Pappu (पप्पु) is a male

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

in some regions of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The name ''pappu'' is taken from the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

word Pappu (पप्पु) which is a

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

for a small boy in India. Pappu has been used frequently in popular culture (e.g.,

A R Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

's chartbuster "

Pappu Can't Dance ''Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na'' ( ''Whether You Know Or Not'') is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language coming of age romantic comedy film written and directed by Abbas Tyrewala and produced by Mansoor Khan and Aamir Khan under Aamir Khan Productions, with ...

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

's "Pappu can't vote" campaign and

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

's "Pappu Pass Ho Gaya" ad campaign). It has also been used in film titles such as '' Aur Pappu Paas Ho Gaya'' (2007), ''

Pappu Can't Dance Saala ''Pappu Can't Dance Saala'' is a 2011 Indian romantic comedy film written and directed by Saurabh Shukla. The film stars Vinay Pathak and Neha Dhupia, whilst Rajat Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjay Mishra, and Saurabh Shukla play supporting rol ...

'' (2011).

Origins

According to ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bus ...

'', using the name ''Pappu'' in ad campaigns connects with consumers. They also described Pappu as the "darling salesman" for marketers. The first use of ''Pappu'' in advertisement campaign was done by

chocolates in 2006. Abhijit Avasthi of the advertising agency

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City a ...

is credited for the introducing ''Pappu'' into the advertisement world for Cadbury. Cadbury popularized ''Pappu'' through its ad campaign pappu is ballu "''Pappu Pass Ho Gaya''" ("Pappu Has Passed Exam"), which showed a bald, middle-aged man as Pappu, who passed his school exam after many attempts. The entire town celebrated Pappu's success by distributing Cadbury chocolates. In 2007, following the Cadbury ad campaign, the Bollywood film '' Aur Pappu Paas Ho Gaya'' was released which played off the ad campaign slogan, but presented its lead character Pappu as a dimwitted young man. The 2008 film '' Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na'' featured the song "

", again presenting the same idea of Pappu as a dimwitted man, which was one of the top songs in India that year. As a result of these uses, the term "pappu" became more associated with a dim but loveable character.

Latter uses

The name was used in an ad campaign for

Maruti Suzuki Maruti Suzuki India Limited, formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited, is an Indian automobile industry, automobile manufacturer, based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1981 and owned by the Government of India until 2003, when it was sold to the ...

which says "''Maruti Genuine Parts lagaoge to pappu nahi kahelaoge''" ("If you use Maruti Genuine Parts, then you won't be called Pappu"). Pappu has been featured in a traffic awareness campaign for

Kerala Police The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperamen ...

. They created "Pappu the Zebra" as their road safety awareness mascot. Some schools in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

also set up "Pappu zones" in school where students made aware about various road safety rules.

Notable people named Pappu

Kuthiravattam Pappu Padmadalakshan, better known by his stage name Kuthiravattam Pappu (24 December 1936 – 25 February 2000), was a popular Indian stage and film actor. His repertoire of acting was based on his unique style and use of the ''Kozhikodan'' dialect, i ...

(1936-2000), Indian comedian in Malayalam-language films *

Pappu Venugopala Rao Dr.Pappu Venugopala Rao (born 30 June 1948) is a well-known Indian educationist and renowned musicologist. He specializes in Telugu and Sanskrit literature. He is also a writer and has written on varied subjects such as Music, Culture and spiri ...

(b. 1948), Indian educationist and musicologist from Andhra Pradesh . However, Pappu is a surname in Andhra Pradesh region and is not derogatory. *

Pappu Kalani Pappu Kalani (born c. 1951) is an Indian criminal-politician from Ulhasnagar. After emerging as the leader of an organized crime syndicate in the 1980s,Quote: Suresh "Pappu" Kalani: a man who is seen as the personification of this lawlessness i ...

(b. 1951), Indian criminal-turned-politician from Maharashtra *

Pappu Yadav Rajesh Ranjan (born 24 December 1967), better known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician. He won elections to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India) in 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2014 from several constituencies in Bihar ...

(b. 1967), Indian politician from Bihar *

Pappu Sain Pappu Sain (Urdu: پپو سائیں; born 1925/6 – died 7 November 2021) was a sufi dhol player. He performed every Thursday evening at the Tomb of Shah Jamal in Ichhra, Lahore, Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Repu ...

, Pakistani

dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nort ...

musician *

Papu Pom Pom Tattwa Prakash Satapathy, better known by his stage name Papu Pom Pom, is an Indian film, television, Music Director, standup comedian and an Odisha Legislative Assembly candidate. Satapathy has acted in over 50 Odia movies. He was the main le ...

(b. 1977), popular comedian in Odia films

References

{{Reflist Given names