It’s hot and humid, an unfamiliar city and you don’t know the language. You have no money and only the clothes on your back. But you have a mission, and your smartphone. How do you survive? This is the premise of Voot’s latest show, Stupid Man, Smart Phone . It’s a digital detox of a different kind, one where it takes technology and social media, and instead of using it for superfluous things, shows the many ways it can be used constructively. Like keeping you alive in the jungle, for instance.
Based on the British reality show of the same name — which won the Best Format Award at the Cannes International Film Festival this year — it premiered online on September 20, with three episodes detailing actor Evelyn Sharma’s journey in Tamil Nadu. She starts at Coimbatore, and the task is to deliver anti-venom to a tiny village: the only things in the way are a waterfall, a broken-down car, a river and a jungle crawling with spiders and snakes. With similar challenges, Sahil Khattar survives the hot and dry Rajasthani terrain and Karan Kundrra makes it through Arunachal Pradesh, from Guwahati to Sela Pass.
Through all this, host Sumeet Vyas was the constant. “I don’t have any experience in adventure reality shows! As a matter of fact, I didn’t even consider myself the type of person to be involved in something like this; I didn’t think I was so macho,” he laughs. But it was worth it, he adds, “Getting to travel through three different terrains, which I know I would have never gotten to see otherwise. The fact that we only had a smartphone to help was — to put it mildly — an interesting angle.” With 37,500 followers on Twitter and over 2,03,000 on Instagram, he had plenty of help coming in online for each of his journeys.
The contestants use the phone and social media to reach out to fans and followers for help throughout their trip. They use apps to translate and navigate, but they’re given no cash, ruling out public transport. So it’s up to them to hitchhike, trek and throw themselves at the mercy of kind-hearted strangers when they need help.
Although connectivity was slow at times, in all three places, they had enough to get them by. As for the camera crew, they were not allowed to interact unless there was an emergency; for example, when there was a border stand-off between India and China.
However, actor Karan Kundrra says that the people on social media were the real MVP of the show. With 1.3 million followers on Instagram and over 2,77,000 on Twitter, he had a lot of help and inputs as he streamed live videos and posted Stories from the hilly terrain of Arunachal Pradesh.
“In one of my posts, I was about to eat a mushroom that was actually poisonous. It was done as a joke, but I couldn’t believe the number of people who cared enough and commented with warnings,” he says.
Vyas recounts the stranger online who sent a detailed navigation guide from Guwahati to Sela Pass, including stopovers and places to see on the way. Kundrra adds, “That was the kindest thing, to take time and help us out. They were very invested in the show even without watching it, and became part of it through their interactions with us.”
Apart from getting up to speed with the many benefits of smartphones — which are only as smart as the person using them — Vyas says that since the technology is here to stay, one ought to “embrace it rather than resent it”. He reiterates, “Like it or hate it, we live in a time where the smartphone is genuinely our best friend. You just have to know how to use it for the right reasons and not abuse it. On a very spiritual level, I learned that you can survive on the bare basics. You don’t need all the things you think you need while living in a city. An experience like this humbles you.”
Kundrra says that while it was not the Man vs Wild , Bear Grylls level of survival shows, it was quite an experience for a city-bred person like him. “You think you can never go through something treacherous, but every human being has a survival instinct. It just needs the right catalyst to come out.”
Stupid Man, Smart Phone is now streaming on Voot Originals.
