An actor serious about theatre, Shreyas Pardiwalla, would cringe at the thought of being on TikTok. But, he succumbed to its charms during the Coronavirus induced lockdown. “As an artiste, you just want to be in front of the camera. I also realised that the platform is not cringe worthy, even if some of the content may be.” What worked for him was when he started channelling his inner Parsi. Even after he “lost” the platform after India’s ban on TikTok, he continued to make the videos and shifted to Instagram. “Parsis from all over the world—UK, US, Singapore, Turkey and even Pakistan—were reaching out to me, asking me to carry on,” says the 28-year-old resident of Warden Road. “Most people I meet now say, ‘I love bawas!’ and then they launch into gaalis, and I am like, ‘hold on’. The representation of Parsis in Bollywood has been clichéd, so for them to see a true-life Parsi speaking sweet Gujarati, is funny!” 

Shreyas Pardiwalla dons a scarf for some of the videos and just like that, transforms seamlessly into an old Parsi woman