Mannequin Challenge takes over the city

After the Ice-Bucket Challenge and the Harlem Shake, it’s the Mannequin Challenge that has taken over social media. In this challenge people freeze and stay still like mannequins for the camera, while music plays in the background. However, like other challenges it has no social cause attached to it and is more of a fun thing. It is said that this trend started after teenagers from USA uploaded a video and it didn’t take long for it to become viral. Be it Hilary Clinton, Ellen Degeneres, Tom Hanks or Beyonce, it has everyone glued. And how could Chennai have been left far behind. One can see people freezing while playing cricket at the beach, on the stage of wedding functions and in office cubicles for the camera. Wedding photographer Balaji of Through My Iris, says, “We constantly look out for creative ideas to implement. 

The booking for this wedding happened six months ago but prior to the ceremony, we came across a video of the challenge during a match. Then we saw many such videos and thought why not try it at a wedding. The bride and the groom were more than happy to try it out and the friends of the couple were a good sport. The shooting took around 20 minutes and the video was fun.” Like the Ice-bucket Challenge, the participants tag their friends to carry forward the trend. Sorav Jain of Echovme, a digital marketing company says, “A company from Delhi challenged us and then we accepted it. Challenges and trends like these brings out some good team-work and creativity.”

In their video, they had someone scaring a girl by holding what seemed like a dead rat (it was a stuffed toy) and even people pulling out some other pranks, while everybody froze at their spot. “This movement gained momentum after celebrities took up the challenge and social media influencers got involved. Though not for any cause, sometimes it’s nice to do things for no reason,” says Sorav. It doesn’t take much to be part of the trend. “Conceptualisation takes 15 minutes, shooting takes 20 minutes and there is hardly any time to edit. All people have to do is just freeze,” says Daniel B., a college student who took the challenge with his friends recently.