Five Seconds of Love and Peace: 19-Year-Old Instagrammer Brings Indians and Pakistanis together

India and Pakistan, divided by borders, are now finally united by #pawri. A five-second video has done the impossible — brought social media users in India and Pakistan together, with netizens hailing the meme as the magic bullet – doing what both governments couldn’t – uniting, if even fleetingly, peoples of the two countries that have endured historic animosity.

When Pakistani social influencer Dananeer Mobeen uploaded the video on her Instagram page on February 6, little did she know that she would become an overnight internet star in both countries. “What could be better than sharing love across the border at a time when there is so much trouble and so much division around the world,” she told BBC Urdu. “I’m glad my neighbors and I are partying together now because of my video,” he says, referring to Indians.

Mobeen, in a satirical video post, inadvertently launched a new meme that have been used across the world now, and is busy enjoying the fame her clip brought her. 

Her ‘Pawri Ho Rahi Hai’ (parrrty ho rahi hai) video which she posted on Instagram over the weekend, has been recreated hundreds of times with #pawrihoraihai and is trending on Twitter, becoming the next viral sensation.

#PawriHoriHai is not going away anytime soon — not just because it’s very funny but also as it has been bringing joy to many people during a pandemic.

“Yeh hamari caar hai. Aur yeh hum hain. Aur yeh hamari pawri horai haai  (This is our car. This is us. This is us partying),” she says in the video. It is an entertaining commentary by Mobeen, poking fun at “burgers” who come to visit the northern mountainous parts of Pakistan on holiday. Pakistanis use the term “burger” to describe the rich elites who may have studied or worked outside Pakistan and speak with an American or British-tinged accent. The burger was very expensive when it first came to Pakistan, as opposed to the local version – the humble bun kebab.

“It’s not my style to talk like this in burger style…. I did it just to make you all (my Instagram followers) laugh,” Mobeen told BBC Urdu, having captured their fake English accents perfectly. Far from being offended, Pakistanis starting recreating the short clip and doing what Twitter users do best: making memes. It wasn’t long before some high-profile actors and cricketers got involved.

The young influencer’s video has been re-shared thousands of times across social media platforms like Twitter, while celebrities from the Pakistan showbiz industry, such as actor Saba Qamar, and sports scene, such as former cricketer Wasim Akram, also recreated it in their own style. The Pakistan Cricket Board shared a video its national team doing their version of the video after winning a series against South Africa. 

D.J. Yashraj Mukhate, who is popular for turning viral videos and clips from TV shows and movies into upbeat, funny songs, has also turned #PawriHoriHai into a catchy number. “From today, I am not going to party, but I will ‘pawri,’ because party won’t be as fun as pawri,” Mukhate wrote in Roman Urdu on Instagram. Within a few hours of going live on Instagram, Mukhate’s video amassed more than 1.4 million views, 530,000-plus likes, and close to 9,000 comments.

The pawri, now a metaphor of our times, transcends beyond classes, genders and, of course, borders. One look at TikTok shows how the meme has been recreated by the rural as well as urban youth; follow the hashtag on Twitter and you will see boys and girls, uncles and aunties do the pawri; switch to television and anchors are using the three magical lines to begin their talk shows; come to social and political discourse, and you can barely spend a moment without someone uttering pawri ho rahi hai.

Soon, Indian social media users also jumped into the “memefest.”  And then the floodgates opened – from brands to police officials – all of them joined the “pawri” mood. Desi political rivals now also have a new template to go after each other. 

And not just politicians, but the #PawriHoriHai trend’s popularity has now used in India by even the State Bank of India (SBI), who in a post on Twitter, spoke of its apps, offers, and facilities for customers, using the now popular #pawri, trend and made a marketing gimmick out of it. “Aise offers ho toh pawwrty toh banti hai [Such offers call for a party],” the SBI wrote.

Amul, always known for their creative adaptation of topical issues, their doodles and wordplay, again drew chuckles from many, with their creative version of “pawri ho rahi hai.” Amul recently took to its Instagram handle to share an animated graphic, featuring three girls partying with bread and butter, and a cup of tea in their hands. “Yeh humari pav tea ho rahi hain,” the post read. The post went viral in a few hours, garnering more than 11k likes and a number of amusing comments.

Earlier, police in India also joined the bandwagon, launching a new crackdown against late-night parties with the catch phrase inspired by Mobeen’s #PawriHoriHai trend. 

Not to be left behind, Bollywood joined the latest meme bandwagon. Actor Randeep Hooda, known for his hits like “Highway” and “Sultan,” became a fan of the “pawri” girl. The 44-yeae-old took to his Instagram and shared his sidesplitting take on the #PawriHoriHai trend. The “Love Aaj Kal 2” actor shot the video on set with a bunch of kids. Hooda can be seen introducing himself as “Yeh hum hain,” followed by his team and said,”Yeh humarein log hain,” with school kids and lastly the actor adds, “Shoot par Bacha #PawriHoRaiHai.” 

The ‘pawri’ girl herself was also taken aback by Hooda’s version of her viral meme as she commented: “Dream come true,” with heart-struck emojis. She took to her Instagram Story to share excitement saying, “Someone pinch me! I must be dreaming!” In another post, she shared Indian star Sidharth Malhotra’s post and commented, “Fan moment.”

Actress Deepika Padukone took to her Instagram and shared the funny meme on her childhood picture. In the picture, Padukone’s close-up is seen which is followed by her sitting on a horse and then there is the whole picture of ‘Who made this?’ Actor Shahid shared a video doing the popular trend with his cast members of his upcoming yet-to-be-titled web series.

Mobeen spoke to Geo News on the “crazy” response she got on social media, saying she is overwhelmed and having fun over the recreations of her video. She thanked her fans and followers on Instagram Friday after Mukhate recreated her video. 

Apart from creating memes and their versions of Pawri Ho Rahi Hai, social media users were also interested in knowing every detail about Mobeen, who has occupied the top spot on the trends list all weekend. So here goes. Mobeen, 19, who resides in Peshawar in Pakistan, creates videos on a variety of subjects – beauty, fashion and make-up and even talks about mental health issues.’ She also shares pictures from her photoshoots and travel escapades on social media. Mobeen is an ardent dog lover. She likes to cook and blogs about food as well. Not only that, but she also loves to paint and sing and can be seen singing in her videos. 

Not one to mince words, in her bio on Instagram, Mobeen says: “Call me Geena but learn to pronounce my real name first.” Mobeen can speak four languages — Urdu, English, Pushto, a little bit of Hindko, and according to media reports is also learning German. As per reports, Mobeen also wants to join the Civil Services of Pakistan. A middle child, Mobeen has a younger brother and an older sister, and has over five lakh fans on Instagram and around 31,000 followers on Twitter. 

Mobeen has definitely put the world in a “pawri” mood.

---

Anu Ghosh immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1999. Back in India she was a journalist for the Times of India in Pune for 8 years and a graduate from the Symbiosis Institute of Journalism and Communication. In the U.S., she obtained her Masters and PhD. in Communications from The Ohio State University. Go Buckeyes! She has been involved in education for the last 15 years, as a professor at Oglethorpe University and then Georgia State University. She currently teaches Special Education at Oak Grove Elementary. She is also a mom to two precocious girls ages 11 and 6.