn prominently over other jewellery and the sindoor darker This is not just to ward off creeps not that it worksAmidst instances of marital discord because of the female half being a successful or rising Instagram Reels creator couples like Kavita Suryavanshi and her husband Gaurav Vasani set the right example Suryavanshi began her social media journey after she got married and her beau is her cameraman most of the time PicNimesh DaveldquoI usually ignore commentsrdquo Suryavanshi tells us when we meet her at her Borivli residence ldquoTherersquos no point in trying to talk sense to a mobrdquo Her husband realtor and travel agent Gaurav Vasani agrees ldquoThatrsquos what I tell her toordquo says the 41yearold real estate and travel agent Theirs is a love marriage they married 10 years ago and have a nineyearold daughter We ask how Vasani feels about her Instagram presence as mother and wife She laughs she started her journey after she married VasanildquoI always wanted to be an actor but my parents were orthodox and I could never explore this side of my personality By the time I got married TikTok was the rage and I told him that I wanted to get on it He agreed without argumentrdquoOnce considered a pastime for homemakers TikTok and Instagram after the former was banned has become one of the most popular platforms for selfexpression and a source of income for thousands of women in India Their content spans makeup tutorials dancing lipsyncing videoblogging about marriage or motherhood cooking or simply eating on camera The male gaze takes care of the restVijayalakshmi Vikram posts her making earthy vegan recipes and eating them on her Instagram page Her husband Vikram doubles as proof reader assistant and her alltime number one cheerleaderldquoTherersquos always hoperdquo says a senior police officer who has investigated scores of cases of online harassment many of them aimed at female Reels creators through comments or Direct Messages DMs ldquoMen see a woman on Instagram thanks to the algorithm start following her and more often than not graduate from admiring comments to creepy DMs Whenever we receive a formal complaint and arrest an offender their defence is always the samemdashhe expects the woman to reciprocate the love he has shown through engagement with her Reels The fact that she was married and open about it has never matteredrdquoA month ago the Bihar police arrested a woman for allegedly murdering her husband after he stopped her from making Reels Enraged at the obstacle in her road to fame and income she sought her relativesrsquo help to allegedly kill him in Begusarai district The creators we spoke to said priority is to ensure that their relationship with their spouse remains healthy without having to give up their choicesVasani who has seen Suryavanshirsquos followers and engagement grow over the last four years says that he is an active participant in her online journey ldquoI record her videosrdquo says Vasani ldquowatch our daughter when shersquos busy with content creator duties and suggest Reel ideas She also discusses her ideas with me This transparency and constant communication effectively ensure that there is no room for misunderstandingrdquoHiba Hasanrsquos account is all about makeup She acknowledges that trolls have targeted her appearance as well as her marriageAs for the offcolour comments he ignores them He is just happy that she is finally getting to realise her dream ldquoIf there is a woman behind every successful man there is no reason why the reverse should not be truerdquo he says simply But he laughs when we ask if he will agree to feature in a Reel ldquoIrsquom happy behind the camerardquoItrsquos the opposite for Pratiksha and Vishal Bankar from Chandwad taluka of Nashik Both are celebrities in their own right with lsquoOfficialrsquo in their handles Vishal has 207k followers Pratiksharsquos has 16 million The couple posts individually as well as together as a pair in love Pratiksha dances or lipsyncs to the latest hits with Vishal While she has an individual online identity Vishalrsquos timeline is filled with their videos as spouses going about their day in the kitchen the living room and celebrating festivalsTheir interaction with followers is also carefully considered and conducted Positive comments stand a higher chance of receiving a response even a heart emoji or a simple thank you A string of hearts lovestruck eyes and some more risqueacute emojis are ignored Then there are comments on Pratiksharsquos clothes or the couplersquos shenanigansMom blogger Rachita Paliwal admits that her constant online presence has led to some disagreements with her husband which they have always sorted out by spending quality time togetherldquoDidnrsquot get time to stitch the entire blouse did yourdquo comments a woman on a joint Reel Another woman responds with a laugh emoji A discourse on modesty follows in the cascading comments Pratiksha and Vishal post another ReelldquoOf course gender dynamics play a strong role when married women or couples are involvedrdquo says Danish Malik founder and CEO Boomlet an influencer marketing firm ldquoI remember a podcast where a government servant with a significant social media following had said that his wife was lsquosupportive of his journeyrsquo When asked whether he would do the same he said a flat no It also depends on the content but it is a fact that 80 per cent of female content creators have noncreator husbands and there is a fair amount of insecurity there We have numerous instances where the female creators have disabled comments on posts because they donrsquot want their husbands to be upsetrdquoMalik lets us in on an industry secret ldquoNowadays itrsquos a competition The more vile the comments the more successful some creators consider themselves Some think they are doing something wrong if they donrsquot receive haterdquoKaran Pherwani and Ayush GuhaThe story is the same across genres Hiba Hasanrsquos feed is mainly about makeup tips but that does not stop trolls from getting personal ldquoYes yes and yesrdquo she says when we ask if shersquos been harassed online if it was aimed at her gender and if it targeted her marriage ldquoI wasnrsquot very good at handling the hate initially It affected my selfesteem I questioned my choices Am I cut out for content creation Will this affect my relationship Many people even questioned my ability to be a good wiferdquoBut what got her through was realising that peoplersquos perception of her online is based on the very little information they have about her And her husband Arshia Bakhtiarirsquos support helped ldquoThe only concern I have is about the stress that comes from the commitment to deliver to so many followersrdquo he says ldquoViewers only see the finished product but there is an entire lifestyle that must be maintained behind the scenes so that she is in a creative headspace and can work consistentlyrdquo Hate takes many forms For those whose content is based on appearance or physicality its vile comments about how they look Lifestyle creators are attacked for life choicesVijayalakshmi Vikram is a passionate vegan who posts recipes and preaches kindness to animals to her 520k followers ldquoSomething as simple as saying donrsquot use milk in festive sweets is enough to trigger hatersrdquo she says ldquoIt took me a while to take it all in Earlier I would vent in front of my family now I keep sight of my purpose To create awareness and make the world a kinder place for animals Of course husband Vikram is always by my side be it to proofread content help choose the right equipment or taste recipes before I post themrdquo Vikram admits that the comments worry him ldquoBut thatrsquos precisely why my support is important It is imperative that I donrsquot say lsquoYou got these comments because you made such a postrsquordquoWith dedication comes recognition Influencer marketing a term unheard of a decade ago is now a thriving ecosystem Boomletrsquos 2023 report states that the fastmoving consumer goods sector was the top industry associated with Influencer Marketing last year followed by banking financial services and insurance and automobiles in the next two slots with entertainment gaming tech food and beauty tagging after These collaborations are made based on the follower count of the creator Those with more than five lakh followers are classified as Large Base those with two lakh to five lakh followers are Medium Base and those with 50000 to two lakh are Small Base These are no longer creators they are influencersmdashthose with the power to influence the decision of their followers to buy a productMeta too incentivises creators As of today nonUS based creators can add a button that allows followers to send lsquogiftsrsquo in the form of money for each post as soon as they cross 1000 followers This is completely voluntary The legal system too has woken up to the rise of influencer marketing in India Influencers are legally bound to declaremdashin the form of a Paid Promotion tag on their contentmdashif their Reel has a commercial purposeShareChat and Group M in their Bharat The Neo India report 2023 say that the number of consumers who prefer Indic language content has grown exponentially especially in the last five years much like the number of women creators These consumers are now referred to as lsquoBharatrsquo The report throws up interesting tidbits ldquoBharat shows high propensity to pay for online content with 27 per cent using paid video streaming dailyrdquo ldquoBharat is shopping online with 46 per cent buying gadgets online in 2021 Other categories like travel bookings food clothing and accessories beauty and skincare are also popularrdquo And ldquoBharat is increasingly adopting modern payment methods with 56 per cent using UPI and 49 per cent using mobile wallets multiple times a weekrdquo All this should naturally add to the growing popularity of creators such as VijayalakshmiTalent managers say democratisation of content has created a levelplaying field Viraj Sheth CEO of MonkE Entertainment told us last year that this is due to platforms such as Instagram and the fact that India has the lowest data rate in the worldmdashit is easy for regional creators to join the party ldquoWe have seen a definite a rise in creators from tier2 cities like bihariladka who comes from a small town in the state and has 16 million followers Unfortunately most of these creators donrsquot have the right guidance and are led astray by agenciesrdquo For example Sheth had told us that a creator with a million followers could get paid around R1 lakh a reel ldquoBut most agencies may say we can only pay Rs 50000 and they will accept it because itrsquos a lot of money to themrdquoAyush Guha HeadDevelopment and Strategy at influencer management company Hypp also had earlier told us that tier2 creatorsrsquo work resonates quickly with an audience because they are ldquofreshrdquo ldquoThey also have a unique take on how to align with the world and still retain their own voicerdquoldquoTypically in terms of brand categories itrsquos beauty fashion and lifestyle brands that invest in micro or emerging creators when they start getting noticedrdquo says Karan Pherwani Vice President Chtrbox Media ldquoThe brands investing in female Reels creators are influenced by the demographics of their audience Those focusing on lifestyle beauty and fashion tend to attract brands from only those respective categories On the other hand entertainmentfocused creators may draw interest from brands spanning various sectors such as FMCG finance FampB gaming etc since entertainment creators arefairly versatilerdquoEspecially for those just starting out agencies such as Chtrbox and individual managers help guide and support creators ldquoThey would help a female creator for instance understand her goals which involves conversations to determine whether that means building a large following establishing herself as expert in a niche or leveraging influence for business opportunitiesrdquo Pherwani tells us ldquoOnce the goals are established they work with her to analyse the content niche audience demographics and engagement metrics to develop a tailored plan for growth and impact They ensure that collaborations are mutually beneficial balancing financial compensation with the creatorrsquos creative autonomy and brand alignmentrdquoSuccess has to be earned and couples can grapple with not just insecurity but also the inability to give each other time ldquoI wonrsquot deny that we have had disagreementsrdquo says Rachita Paliwal whose journey as a mom blogger has earned her close to 900 brand collaborations till date Her Instagram is full of the simplest of things such as the vegetables she shopped this morning or her day with her childrenldquoSince I have no fixed working hours I have to stay online a lot which can create problems But we talk it out and then I make sure we spend quality time togetherrdquo says the Mumbaibased creator The journey is slow but it is as scores of successful influencers have proven also steady Suryavanshi already has endorsements for a saree label and a jewellery brand will soon be shooting for a song and is in talks with a production house for a possible role in a web series ldquoJust take the first steprdquo she says ldquoYou will regret it more if you never tryrdquo