Pammi Aunty is funny to the extent of being hilarious. The obnoxious yet adorable Pammi, brainchild of talented actor Ssumier Pasricha, is a digital rage amusing and entertaining fans across the globe.
What started as an individual endeavour with uploads on platforms like Facebook and Youtube, thanks to its super success, is now taking a professional leap with multiple content associations. Now, Pammi’s quirky histrionics is being seen on OTT platform Alt Balaji with the launch of the show Pammi Aunty #MumbaiDaSiyapaa. The plot revolves around Pammi, her son Timmy, smart social media crazy house help Shanti Shole and slow speaking neighbor Kishori Lal.
This Sudhir Shetty directed show retains the humour of the original Pammi, who is unabashed, loud, self-opinionated and blasé. Ssumier takes full advantage of his knowledge of Punjabi to create a caricature of a rich North based Punjabi housewife who loves her drinks. We fear that too much Punjabi might take away a section of the viewers in other parts of the country, having said that it might get more viewers in Delhi- Punjab – Haryana belt, the target audience.
The Marathi house help Shanti Shole adds variety to the narrative, she gives back as good as she gets and does not spare Pammi Aunty, who tries to act as the very strict lady of the house. The scene where Pammi Aunty can’t get the Mumbai words for everyday vegetables is a very common relatable well scripted situation.
Shanti is a social media celebrity having 90K followers, more than Pammi Aunty. She claims to know most celebs by flaunting selfies of her with TV stars Divyanka Tripathi and others. However, before you think she is merely faffing about, enters Anita Hassanandani Reddy who asks her to promote her hand bag brand (great punch).
Pammi takes a clear dig at the celebrity social status by saying, “What big they are if they also go to Hong Kong for a trip where even ordinary Delhi folks go?”
The character of Timmy is not well-defined and needs better sketching. Most of the time he is seen working on laptop and tries to speak accented English to impress his boss, another caricature of rising Indian classes.
Pammi too harbors acting dreams and pulls all stop to try to impress Shobha Kapoor (Balaji Telefilms honcho) and even her building security to net a role in Naagin 3. Like most Indians she claims not to have watched TV shows yet is fully clued of what is going on in the space.
After a hard day at shoot she is hardly seen on the scene which makes Pammi very upset as to what her Delhi circle will say. The fact that she has become a social media craze is of no importance to her. But the season ends with her getting a call from none other than Ekta Kapoor. It would have been fun had they also shown Timmy’s wife and therefore mother-in-law and daughter-in-law clash. We also would like to meet Sarla Behenjee with whom Aunty always jabbers away with on the phone. The show also seems to take pot shots at a woman’s vanity, no wonder Aunty always has a face pack on.
Since the digs are in good humour, no one seems to be taking offense in an otherwise environment where you can get hurt at the drop of a hat.
Ssumier as Pammi is in command of the sketches and his presence amplifies the script and story appeal. Sketches are kept crisp and focused, thus more engaging.
Interestingly, all 10 episodes of Pammi Aunty on Alt Balaji are free, as opposed to other shows which go paid as the episodes progress. Guess, it’s a smart move to draw in more audience.
Overall, Pammi makes for an entertaining watch and IndianWikiMedia would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.