Read this article by renowned writer and journalist Ankit Desai, showcasing the fusion of South Gujarati dialect and digital content…..
The dialects of South Gujarat are very dear to me. Except for the tribal belt in the east, the dialects of the people living between the national highway and the sea, from the south coast of Tapi to Umragam, are mostly similar. After a few areas, there are only a few words and accents. I have such respect for those dialects that I have included our dialects of the south coast of Tapi in many places in my ‘Train Tales’. In such a situation, is it possible that something funny is happening in our dialect and I should not criticize it publicly?
That is why I am bringing this story of two or three ‘Poiras’, the content of which I found on Instagram. One day, while scrolling through reels, I suddenly saw their video of ‘Marghi Charya Katti Utti Bandaaaaaam…’ and we burst out laughing. Also, the content was originally in the dialect of South Gujarat, so we also went to the profiles of those content creators. There we saw that there are many such reels here, in which only the dialect of South Gujarat is used. Those reels were also in the Pani News format!
While watching those reels, it came to my mind that the creators of the reels must also be from Navsari district, but at the same time, it also came to my mind that these creators have also taken care of other things that are needed for entertainment. Be it acting skills, timings, small and big costumes or the message given through symbolic things… they cover all those things with utmost skill. That is why we like these reels so much and we are completely overcome with laughter. Otherwise, there are many people on Instagram who upload content by lip-syncing to any voice and finally, when no one listens to their lip-syncing, they start serving content that can be called ambiguous, abusive or semi-pornographic!
In short, we have become fans of the guys who make those reels. To the point that we watch their different reels three-four times a day. Even if we go to my search on Instagram, the names of those guys’ profiles come up first! And some of their dialogues are so catchy that we can say to some friend or family member throughout the day, ‘Marghi charya katti utti bandaaaaaaam….’
However, the journalist’s mind also thinks that we should contact these guys who are providing such fun and quality entertainment despite having few resources. After all, they are the masters of ‘New Age Entertainment’. Here, if it is a friend’s birthday, a two-kilometer-long post is made, serving ‘short content’ is no joke. Here, you have to make an impact on the audience in just a few seconds. Also, the content of these boys, namely Jay Patel, Akun Patel and Jaykumar Patel, does not have available audio content on Instagram. Except for a reel like ‘Mera Ladka Sharab Nai Daru Peeta Hai’, most of their reels have exclusive audio and are in the dialect of South Gujarat.
So, these creators are right! They must also have a complaint. So we plucked up the courage and called Jay Patel. I was so impressed with those boys that to show that I was their ‘fan’, I repeat ‘fan’, I first recited some of the content of their reels. That too in a certain tone… in a loud voice… then asked them what kind of preparation they had to make to make these reels?
So Jay Patel said, ‘First we search for local news channel reports on YouTube for hours and sometimes days or news bites of local people in state news channels. That is, we listen to the news for literally hours. And then if we like any news bite from them, we cut it. Then we think about the situation in which we want to put that bite, then we think about the attire according to that and finally we make reels by taking twenty-five takes.’
‘However, do situations like the funny way you show these reels really exist?’ I asked Jaybhai. So they say, ‘No, of course not. Rather, people are extremely agitated or sad while giving news bites. Some have water problems, some don’t get electricity, some have problems with dirt. But what can we do, there is laughter here.’
It is true. Because the real laughter lies in our problems. Yes, it is true that the people spoken about in the audio are victims. But at the same time, it is equally true that those people have accepted the facilities of the system as an alternative. Otherwise, these are the people who are living their lives with their own ingenuity and tact and are finding a way out of their problems. That is why, despite the problems appearing in every news byte, the indifference towards the ingenuity or problems of those people is also evident. Sometimes Ola aunty says, ‘I am not a government employee.’ Or a sister says to a corporator, ‘Hey, why should he care about you…’
When I talked to him, Jaybhai said another funny thing. He said, ‘We should not use abusive or ambiguous content for likes or followers. No matter what happens.’ In one way, this can be called a very big deal. Besides, there is no dearth of such content in Instagram reels these days. Even those whose shops have closed on TikTok have already made a comeback on Instagram. That is why a lot of abuse and sex talk is served in the name of content. So the so-called influencers also resort to some kind of dress or some body language to save their algorithms.
At such a time, these three creators who are struggling with quality even with less resources are really unique. My favorites too! Those who try to provide content in the dialect of my region and give a global platform in our dialect. The Insta IDs of these people are ankur_peace_ and j_be_ptl…and if you also enjoy their content, then watch it. In the depressive atmosphere of social media, such content will definitely bring a smile to your face.
Thank you so much 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻