A new video released on India's independence day makes a case for the freedom to love who you want through the figure of a Punjabi aunty talking to her friend about a mutual acquaintance's gay son coming out to the world two days before his wedding.
A collaborate effort between online project Agents of Ishq and actor Ssumier Pasricha, the video stars Pasricha as his popular fictional character Pammi aunty who talks about why her friend should accept her son coming out as gay. The video is more of a slice-of-life sketch of how a conversation on what may be seen as taboo, but we felt that its message of acceptance could have been clearer.
The video is one in a series of three episodes on love and dating. The other two focus on typical Tinder profiles and the last focuses on digital world changing sexual culture and boundaries. "We felt that the irreverent humour, complete with the cross-dressing and the rollers on top of a purple towel, was very much in sync with Agent of Ishq's desi, playful, irreverent and entertaining style of talking about sex-ed, sexual attitudes, love and desire," Agents of Ishq founder and creative director Paromita Vohra said.
Vohra points out that Pammi aunty's character is meant to be true to life, which means she can often be prejudiced rather than politically correct. For instance, while she argues that getting your kids married is not a guarantee of happiness, she also says that she suspected that the boy was gay since he admired her diamond set.
"She comes with her own set of attitudes and prejudices and a blithe innocence about it all -- we don't try to make her ideologically perfect being because that would ring false and also be boring," Vohra said.