There’s no Punjabi aunty cliché that Ssumier Pasricha aka Pammi Aunty doesn’t bring to screen. Yet the ones laughing the loudest are the Punjabi aunties of the world. Pammi aunty is the typical Delhi aunty, talking about everything from koftas to the Kailash Colony market. She wears a face mask and colourful shades, has rollers in her hair, and an opinion on everything from her daughter-in-law’s habits to demonetisation.
Pasricha created the character inspired by people he’d been surrounded by all his life. “One of the videos I’ve done is called Dinky ka Roka, which is covering Dinky’s wedding functions,” says Pasricha.
“The inspiration for this comes from seeing how Punjabi women talk about weddings, what to buy, where to shop from and so on. We all have such characters in our homes.”
His favourite episode is the one in which Pammi Aunty criticises her daughter-in-law for acting to like football, promising to treat her BFF Sarla Behnji to chhole kulche, if the daughter-in-law actually understands anything about the sport in the first place.
That Pammi Aunty is a social media rage is an understatement. He’s got over six lakh Facebook likes and over 83,000 followers on Instagram in just six months, all thanks to the videos. But he’s had a good share of trolling too, ranging from Pammi Aunty’s comments on the ‘boring’ Teej celebration to her statement that ‘Batra’s bahu is a dark, overweight Gupta’.
{{/usCountry}}That Pammi Aunty is a social media rage is an understatement. He’s got over six lakh Facebook likes and over 83,000 followers on Instagram in just six months, all thanks to the videos. But he’s had a good share of trolling too, ranging from Pammi Aunty’s comments on the ‘boring’ Teej celebration to her statement that ‘Batra’s bahu is a dark, overweight Gupta’.
{{/usCountry}}“The media asked me why I did that, and I explained to them that this is how actually Punjabis talk,” says Pasricha.
His videos do not encourage stereotyping, adds Pasricha. “Everyone connects with my characters, even people abroad. It is clean humour that people relate to. I don’t defame or demean anything or anyone.”
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From HT Brunch, March 19, 2017
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