India, July 24 -- Landing in the middle of a persistent protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video promising tough action over paper leaks ran under three minutes and promised fast-track courts. Within minutes, a large part of the argument online had nothing to do with what he said. It was about how the thing was shot.

PM Modi put the message up at 11.52 pm on Thursday. He called viewers "Friends" and spoke straight into what looked like a phone's front camera, held at arm's length. No podium, no studio, no formal backdrop. For a leader whose addresses are usually announced days ahead and treated as events, the vertical selfie for such an occasion was new. Millennials and th...