 So hi everyone, welcome to Exchange for Media. My name is Tanzeela Sheikh and today we are with the internet sensation himself, Rivan Tahimud Singh aka Food Farmer. Rivan, why don't you tell us about, you know, first of all tell us about, you know, the reaction that you are getting and you know, how people are reacting to your video etc. Yeah, so I can break it down a bit. I think the public reaction is super, super positive. I would say 97-98% of the people I would say are like, you know, very, very positive and I'm getting so many messages, emails saying that people are now finally going to start turning around the package and going to start reading the back of the package for all the products they're going to buy. People are also concerned about what they're giving their children and they're asking me for their advice for different things. The public reaction has been very high, positive. So I'll break it down again. 97-98% of the public has supported me a lot. About 70% of my friends have supported me and around 30% of my relatives have supported me. Relatives are very scared. They are like, oh, delete this video immediately. What are you doing? Why are you trying to take like, you know, Panga with all these big companies. It's not worth it. You're not going to gain anything out of it. So it's like the reaction in my immediate surrounding is a bit more negative. But the public reaction is way more positive and like people are using all sorts of names and this and that. So it's very positive to look at comments and all of that. But yeah. Greatest. So Rivantha, you know, yeah, I'm saying that how did you like, you know, how did you came up with the idea of making a content about Bonvita? And, you know, did you expect at that time that it will go this much vital and it will create such a huge impact, you know, in the entire country? Yeah, I had exact idea. I knew exactly it's going to get super viral. No, I'm joking. So no, of course, it was a one minute Instagram reel. It was like, it's not a research report or anything like that. It's a one minute Instagram reel, which I made for people to get more aware. And the idea of why I made this video was not specific to one company. It was just that too many unhealthy products market themselves as healthy. And I get really bothered. I have a problem with cigarette companies, but I have less a problem with them because most people who consume them know it is unhealthy. I have less a problem with suffering companies because most people who consume them know that it is unhealthy. And they usually give it to their child once a week, once in two weeks. But I have a bigger problem with these health drinks and many other companies like this because people are giving this to their children twice a day. And these are the products which consumers don't know it is healthy. It's unhealthy. So if consumers know what they're getting into, then it's fine. Go ahead and have something. Even I have desserts, I have things with sugar also. But I know whatever I'm having is bad for me. That's my choice. So that's what irritated me a lot and that's why I decided to make these videos. And most people, the media is only talking about one video. I made three more videos also which I also took down which media is almost not covered at all. And I got a legal notice also for some other videos as well that the media is not covered. I think Real Vala was one of the videos, right? Real drinks. Yes. Okay. So because I think Bonmita chose to react on your video and it went really, really viral. I think a lot of people had that in their mind and they were not able to say it and then you came out and you shined with your video. Maybe that is the reason why your video went viral and media is talking about it. Talk to me about the notice that you received after your video went viral. What was your reaction at that time? What was going on in your mind that should I stop making videos? Should I be like, tell me what was the thing that was going on? I cannot speak too much about the notice. So that's like one issue but I had 24 hours to respond and I did not have much internet. So I saw the notice only after a few hours had already gone. So by the time I saw the notice I did, I had like only around like 14, 15 hours to respond and it was night so I had to sleep and like you know and then in the morning I had to like make a call that okay I have like 12, 14 hours to now make a decision out of which 8 hours will be or 7, 6, 7 hours will go and sleep or whatever. So I have like barely any time. I don't have any like you know very close lawyers or anything like that. So I honestly did not know what to do. So it was reaction was a bit impulsive whatever I did because like I had a fixed time frame by which I had to do whatever I had to do. And yeah, like a immediate like relatives and whoever like you know three, four people who I contacted, they all were like, oh, why are you trying to fight or trying to do anything with a big company? So just delete it. So I deleted it. Tell me that did you go ahead and researched about all the things that you know said in your video like you know as an influencer, as an influencer since you had such a big impact. So you researched about it and then you spoke about it as a responsible citizen and as a responsible influencer out there. Yes, of course I did my full research and I'm very happy to see that one of India's leading nutrition bodies which comprises of a team of several doctors, several medical professionals, professors who've backed everything I've said and like you know they've verified my whatever I said in the video. So of course everything has to be well researched when you make a video like this. I also want to clarify that at the same time it is a one minute Instagram real it is not a research report that has every single advantage and disadvantage and it's a insta deal it's not supposed to be like you know every single like you know competitive analysis that oh this product is better than this competitor but it is not but like you know it's a one minute Instagram real people have to understand that. Absolutely, yeah you were absolutely right eight minutes and if it's your Twitter account was suspended. Are you doing anything about it? Are you like you know making a new account? What are you doing about it? Yeah so I for suddenly logged into my Twitter and I saw it was suspended and it was at the peak of the controversy and for the next one week every when I logged like you know when I saw Twitter through some other people's accounts I saw that that particular health drink and company was trending so it's kind of crazy that I myself was not allowed to you know look at all the things and people so many people's posts got viral there and I'm here and I'm like it is pretty crazy that you know it was suspended but I don't know why it happened and I applied to like you know I appealed it twice with Twitter and they've not responded so I created a second account it barely has any followers it has like 300 followers or something like so most people don't even know about it but yeah I've created a Twitter account I'm hoping that you know that picks up a lot because it picks up more than it is because I see a lot of media and government officials in all around Twitter so when I post something on Instagram they don't really see it so so many times I've tried to communicate to the media and like they don't understand it or they don't be aware of my side of the story Rivanth I want to know that you know are you going to be taking on to other brands as well apart from the three videos that you have made about Real and one more I think it's a brand so are you going to be taking on other you know brands well researched videos maybe in that space will you go so before this everything blew up I already made a few videos on other brands I have not posted them as a result of all of this and now it's I do want to make videos but for now if you have seen my Instagram I have been making videos on health but it's not directly targeting brands it's indirectly okay speaking about refined food speaking about Bollywood celebrities and speaking about health in general which I am doing and people are liking those videos as well so I'm trying to be funny in the videos as well trying to make the videos interesting so that it's not like you know preachy or boring anything like that but I will make videos on specific brands as well that's what people want to hear and that is what I believe will improve people's health as well and I believe that as freedom of speech that should be allowed and I made a video on this as well that if people can review iPhones if people can review movies when it comes out like if a film critic like you know Tharanadash can review Patan why can I as a nutritionist not review a food product and if people can openly like you know when we watch Patan I made a video on this as well when we watch Patan you openly say Shah Rukh Khan acted well or Siddharth Anand directed well or not you don't say indirectly oh this guy with a 10 pack actor drive well we openly take the name so when it comes to food products why can I not openly take the name of the company people are telling me you make the video but you indirectly say things don't say the company's name say something else that is like loses the entire purpose and it's like so I am like pretty upset about it and I'm not sure like what to do I have been advised by my friends and family in order to not take names but I don't want to do follow their advice so let's see absolutely are you also taking any legal help you know this brand might come after you so are you also taking any legal help not really like I didn't take any legal help for the first 7-8 days now there have been a lot of people on social media who restart to me like you know they are willing to help me out this and that so I have asked a couple of people for their opinion on a couple of things so some of them people have advised me a couple of things but it's not any formal contract or like you know I don't have a lawyer a purses like some lawyers on social media contacted me I'm taking advice from them but not much I don't want to get into all of that because lawyers only talk about the worst case scenario and if you keep talking about the worst case scenario you will only get scared and you will always they are like oh instead of saying this particular product like you know we make everything indirect blur this blur that I don't want to get into because the more I listen to lawyers I feel the more I'll hide the truth so I really don't want to get into the like Jamila of lawyers have you also been approached by any government body apart from Nipah the DOCA you know consumer affairs body or even ASCII for that matter ASCII restart to me saying that was I paid by some other competitor or something like that and I told them of course I was not I don't promote any of the competitors none of the competitors are really the main ones I don't know about small ones none of the main ones as per as what I know is are like healthy either and like you know it's just because they claim to make you tall does not necessarily mean that they make you tall and all of that so I was no no one else from the government restart to me I search I of course saw a very I'm very happy with whatever government is done I saw today yesterday I think the child's child's right body asked them to yes exactly so they asked them to take down some of them is leading ads packaging and labels so I'm really really happy and I'm thankful and grateful to the government that in a matter of like you know a few days or a few weeks they've acted so quickly you know I've heard so I'm really happy that the government has so responsive okay I just have two more questions to go is that you know what you made the video that you made was a de-influencing video if you know the term de-influencing and the influencers they talk against okay they take the reverse approach so tell me about you know your thoughts on de-influencing the video that you made was a de-influencing video so how should an influencer go about de-influencing without getting into trouble yeah the last part I don't know I have gotten into trouble so last part I'm the worst person to ask about like you know you should ask all the other people so the first part I mean like I used to back in the day also I should never call myself a motivational speaker I used to always call myself a demotivational speaker because I don't think I've motivated anyone in my life I only demotivate people similarly I don't think I'm an influencer as you pointed out I may be a de-influencer and I personally feel that in influencer you can pay them X amount of money and they'll you know say anything that you want them to say but a de-influencer has no motive but to say the truth they are not being paid by anyone they are they have no I think to gain out of it so I personally feel that it is the better model in some ways that you know as long as you are factual you are speaking the truth because you can again like you know give me give anyone like you know give any influence a little bit of money you can say anything like you can call some horrible movie the best movie like many critics do you can like call a super unhealthy food which as healthy like many packet juices company which are like super bad for you but like you know you can market themselves you know as healthy so that doesn't mean anything that's why I feel like most influencers today they are just repeating whatever the people want to hear whether they are paid or not paid even the quality of videos they make they often are like oh it's never too late marks are not important don't worry like they didn't make to the students every student wants to hear their marks are not important so there is repeat whatever students want to hear oh yeah marks are not important and like so that I just feel like the entire game of influencer is just to repeat whatever consumers want to hear the whatever the audience wants to hear and that's what I don't like you sometimes have to be a bit more honest so yeah so yeah you have taken the influence or wallet approach yeah I mean and that's not my only aim to be very honest it's not that I only want to say negative things or anything like that if there's anything positive I'll say that as well it just happens to be that right now I was in a phase of making videos on products that market themselves as healthy when they're not as really as healthy as they claim to be and that was pretty much it. So what's your next move everyone that is my final question to you like what what is what are you going to do now are you going to be in the influence space only or even a you know go out and do something at be an activist or something like that. I'm not sure to be honest I'm trying to take each day as it comes I wanted to before I made this video also I wanted to do something in the nutrition education space I feel there is a major lack of knowledge in nutrition amongst people and even health conscious people even the people who go to the gym even they are consuming several products which are bad for them. So I feel there's a lot of scope in trying to educate people so I want to try to create a positive business very you know it's not that I'm against money or anything like that I'm not going to fake it and say that why don't care about money or anything that I want to make money but I want to try and create a positive business so I feel a lot of scope in the nutrition education space which I'm going to try and explore outside of that specifically in relation to videos and all of that yes I'll continue making videos now whether or not I'll take specific brands whether I'll target them or not is I'm going to postpone it a bit I will do it but not immediately I want things to quiet a bit I want to understand a few things whether the freedom of speech that we talk about is actually as absolute as we think it is and like let's see. Great is it was nice talking to you Revan Thanh. This is me Nandheela Sheik with Revan Thimatsingha aka Food Farmer signing off today. Have a great day everyone. Thank you.