New Delhi has invented a new stunt genre: sacrificing a phone to the Yellow Line of the metro for a few social media views.
The trend began with New Delhi-based influencer Nikhil Kochar sticking his phone to the outside of a metro, dancing alongside it on the platform to “Manma Emotion Jaage.” The train starts moving, taking the phone along, and he runs after it, slowly fading out of the frame as the speed picks up.
The reel has crossed 137 million views and 4.7 million likes within three days. People are both concerned about his phone and shocked at the recklessness.
This week’s Viral Spiral is a man chasing a metro to get his phone, and the internet running behind him to figure out how he shot it.
“Watching this made me worried for your phone more than you apparently were,” reads a comment.
“Bhai vo phone ka kya hua? (Bro, what happened to the phone?)” another asked.
“Next stop dost tha waha (must have had a friend waiting on the other station),” another Instagram user guessed.
Soon after, viewers realised no phones were sacrificed for the reel.
“Relax guys. Recording andr se hui hai (Relax, it has been recorded from the inside),” a comment with over a thousand likes explained.
“I feel sad for whoever actually stuck their phone on the metro and expected it to work,” someone else chimed in, worried about the re-creations.
Also read: ‘Ma ke haath ka khaana’ is no longer sacred. Instagram has declared it passe
Low-budget track shots
The giveaway tell is the soft, smudged picture quality instead of the crisp, wind-in-your-face clarity you’d expect from a phone actually strapped to a train. The reflection on the metro glass doesn’t line up with a phone genuinely bolted to the outside of a moving train either. Once you clock it, you can’t unsee it — every “outside” shot has the faint blur of a window between the lens and the world.
Which, fine, I can respect a good multi-cam setup. If you’re going to fake sacrificing your phone to Delhi Metro, at least storyboard it properly. Going from the over-the-shoulder shot to the phone’s POV? Cinema.
Since then, the trend has mutated and taken shape in many forms. The original reel features the lyrics — “tera jalwa dekha toh dil hua Milkha, badi tej bhaage re” — landing exactly as the metro starts moving. Other creators have experimented with songs, formats, and vehicles.
Queer creator Shivam Bhardwaj recreated the reel, writing, “It can’t always be LA, someone’s gotta hold it down in Delhi,” doing a fit-check to an Adéla’s “Ain’t in LA.”
“If someone finds this phone, please post this reel on our Instagram with this caption,” wrote singer Harsh Aviral in the caption, trying to capitalise on the trend to promote his new track.
The reel has since moved out of the DMRC circle to be recreated by “attaching” phones to auto-rickshaws, the Kolkata Metro, local trains, and buses. It is giving film-school-student jugaad to get a tracking shot.
It is pretty much the Kiki Challenge getting another life after eight years.
Kochar, for his part, has since monetised the whole bit. He’s done a sponsored version of the format for Yes Madam, running the exact same stuck-phone-and-dance structure but repurposed as an ad. He’s also put out a “trend gone wrong” follow-up where the dance ends with him crashing straight into a woman on the platform.
“That’s how I met with your mom,” reads one of the comments.
I have been waiting for my dramatic metro run-in with a yellow line girlie for years, and this man got it by simply running for reels. Revolting.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)