Bhat Yasir
Of recent, the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley has seen a massive rise in online content from creators in the valley. One of these trends is that of comic videos. It was almost half a year ago that Kaiser Khan got the idea of starting a YouTube channel and Facebook page with the aim to make “people laugh and rid them of stress.”
Khan discussed the idea with his friends from the neighborhood, but they rejected it. The idea turned out to be a success, however, after Khan’s family shifted to a new home in another ‘Mohalla,’ where he discussed the idea with the new neighbours, now group members, who agreed and encouraged him.
“They agreed and said that we must begin tomorrow, and we started making comic videos,” said Khan, While narrating the story.
Khan said that during the first days, even their family members were not supportive. However, as the videos went viral, they started receiving support. Khan says that the sole intent of the platform was to make people laugh.
‘Razeel Baradari’ is the social media channel that Khan operates with five other boys. The channel’s videos are popular with views of more than a lakh and sometimes two lakhs. “When people, especially, youngsters get depressed, they resort to habits like drug consumption. We try to keep them worry-free and away from drugs,” said Khan.
He said that they had somehow managed to keep people happy. “There are many patients, even cancer patients, who call us and say that they forget about their disease for a while by watching our videos,” he said.
“People await our videos. They wait for us to post new content on social media so they can watch them,” said Khan. He said that most of the content on social media affects the human mind severely. “We tried showing something different so that people remain stress-free,” he added.
Dawood, a member of the group ‘Razeel Baradari’ said, “Our aim is to keep people worry-free,” Dawood said, adding “if someone is relieved of stress for a while with the help of our videos, it is equivalent to worship.”
He said that they had no plans to earn from the social media. “But with the support of people, we also started earning money from social media advertisements,” he said.
In 2016, a survey conducted by Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) revealed that one out of every two adults was mentally disturbed in Kashmir valley. The MSF’s ‘first comprehensive mental health survey’ also reveals that one in every five adults is living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the valley.
It also revealed that nearly 1.8 million adults, equaling 45 per cent of adult population, suffer from mental distress. “Nearly 1 in 5 adults (19%) in the Kashmir Valley is living with significant PTSD symptoms, representing 7,71,000 individuals, with 2,48,000 (6%) meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD,” a report of the research released by the MSF reads.
Nasir Geelani, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, said that Comedy or Humour lowers the stress value. He told The Kashmiriyat, “Experts have said that humour is mature defense mechanism against anxiety.” While talking about the availability of negative or distressful content on social media, Geelani said that the change in content will have an impact on people’s mind. “If the funny videos replace the content, there will be an impact for sure,” he said.
He said, “When COVID-19 broke out, people started to think about existence, how to live, there was a huge pressure. On one hand people were dying of the pandemic and on the other was the lockdown,” adding that “Nobody can deny that there was no impact of Covid on mental health.”
Nasir Geelani said that it’s not important to show some comedy or funny videos to people anyhow but if we do, it’s good. “Videos should not target a single person’s character, i.e., shouldn’t engage in Roasting, because that will impact their mental health, instead videos should be made about general issues,” he said.
He added that humour was not the only way to deal with mental health issues, adding that if the mental health issues are serious, one should seek medical advice or visit to some professional.