These meme pages are taking regional humour to new heights

Puns are thought of as the lowest form of humour – they aren't considered smart neither are they thought of as funny," Sameer Deshmukh tells us over the phone from Pune. "Perhaps that is what works best in our favour. They make you cringe, sure, but they also leave you with a smile," interjects Shalin Deshpande. Speaking over a conference call, Sameer and Shalin handle the popular Facebook page Marathi Puns.

"We once posted this pun about Shubham Karoti Kalyanam (the evening prayer that has been a part of every Maharashtrian's childhood). If you look at it, it is a pun like any other. But what makes it funny is the nostalgia attached with the prayer itself. Followers tagged their siblings, parents, cousins and childhood friends," says Shalin, adding Facebook stats claim that the image reached half a million people, with over 3,000 shares.

What was started on a whim struck a chord with thousands of people – their following has grown to over 75,000 since the page launched last year. Today, the page is managed by six individuals, who strive to generate fresh, original content.

Marathi Puns, however, is only one of the many popular meme pages online. With close to 4 lakh followers on Facebook, Maharashtrians Meme finds its popularity in fusing visuals from Western pop culture (Game of Thrones, Deadpool, 13 Reasons Why) and world events (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding) with regional culture. Marathi movies, popular dialogues, songs, characters overlap these prompts from the West.

Tired of seeing "the same lacklustre humour in Marathi memes", Amey Pawar finally took it upon himself to change the narrative. Today, he generates original content along with four of his friends.

For both Marathi Puns and Maharashtrians Meme, the aim was to create clean and original humour. "We don't want to cater to one or two members of a social circle...," begins Deshmukh, "...we want anyone and everyone to enjoy Marathi humour – our posts don't offer an 18+ adult humour unlike most meme pages."

While the dollop of humour is the common factor between in these pages, some of them have invited controversies over their content. Bengali meme page Bankura Memes 3.0 tends to dabble into more socially and politically relevant content, which is a brand of humour that doesn't sit well with everyone.. "We first started making and sharing this content back in 2016. However, we have had our page reported twice before; this is our third attempt, hence the name," the admin tells us on the condition of anonymity. "A while ago, in some popular spots in Kolkata, people even put up posters against us with slogans – 'Smash Patriarchy, Ban Bankura Memes'," he blames it on hypocrisy. "People can't take things lightly – most don't accept the reality of who they are or are not completely aware of the current socio-political-economic situation of the time. They can't take a meme about woman having periods, but then why stop them from visiting temples," he questions.

The admin elaborates how criticism and even hostility has hurt them. "Our first page had two lakh followers when it was taken down. First, deleting around 15-20 of our original memes before shutting the page down. Our second attempt, where we managed to carry forward 70,000 followers within two months was also deleted. Our third attempt is online since December, 2017," he says. Commercialising the page, he says, is out of question. "We don't want to make money off the page."

But Gujarati meme page Jo Baka didn't have any qualms before commercialising their massive 7.84 lakh following. Saurabh, admin of the page, says they started promoting locals ventures for `200 odd bucks. "Soon, we started promoting Gujarati music videos, series, and even upcoming movies," he says. However, once they realised these tie-ups affect their following, they decided to gauge their profits before sharing. "Frankly, not all music videos and films are worth watching. Some of them are downright dull. We incorporated a screening process early on and now we only promote a film if we find it worthy," he explains.

What makes these meme pages special is the rapport they share with their followers – Maharashtrians Meme, Marathi Puns and Bankura Memes 3.0 all accept submissions (that obviously go through screening) from their followers through either direct messages or submission links.

"Maharashtrians Meme Group (MMG) is a closed group on Facebook where our page admins interact with a few followers, who post their submissions. If they are a hit on this closed group of 6,000 people from different parts of the world, we share it too," says Pawar.

Even as the content differs from one language to the other, it seems like regional memes are the new hot cakes in town.