By Shruti Sunderraman
Update:
Students from Haji Public School from Doda district in Jammu & Kashmir justly famous for their 2012 rendition of Rolling In The Deep/WakaWaka. Here they are again, scoffing at critics who may have imagined they are one-hit wonders, with their own interpretation of Jimikki Kammal.
https://twitter.com/imsabbah/status/933340216957419520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Move over all the Kolaveris, di. We have a new addiction in town and don’t all the Malayali ladies know it. The upcoming Mohanlal-starrer Velipadinte Pushthakam released a song called Entammede Jimikki Kammal (meaning ‘My Mother’s Jimikki’) on August 19th, which promptly went viral thanks to how ridiculously catchy it is. The video has now garnered 7.7 million views on YouTube. But its fame has a tappier reason. As a part of the film’s promotions, the movie producers issued a dance challenge with the hashtag #JimikkiKammalChallenge, asking viewers to choreograph their own dance moves to the song and upload videos of it under said hashtag.
But they probably didn’t count for how onerous the response to the challenge will be, especially from women. Over the past week, YouTube and Facebook has been filled with videos of Malayali women dancing to Entammede Jimikki Kammal dressed in traditional off-white Trivandrum sarees, wearing jimikis (a South Indian earring) and looking like they’re having the time of their lives. And it’s not just young women dancing in these dance videos. There are middle-aged women, pregnant women, even an old paati (grandmother) dancing in one of the videos.
There’s also a video of women in the UAE dressed in black shirts, white dhotis, black sunglasses and of course, beautiful jimikkis. A cinema in Dubai also witnessed a massive flashmob of women dancing to the song. Many videos uploaded on the festival of Onam saw women dancing in picturesque locations in Kerala.
While the song in itself is highly addictive, Malayali women using the #JimikkiKammalChallenge to have their bit of fun with friends and family is most endearing. The jimikis, carefree smiles and letting it loose in beautiful sarees has us itching to join these ladies. No one seems to be too bothered about winning the challenge. They all look like they’re having the time of their lives, using a movie’s dance challenge to do some fun kuthu dancing in their mother’s jimikki kammal. Saree not sorry.