Sentiment Analysis of YouTube Comments on the Movie 'Zindagi Tamasha': Evaluating Public Perception and Social Impact Post-Ban

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate public opinion and understand the social consequences in the digital sphere after banning the movie "Zindagi Tamsha” (Circus of Life). It is a sad story of a character named “Rahat Khawaja”, a practising Muslim who accidentally faces ridicule because of a viral video in which he dances at a wedding reception. The study utilizes quantitative and qualitative methodology, employing computational linguistic tools and psychoanalysis to analyze sentiments conveyed in the comments on YouTube. The feelings represented in the comments are quantitatively classified into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative. The breakdown indicates that out of 3,885 comments, 1,921 are categorized as positive, 1,737 as neutral, and 227 as negative. According to qualitative analysis, banning the movie has emerged as a significant subject of disagreement, eliciting diverse opinions encompassing endorsement and censure. Policymakers and cinema regulators should promote discourse and interaction to address and reduce sociopolitical tensions indicated by this study.