MTV Shut Down: The End of an Era for Indian Youth Culture

MTV India has been more than a network on tv for the past 20+ years, it was a movement of culture. MTV shaped an entire generations’ music preferences, identity as a youth and how they would express themselves while growing up. The shutting down of MTV is symbolic to the closing of an era that has been involved with every part of Indian youth culture.

When the MTV Network was introduced to the Indian audience, it carried with it a new attitude, the boldness of other countries, the unrestrained approach to life seen in other parts of the world; it could shake up a market that tended to be conservative and limited in their content. It had a unique approach to the way that they presented international pop culture through its edgy humour and language, which appealed to the youth audience.

Though music was at the core of it, the attitude was what MTV was really about.

MTV is it. Music and good entertainment were not the only thing that made MTV famous; MTV also offered an environment where the youth could express their culture, while the shows were not as polished and sophisticated as the other music programmes; the atmosphere on MTV was lively, experimental and cutting-edge, a true representation of what young India wanted to show the world.

The shows MTV produced, were an extension of what was happening in the minds of the youth; they were no longer afraid to be who they were or think for themselves.