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| A still of a recent funeral which was webcast live on YouTube |
The practice of live streaming funerals has been gaining ground in India, especially so in the Southern state of Kerala.
The Quinthas anecdotes of production studios which, among other events, also cover funerals. For a fee ranging from Rs.33,000 to 38,000, these firms webcast funerals lasting three to four hours.
The practice seems to have been started by Sibichan Naluparayil of Changanassery in Kottayam District of Kerala, in 2011. With the health conditions of his ailing 84-years old mother worsening after his elder brothers based abroad had returned after visiting her, Sibichan sought help of the cameras and the internet.
His brothers based in the US and Canada saw their mother Chinnamma breathe her last online and took part in the virtual funeral proceedings.
The NewIndian Express had then speculated that this ‘novel’ idea could very well become a trend in Kerala, famous for people traveling beyond their state boundaries.
Funerals webcasts are usually packaged with close and long range shots of the deceased, assembled relatives and all real-time proceedings, often set to mourning music and numbers.
When streamed online, email invites are normally sent out with passwords to friends and family to enable them access the event.
But there are also those who put these funeral videos on You Tube.
A simple web search shows at least three different companies which have placed numerous funeral videos in public domain on You Tube.
According to professionals involved, virtual funerals are more popular with Christians, followed by relatively few Hindus.
In 2014, it was reported that funerals, of which event managers and live telecast are increasingly an integral part, had become one of the four major industries in Kerala with weddings, births and house-construction, with each of them attracting multi-crore investments annually.