Pranjali Papnai, 22, is known for her “unserious” reels that amass millions of views (Pic: @pranjali_papnai)
If you don’t want to get addicted to doing something-making matcha, GRWM or even reviewing beauty products-I you shouldn’t follow Pranjali Papnai – the 22-year-old content creator who brings Gen Z’s internal monologue on the absurdity of everyday life to our phone screens. Meri reel 2 saal purani reel mein bhi maine camera ulta pakda hai. “Agar 1.2 million followers hone ke baad bhi log 2 saal pehle jo content daala tha, uspe relate kar paa rahe hain, then that is more than enough for me. Relatability is the biggest factor you can tap on if you want to be a creator in 2026. We are not the ‘work hard for 70 hours a week and hustle’ sort of people.
Because my content looks the same, “The fact that I am still a relatable Gen Z creator is. So much gets lost in translation.
In a chat with us, Pranjali opens up about how the “unserious” generation functions. ‘Gen Z is unserious, but we get the job done’ Talking about humour, Pranjali says that the seemingly unserious generation gets the job done in its own unique way. A fact of life is the older generation looking down upon the younger one, or “yeh naya batch hi kharab aaya hai” as she puts it.
“I’ve always been this person who, in a group, would be like, ‘Oh my God! This is so funny, say it again,” she tells us. ‘Main dil se bilkul Sarojini se thrifted insan hoon’ From travel and beauty to food and lifestyle, there are creators all over Mumbai, especially Gen Z creators. But what sets Pranjali apart is authenticity. Aaj bhi maine camera ulta hi pakda hai. Mere paas har brand ki perfume hogi, kapda hoga, lekin mujhe nahi pehnna hai. Main hoon hi bilkul Sarojini se thrifted insan, toh main vahi rehna chahti hoon. I don’t want to be whitewashed with brands. Honestly, when I go to events, I dress up. But main dil ke andar se Sarojini hoon. For Pranjali, staying relatable also means resisting the pressure to reinvent her online persona. I have seen a lot of creators who started from zero, obviously became a banger, and then completely changed their aesthetics – the way they speak, the way they look, and even their teeth. I’m not saying that there is anything bad about it. Go for it if the shoe fits! Mujhe agar apne daaton ko leke zyada ho gaya kisi din, main bhi veneers kara lungi, lekin probably apne aesthetics nahi badloongi. You need to keep doing different, newer things. You need to keep experimenting with content to keep having those breakthrough moments in your career so you can stay a relevant creator. “We are always perceived as a very unserious generation, but we are so much more than that. But we still get work done. But how we are doing it – woh aap hum pe question mat karo. Maybe we do not have proper language in an email, but are we able to convey what needs to be conveyed? Are you actually going to look at my words, or are you going to see if the work is getting done? At the end of the day aapko toh productivity dekhni hai. Growing up through the pandemic is one reason her generation became ‘jugaadu’. “Gen Z is a chiller generation, and if you look at it, they have seen these phases. For you to become jugaadu, you have to go through certain situations. Gen Z essentially went through COVID; jab sab kuch band tha. We were still in 12th, or early years of college. Older generations were at least adults. Millennials to Gen Z and Gen Z to Gen Alpha – the cycle goes on. “There is no general hack to life. Every generation would come and would have their own hacks to life,” Pranjali remarks. Eventually, her ‘don’t get the tyre changed with me and ‘don’t get a tattoo with me’ videos led to a massive Instagram following (Pic: @pranjali_papnai) ‘Humour can be a coping mechanism’
‘Tu ek chanda hai, tu ek suraj hai, tu ek sitara hai,’ that was her energy for me. Main hamesha bolti hoon ki famous main hui hoon, ahankari main bachpan se thi (laughs). Aur woh ahankari main meri mummy ki vajah se hoon,” she adds. The generational gap becomes more apparent when Pranjali has to explain her content and brand collaborations to her parents – disagreements, she admits, are not uncommon, but they make peace with it. Looking for trusted parenting advice? Follow TOI Parenting Circle on Instagram for expert guidance, relatable stories, and practical tips delivered every day.
“My mother was always a very supportive person even before the views came in.
If it’s funny, humorous storytelling for someone, then so be it,” she says. She adds that the use of humour is often questioned, but it can act as an awareness tool. “You have your way to process anything. If my way of processing a certain situation, emotion, or scenario is humour, then I will process it like that. It can be my coping mechanism. Zaruri nahi hai ki kuch serious hua hai toh usko process karne ka tareeka bhi serious ho. Humare liye humour was an awareness tool, and we embraced it. Sometimes it gets too much for you to even process what you want to know about it. Aapko pata hai aapka bhi mann gloomy ho jayega, uske baad aap bhi dukhi ho jaoge. Sometimes people will have tunnel vision and will not even see these things. But if it’s conveyed in the same funny manner, it’s getting through to you in whatever medium has been used. ‘Mom was my driving force, dad kept me grounded’ Striking a balance with her Gen X parents, Pranjali shares that her parents initially viewed content creation as a hobby. They helped her make Vine-like videos for YouTube when she was in school and believed this to be another one of her eras. “My parents would get recognised at airports, at public parks, at their morning walks. The first time my dad got recognised at the airport as Pranjali ke papa, he was really surprised! That was the turning point for them,” she notes.