Malayali Instagrammer Sarath EB's entertaining reels with his friends have amassed millions of views, all thanks to a ‘wushu come true’.
Instagrammer Sarath EB and his friends. (Supplied)
Wushu. Sana. Army. Pookatte Kavadi. If you are an average Malayali in the Instagram era and these words don’t elicit laughter in you, then you’ve surely missed out on a lot.
Roughly two weeks ago, a large section of the Malayalam-speaking population on social media erupted in LOLs and ROFLs over a Bigg Boss Malayalam episode involving self-proclaimed international Wushu champion Aniyan Midhun and superstar Mohanlal, who hosts the reality show.
Instagrammer Sarath EB is from a small town called Kurumassery near Aluva in Ernakulam district. (Supplied)
The former was questioned by the latter about a story he shared on the show. It was about his army officer girlfriend Sana and their love story in the Kashmiri terrain.
To cut a long story short, it involved the “latest” guns and other weapons, an all-India tour, and a tragic climax. To the audience, it seemed all too wishy-washy to be true.
Midhun, however, stuck to his guns (pun absolutely intended) and denied making it up.
While whether the story has any truth to it or not is still being investigated, the episode garnered millions of views worldwide. It put Bigg Boss, which has been suffering from poor TRP ratings (according to industry experts), back in the spotlight.
It also created social media superstars out of small-time reel-makers like Sarath EB aka Sarath Aaha (@po_li__sarath__), who capitalised on the episode.
It all started with a “reel skit” reenactment of Midhun’s story using household props, wonderful “actors”, and excellent comedic timing — and, of course, the use of the original audio to give viewers appropriate context.
Who knew that fun would get them fans and over a million views within just a few days!
“We saw that Midhun was ‘in the air’ (the Malayalam equivalent of ‘getting trolled’) and wanted to see if we could recreate our version of his story. And we did. We were not prepared for what followed though,” says Sarath cheerfully.
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After the success of their first Midhun spoof video, Sarath and his friends came up with part 2 and part 3 — focused on Midhun and his antics. Both parts garnered nearly six million views.
Sarath’s Instagram channel, @po_li__sarath__, was once a humble handle with a 1,000-odd followers until a few weeks ago. It has grown astronomically since, with over 38,000 followers now.
And the cherry on top of the cake? Sarath has been getting endorsement and product partnership deals, in addition to recognition.
While they have stopped the “Pookatte Kavadi” (Midhun’s signature punch dialogue on Bigg Boss, which loosely translates to ‘Let the celebrations begin’) series for now, they are not done taking the internet by storm via relatable and Malayalam cinema-related content.
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“I am an ordinary guy from a small town called Kurumassery near Aluva in Ernakulam district. Not only was I born without a silver spoon in my mouth, but my family has seen more than its fair share of struggles over the years.”
And yet, he always knew that he would be successful and that being funny was enough to do so.
“If you watch our videos, you will know that funny vibes and rib-tickling body language do the trick. We don’t have to use anything else. We are just ourselves and people seem to like that,” he says.
Sarath first entered the world of online comedy when he was a part of his friend’s TikTok video in 2021. It inspired him to start his own TikTok channel, which had been doing well until the Indian government banned the short-form video hosting app in late 2021.
It was after a hiatus that Sarath decided to get “serious” about creating content on Instagram, last year. Now, he is a rising superstar on the platform and he’s hungry for more success.
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“I’ve started a YouTube channel too. We plan to post a few videos every week on relatable content. My neighbours and friends have backed me up well so far — either by featuring in these videos, or giving great ideas, or both. I hope to make you laugh harder in the coming days,” he promises.
People in his hometown and alma mater — UC College, Aluva — deem him a local celebrity. Sarath is optimistic about his future as a content creator. “My time has just begun,” he says with confidence that knows no bounds.
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