Neither borders nor boundaries can stop the seepage of digital creativity, even when two diehard foes – India and Pakistan – are standing guard.
Dananeer Mobeen, a Pakistani influencer, who shared a short clip on the Instagram about having a great time with her friends, has millennials and the generation-Z in the subcontinent of both countries on their feet. It all began with Mobeen's heavily anglicized usage, with perfect pauses, of Urdu/ Hindustani in the uploaded video. Says Mobeen: “Yeh hamari car hai, aur yeh hum hain and yeh pawhri ho rahi hai". In the background her friends can be seen revelling in bindaas dancing. Quickly the video went viral, triggering an avalanche of memes and jokes, which were first confined to Mobeen's homeland.
But gradually the fever caught on across the Wagah border! Moving to India, it motivated music-producer Yashraj Mukhate, to create another song, which also went viral. Incidentally, Mukhate, a rapper, is known for his paraodies, Rasode mein kaun tha and Todda kutta tommy, sadda kutta, kutta. Galvanised by pawri, he went on to sing Aajse me party nahi karunga sirf pawri karunga. Kyuki party karneme wo mazaa nahi jo pawri karneme hai.
Brands ride the ‘Pawri’ wave
With Mukhate playing on the word pawhri or pawri, as you may choose to use, his video became Internet’s anthem and got the social media go gaga. Now, those keen on making hay while sunshine, that is varied brands, decided to ride the wave.
Netflix came out with “Watching something with your friends. Netflix pawri ho rahi hai”. Even the normally prosaic Uttar Pradesh police used it to issue a warning by stating “Late night #PawriHoRahiHai aur aap disturb ho rahe toh call karein 112”, with a pic of their patrol vehicle in alert.
Late night #PawriHoRahiHai aur aap disturb ho rahe toh call karein 112 pic.twitter.com/vc74SmtDmF
— Call 112 (@112UttarPradesh) February 14, 2021
In a rather smart move, Swiggy used images of peas and pea pod while moving to a mouth-watering picture of the dish mattar-paneer.
Promoting its pizzas, Domino egged people to pawri by availing 50 per cent discount. Government of India’s Press Information Bureau, in their Fact Check, urged people to bust fake news – “You may not be able to ‘Pawri’ like that, but can join our party to bust fake news!”
Know Mobeen
The 19-year-old besides being an influencer, is a content creator based in Islamabad with a wide social media following. She has 435K followers, and creates content on myriad subjects from latest make-up and fashion trends to raising and talking about sensitive issues like mental health. A multi-talented youngster, she cooks, blogs on food, paints, sings and is a dog lover!
