The husband returns home after a day’s work. He closes the door and walks inside, while wife sitting inside the living room calls out ‘Baby, kundi lagado (Baby, please latch the door)’. The husband stands at the corridor irritated and the title card reads Malayalee Bahu Hindi Mem. This is the first scene of the ‘Mind Your Language’ episode brought out by the couple Lekha and Vipin, on their Facebook page De Malayalee. They themselves have acted in the video that goes on to show such clashes between languages with a hilarious climax. In the last scene, the wife is seen singing a Hindi song Andhera tera maine le liya (I’ve taken your darkness) mera ujla sitara (and my bright shining star)… while the husband joins her singing Thantha vereya vereya (The father is someone else) instead of Channa mereya mereya (my beloved).. And, the video ‘Thantha vereya’ aka ‘Mind Your Language’ has become viral within a short span.
The couple says they never imagined such a huge response. “I used to joke with Lekha that the video would go viral, but never expected this,” says Vipin. “The kind of response we get is amazing.” In Dubai, Lekha works for a language institute while Vipin works with a shipping firm. This is the first video they did together. “We have full-time jobs. We take out the time to do these videos. It involves a lot of work,” says Vipin. The The ‘Thantha Vereya’ video, they shot using their phone. “Lekha’s portions I shot and she did mine. We placed our phone on a tripod to shoot the sequences where we acted together. We completed it in eight days,” he adds.
The couple got married six years ago. “We were family friends and had known each other for a long time,” they say. Vipin’s parents are from Kerala. He was brought up in Delhi. Lekha is half-Malayali. Her father is from Kollam and mother is a Punjabi. “I have been fortunate enough to experience both the cultures,” says Lekha. “My mother is my inspiration for the video. When she goes to Kerala, she talks to relatives in broken Malayalam. But she does it pretty well and they both understand it. The ‘Mind Your Language’ video is inspired more from our daily life,” adds Lekha. When the video went viral, the couple did a ‘Thank You’ video, which also turned to be a hit.
Lekha and Vipin go back to the point where it all began. Vipin started it all with posts on Facebook. His first video came out when NASA discovered seven new planets. Using an app, he wore an astronaut’s headgear and performed as a Malayali going to one of the planets. “We usually say that there is a Malayali in every corner of the world. That was the trigger,” says Vipin. It was done in a few parts. Then Vipin felt the need to experiment with subjects and thus came funny videos about the beef ban and the liquor ban. Not just in voice or dialogue, Vipin brought a comic element in his appearance as well.
He decoded Gnash’s Love You Hate You song to depict the beef ban and Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You to show the Malayali’s link with liquor. “Those were actually my comeback videos. I had not been active for a few months due to various reasons,” says Vipin. He stumbled upon the idea of decoding Shape of You song when he was looking at a liquor bottle. “The song was playing in the background. And then the idea struck me.” Lekha says, “His observation skill is good and he finds humour whenever he comes across a peculiar thing. He does mimicry too.”
Lekha came into the scene later. “It just happened or rather I pushed her into this,” Vipin chuckles. “While shooting the ‘Mind Your Language video’, when I return from office, he would come and say ‘come, let’s do the shooting’. He is the one who pushed me to do that,” laughs Lekha. “If she didn’t do it then I am sure it wouldn’t happen,” he smiles. The couple doesn’t follow a strict selection process for ideas. “Whenever I see something interesting, I write it down. I later include them in my videos. Sometimes, the video would be on a trending topic. We have been planning to do something on Padmaavat,” says Vipin. “Some videos, like the Thank You video, are not preconceived. They just happen,” says Lekha.
There have been criticisms too for using a peculiar accent when depicting the Malayali. “That is used for comic purpose only. While most people took it in that way, a small section took it personally,” says Vipin. But Vipin takes it in the right spirit. And Lekha believes that criticism would help them better their future ventures. “Feedback is good. That will make us think.” The responses have encouraged them to do more. They have realised their potential and feel that they should come up with more videos on a regular basis.
