Huned Contractor
Times News Network

As of this very moment, Rajat Kapoor, the director-actor who made his presence felt in films like Dil Chahta Hai and Monsoon Wedding is canning his new film titled Raghu. It is an NFDC production and Kapoor is at the helm of affairs. The big news about this small film is that Kapoor has managed to get it rolling as per schedule. And if he were to propose a vote of thanks, it would first mention the NFDC, which pitched in Rs 40 lakh, himself doling out Rs 18 lakh and a few more lakhs coming in from friends and strangers, thanks to the power of the internet.

Kapoor made news when he went cyber begging a few months ago. An appeal hosted on his website www.rajatkapoor.com read thus, “I am starting my new film Raghu… I have been trying to raise money for this film for the last two years…I invite you to be a part-producer in the film…You can contribute anything over Rs 10,000 and you will have a pro-rata share in the profit of the film…I need 120 such partners who would buy a minimum of one share.” The idea clicked. Ram Madhvani, an advertising filmmaker who has made a digital feature film called Let’s Talk, was among the many who sent in a cheque of Rs 10,000. “I knew that this would be a very unusual proposal, but there are times when madcap initiatives work when conventional methods will not,” states Kapoor. But while this may be the first Indian instance of raising personal finances through the internet (and a successful one at that), cyber begging has been around for a long time now. The most famous case is that of New York-based Karyn, a self-confessed shopaholic who had got mired in a huge debt of $20,000. Taking a cue from a sign posted outside a grocery store, which said, “I need $7000,” Karyn decided to use the wide reach of the internet and raise the funds. Launched on June 23 last year, the site has had more than 10,000 e-mails so far, apart from personal donations to the tune of $10,800.

Not everyone though has had such good luck. Bob Colladay thought he would get out of his penury with some web fortune. He did not. “I was unemployed and broke and a web page designer. I thought if I asked people to contribute just 10 cents each, it would help me get back on my feet. But all I have been able to collect is $25 which is not enough to even pay for server rent and domain registration fees,” is what he has posted on his web page.

Yet another interesting case that does not involve cash transactions is that of a 25-year-old Dutch journalism student Ramon Stoppelenburg, who asks people to let him stay at their place while traveling. Having started the project in May 2001, he has so far traveled through 16 countries in 16 months and received more than 3400 invitations from 70 countries. “I never wanted money for transportation because I do a lot of hitch-hiking. And I did not want to stay in hotels. I wanted to stay with the locals and talk to them. And the best way, I thought, was to simply ask,” he writes. In return, Ramon has to work at keeping his site updated and give credit to those who have helped him along.

This, however, raises the question of whether cyber begging is legal. Informs Rohas Nagpal, president of the Asian School of Cyber Laws. “So far the issue of cyber begging has escaped the attention of those who have framed IT laws. However, it is legal as long as there is no fraud involved. For instance, if the website has been booked three years ago and the individual raising funds has made an appeal for funds to take music lessons this year, there obviously is something fishy about it. Also, one must check the mode of payment. Those who ask for payments through cheques and demand drafts are sure to have a bank account and would be traceable. Where credit cards are involved, it is difficult to be sure.”

Cyber begging, meanwhile, has had a change of name. Yahoo now calls it epanhandling, giving it a touch of decency.