RAWALPINDI: Pakistani video creator Dananeer Mobin, whose humorous five-second clip has gone viral since Indian artist Yashraj Mukhate threw some beats on it, says she is honored that it brought social media users in India and Pakistan together.
The 19-year-old Islamabad-based influencer uploaded the video showing a group of young people and herself on a "pawri" (party) to her Instagram account on Feb. 6. The clip, in which she says “This is our car, this is us, and we are partying here!” soon made the rounds on social media after the famous Indian music producer shared its rendition, making it become a positive cross-border sensation.
While ties between India and Pakistan have been shaped by a bitter rivalry since the partition of the British-ruled Subcontinent into Muslim Pakistan and majority Hindu India in 1947, Mobin and Mukhate's collaboration has received a warm welcome on both sides of the border
“I feel so honored,” Mobin told Arab News on Saturday. "I read this tweet that said after 70 years of tensions across the border a young girl has managed to ease the tensions. I thought if this is what this is doing then that’s great."
While she admitted that she didn't know that the remix to her clip was in the works, but she said she and her sister had secretly hoped for it.
"He is such an amazing recording artist, and (my sister and I) had seen his videos before and had vibed to them so much, and I said to my sister Nafayal, 'imagine if he recreated this, how fun would that be?'" she said. "And can you imagine, the very same day, the very same night he uploaded the video!"
The music version of the video, "Pawri Hori Hai," now has over 25 million views on Mukhate’s YouTube page and over 6 million on his Instagram account.
It has inspired other social media users in India and Pakistan to make their own "pawri" memes and shot Mobin to fame with her 100,000 Instagram followers increasing to 1 million, with many coming from India, which finds "incredibly heartwarming."
Among those who followed the trend are some of Pakistan and India’s biggest names, including Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, who tweeted out a “Pawri Hori Hai” meme and Bollywood megastar Deepika Padukone, who also joined fellow actors like Shahid Kapoor and Randeep Hooda in tweeting out “Pawri Hori Hai” content.
The Pakistan Cricket Board shared a video of the national team doing their version of the "pawri" clip after winning a series against South Africa.
"I don’t even know how to explain it! I have grown up crushing on these people,” Mobin said Mobin, “it’s a badge of honor for me, I grew up idealizing these people and now they are recreating something I said. It’s crazy.”
