Vice explores India's gully rap in first documentary for Voot

Vice explores India's gully rap in first documentary for Voot

Chanpreet Arora

MUMBAI: Vice India, a leading youth media brand for the first time has produced a documentary on the gully rap scenario in India named Kya Bolta Bantai for the video on demand platform by Viacom18, Voot. Vice India’s first 30-minute standalone long form documentary charts the evolution of gully rap – an emerging genre of music that is slowly gaining momentum and entering the mainstream, being co-opted by Bollywood and other commercial ventures.

Kya Bolta Bantai is directed by Naman Saraiya and explores the journey of gully rap through the perspective of pioneers, including crew members such as Dopeadelicz, Swadesi and spoof rappers Gari-B, of comedy collective Tadpatri Talkies.

This partnership comes as part of the company’s “off-platform” strategy after the announcement of full-scale operations under the Vice.com banner in April this year, to allow its select original as well as partner content to be hosted and promoted to viewers across multiple destinations in the digital ecosystem. For instance, Kanchenjunga Calling, a series that explores the journey of a real-life hero Arjun Vajpai as he attempts to climb Mt Kangchenjunga. Vice India’s first foray into partner content creation in India with Mountain Dew, PepsiCo, is also being distributed on Voot as part of this deal. 

“It is our endeavour as a full-scale media company to be omnipresent; establish strategic partnerships to take what we create to an environment where the relevant viewers are already consuming rich content. Kya Bolta Bantai is an attempt to create content that is relatable to the youth of the country in a unique format of storytelling that is true to the pulse of not only Mumbai, but our country at large,” said Vice India CEO Chanpreet Arora as quoted by Dailyhunt.

Vice India has been producing local video and editorial content on various topics such as food, music, politics, sports, sex, identity, nightlife, arts, and comedy, in partnership with relevant influencers, brands and artists in the country. In the coming month, it will focus on covering sex-positive stories about sexual identities, sex toys, sex art, and more in India under the banner of 'The VICE Guide to Sex in India'. 

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