Anukripa, Krupa and Asmita at IIT Madras

“Be Our
Pondatti”, a parody of Call Me May Be by three students of IIT Madras, has gone
viral on the Net. The girls – Asmita Ghosh, Anukripa Alango, and Krupa
Varghese – rewrote the lyrics of the Carly Rae Jepson’s 2012 hit and turned it
into a parody on arranged marriage.

“We are happy to see the conversation that our video
has started. Our aim was to question gender roles in our society. But we never
thought it would garner such a huge response”, said Asmita Ghosh.

Asmita and
Anukripa have lent their voices, and the video features Krupa as a typical Indian
mother-in-law, who belongs to a wealthy family, and is on the lookout for a
prospective daughter-in-law for her handsome, educated and well-settled
son.

The lyrics
describe in detail some of the stereotypical qualities that Indian mothers look
for in their daughters-in-law, tall, fair, thin, educated but who is willing to
play second fiddle to her son. To be her son’s pondatti (wife), the girl should
be able to make ’round chapattis’ and work part-time, if at all.

The parody
video was their entry for an Inter-Collegiate Competition organised at IITM.
But it has made them internet stars overnight, with over four lakh views in a
matter of few days. When asked about the inspiration behind the video,
Asmita said, “There is nothing in particular that inspired us to make this
parody. We have just portrayed things as they are in the society.”

In the
original video, Carly is seen describing her liking for a boy next door.

To see the parody video click here.