Bridging Borders: India grooves to Pak girl's Pawri video; Mobeen says ‘we can be such great nations together’

It's just a five second video of a Pakistani teenage girl with a put-on accent. “Ye humari car hai, aur yeh hum hai, aur ye humari pawri ho rahi hai (This is our car, this is us and this is how we party),” she says. But a month after it was first posted on Instagram, multiple versions of the video continue to be celebrated online on either side of the border in a rare instance of joyful sharedness between the two strife-torn neighbours.
The video posted by Dananeer Mobeen, a 19-year-old student from Islamabad, has found an afterlife with umpteen memes, jokes, videos and promotional ads on social media.Even national netas are using it in political campaigns. Bollywood celebs such as Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Randeep Hooda have put out memes and videos based on her posts.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia used #PawriHoriHai for Delhi civic polls ad. Punning on the word, pawri (party), they posted images posted with the caption, “Only ‘Pawri’ to focus on education, asking for votes on education.”
BJP chief J P Nadda tweaked words from the video to make his point at a BJP rally in Bengal and CPM’s Sitaram Yechury used memes to poke fun at PM Modi over the Gujarat stadium naming. Relishing her post, even Indian soldiers deployed in a snow-clad hilly location in a forward area made a video of themselves in which they said, “Yeh hum hain, yeh humari gun hain and aur yeh humari patrolling ho rahi hai.”
There’s much more. Government bodies such as Delhi Commission for Women and UP Police have used “Pawri” to spread awareness. A tweet by the UP Police read, “Ye hum hain aur hamari car hain, agar late night pawri aapko disturb kar rehi hain, toh yeh humara number hain 112.”
SBI, Paytm, Netflix, Dominos, Zomato, Swiggy and Oyo Rooms have all used memes based on the video for promotional ads. Common people shot videos with their kids outside their homes, saying this is our home, this is us and this is us having fun.
“My video has shown the power of social media and how strong an impact it can have. There is so much love to share. It has given us an opportunity to see it clearly…We can be such great nations together and share a dialogue of peace,” said Mobeen, who had first posted her video on Feb 6, told Pakistan media. The original video has nearly 8 million views.
There’s also an Indian angle to her fame. Music composer Yashraj Mukhate (of Rasode Mein Kaun Tha fame) put her words to tune which helped in creating a stronger social media buzz around the clip.
The 19-year-old social media influencer, accompanied by friends, had shot the mobile video in the Nathiagali hills of northern Pakistan. Mobeen aka Geena likes music, plays drums and has posted several song videos on social media. A painter, she also likes sharing cooking recipes.
Since the clip went viral, Mobeen has been flooded with acting and modelling offers but she aspires to join Pakistan’s civil services. Interestingly, the Pakistani girl ’s video went viral in India at a time when the two rival countries, after years of hostilities and tense border, issued a joint statement to renew ceasefire along the LoC.