1 billion people speak to the nation's leaders

After Ram Subramanian sent a wake up call to every citizen in India prior to the elections with his thought-provoking short film, “Mute”, he's back with a sequel, which has also been produced by the Handloom Picture Company. In “Mute”, the character, (played by Sumeet Thakur) didn’t have a voice as he didn’t exercise his voting rights. In “Unmute”, he regains his voice and it’s the collective voice of the nation speaking to the man they laid their trust with and elected as their leader.

The video, intended for Narendra Modi and the other elected leaders alike, starts off by offering “congratulations on being our leader, our representative to the world, our hope, our future”. He goes on to address the main problem the nation faces post-elections: being forgotten. The problem of having all dialogue between the leader and people being severed, making the governing process a distant procedure for the average citizen.

The video attempts to initiate this dialogue with the Indian “leader”, starting off by saying that "I’m" not simply a “man”, “woman”, “minority”, or a “statistic”. He begs the leader to actually “know” him, and all the citizens of India. Because more than being just a man, woman, minority or statistic, he could be a criminal who deserved a better past, a pensioner who wants to see India stand proud in the Olympics, and a woman who hates being afraid of her own city.

The video ends with a powerful message, which could tear apart the basis of every political campaign: “I’m talking to you today because I believe one man can do a lot. One man and me? A lot more.”