She wears pink bumblebee sunglasses, has curly rollers in her hair, and a green pack on her face. And she is always griping in chaste Punjabi.
Pammi Aunty has gone viral among the Punjabi internet-watching crowds, a few months after actor Ssumier Pasricha debuted the character in videos on Snapchat, YouTube and then Facebook. The biting, sardonic Punjabi aunty loves to chinwag on the latest gossip and her unacknowledged raison d'être is ridiculing her daughter-in-law, whom she spitefully refers to as “MBA”, a reference to the lady’s educational qualification.
“We all have one Pammi Aunty in our family who loves to gossip, and talks like this,” said Pasricha, “So I’ll say, ‘Yes, Pammi Aunty is in my family too!’”
The 36-year-old Pasricha made a name for himself with roles on TV serials such as Sasural Simar Ka and Code Red. But nothing brought him success like Pammi Aunty. He was introduced to Snapchat by his nephew and “that is where I got this icon [filter] which I now call Pammi Aunty icon,” he said. “I created my first video and uploaded it on to Facebook.” The rest is social media history.
From her one-sided phone conversations, it’s abundantly clear that Pammi Aunty dislikes her daughter-in-law. Then there is Sarla Behenji – her silent partner-in-crime who she regales with lively tales on the phone. Sarlaji has been privy to Pammiji’s opinions on everything, from ways to to get rid of an MBA bahu to gossip on a disastrous Goa wedding, from Brexit to a Germany match in Euro 2016.
How does Pasricha decide what works best for his audience? “I see what Pammi Aunty can connect to or relate to her daughter-in-law.”
Pasricha’s parodies sometimes include commentary on social evils such as belief in black magic. “I personally do not support nor believe in these things, but, yes, Pammi Aunty does,” he said. “Unfortunately, our television also promotes such practices.”
There’s an element of absurdity in some of the videos. In one of them, for instance, Pammi Aunty is advised by a Pandit to donate 101 vadas to Lord Hanuman. Does his satire bring him backlash? “But, I am not making fun or commenting on anyone’s belief or religion,” he said. “I am stating facts. Pammi Aunty believes in such things.”
His latest video is on how Pammi Aunty deals with the menace that is her sister-in-law. She also throws in tips on how to get a mother-in-law “back on track”. Here Pammi aunty can be seen lamenting on how her life is worse than that of the characters on Game of Thrones.
While the world rallied for Turkey after the recent terrorist attacks, Pammi Aunty had different issues on her mind – the welfare of her daughter-in-law or the lack of it. She also didn’t spare the trailer of actor Hrithik Roshan’s forthcoming movie Mohenjo Daro.
