Going TikTok: Indians hooked on to Chinese video app ahead of LS polls 2019

TikTok allows users to create and share short videos with various special effects. It is becoming hugely popular in rural India, home to most of the country's 1.3 billion people.

A video clip shot on a sparse rooftop of what looks like a low-rise apartment block shows a young Indian man swaying while lip-syncing a song praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Describing himself as a proud Indian with the online identity “garrytomar”, he is wearing ear-studs and shows a beaded necklace under a partly unbuttoned shirt in the 15-second clip.

"Modi has single-handedly trounced everyone ... Modi is a storm, you all now know," goes the Hindi song, posted on Chinese video mobile application TikTok, the latest digital platform to grip India's small towns and villages ahead of a general election due