Once confined to the sole job of nurturing the child, the concept of motherhood has evolved — mothers can be friends, and people to learn from. It is important to see them as just another individual who is far from perfect, is still learning as their children, and is a seeker of little joys. In the digital age, mother-child duos are redefining their relationships through art, music, or by just starting new conversations, discovering new meanings to their bonds.
Sanathan Shree Krishnan and Vasantha Sankarraman
(@sanathanogram)
A classical music artiste, and a self-taught music producer, this duo on Instagram is going viral with each of their music videos. For Sanathan Shree Krishnan and Vasantha Sankarraman, creativity has always been a part of their dynamics. “I have definitely inherited that (musical) instinct from her. When I began making content on Instagram and YouTube, I felt it would be meaningful and heartwarming to bring her into the frame. It just felt natural,” says Sanathan.
Their first collaboration was a Carnatic flip of the evergreen Tamil track Vaseegara, from the movie Minnale that received millions of views and support from film stars and celebrities. Sanathan shares, “More than anything, it was the love from our audience that made it special and encouraged us to keep creating together.”
While Sanathan takes care of the music production and mixing from scratch, the vocals are recorded by them together as a team. For them, creating content together has become a ritual. “It strengthens our bond and gives new meaning to what we do,” says the music producer.
These recording sessions are “fun” for the mother-son duo. Sanathan shares a memory. “Whenever I correct a small part of her singing, she gives me that classic “Tirunelveli-ke halwa va” look, which loosely means ‘you’re teaching a pro?’,” he laughs.
Through this whole process of creating music, recording, editing, and posting on Instagram, Sanathan now enjoys seeing his mother through a new lens. He says, “I’ve always seen her as a performer, a music teacher, and more. But creating content together truly enlightened me to what she brings to life through her presence, her wisdom, and her deep knowledge of music, especially with her nuanced understanding of Carnatic and Indian classical traditions.”
Rakesh Raghunathan and Rama Raghunathan
(@therakeshraghunathan)
The pandemic made us try all kinds of viral cooking trends — from Dalgona coffee to banana bread. Giving in to the trends was chef Rakesh Ragunathan adding his own twist. He used his time and his mother’s knowledge to start creating videos. “During Covid, when we were trying to figure out what to do when held up in the house, I decided to use the opportunity to document family heirloom recipes. My mother is known for traditional recipes, but they were not written down. Hence, we decided to shoot them,” says the chef.
The mother-son duo cooked vegetarian food inspired primarily from southern India and also from other cuisines, across the country and the globe. The pair reinterpreted some non-veg dishes into vegetarian ones. Now, they create festive-related, seasonal ingredients and forgotten recipes videos. Their latest was the ‘Nostalgia series’. Rakesh says, “In this series, we show some iconic places that were integral to Madras and their iconic recipes that people savoured back in the day. We try to create them. Take people on a nostalgia drive.”
With similar series and making his mother stand in front of the camera, Rakesh is “giving a mother her due spotlight. Some (mothers) wanted to take up this role, while some were forced. Despite this, they have been amazing culinary legends and bear the traditional recipes passed down through generations.”
Monaa G and Maanvi A
(@Monaa_aashish)
Popularly known as Chennai Mom Blogger on Instagram, Monaa shares the experiences of motherhood unfiltered and her parenting tales with her kid. She speaks about her motherhood journey on the gram, and the brands approached her. “My career began here, and I started involving my daughter in shoots,” shares Monaa.
Looking at her mom being her truest self and enacting in front of the camera, Maanvi was quick to learn. “Earlier, I used to teach her to do actions, and then later, she herself started acting. She loves her mumma’s performance and she is learning from it,” shares mommy Monaa.
They create branded videos on a regular basis and make sure every moment is filled with learning and enjoyment on shoots. “Most of the time, we are together and our bond is getting stronger emotionally, and that is the language of a mother-daughter relationship, I believe,” she notes.
Monaa has cracked the work-life balance code, and she says, “My daughter understands this as well in her life. My career will never impact my current relationship with anyone at home.”
Sneha and Kamala Rani Aruchamy
(@momfluencer)
What happens when two content creators come together? A Pandora’s box of ideas emerges. The collaboration becomes a space where creativity doubles, ideas bounce with more energy, and strengths complement each other in unexpected ways. Such is the mother-daughter relationship of Kamala and Sneha.
“Mom was already creating content related to parenting and lifestyle, and I had my own flair for creating entertainment and relatable content. One day, I suggested we try doing a fun reel together just for laughs — and to our surprise, the response was so heartwarming,” says Sneha. Creating content made them realise they bring out the best in each other, both creatively and emotionally.
The pair usually makes skit comedies that are relatable to a majority of audiences. “Skit comedies mean a lot to my mum. It is just not her creativity in play, but also a reflection of herself. Hence, she takes care of all the pre-production work like scripting, sourcing content, aligning, and I take care of the editing part,” says the law student.
Instagram content creation helped the two find a new layer of partnership. Sneha continues, “We brainstorm ideas, plan shoots, and, yes, there are disagreements sometimes, but we have learned to listen to each other better. Collaborating creatively has given us a glimpse of how we work, think, and what inspires us. It has bridged the generation gap in a beautiful way.”
For Sneha, her amma is more Gen Z than many. “I can see a new dimension of her. She is really cool, crazy, and such an entertaining person. I would like to do a live jam session with my mum while driving in our luxury dream car,” concludes Sneha.
Sneha Jain, Sysha and Hrehaan
(@two_much_fun_sneha)
A mother of five-year-old twins, Sneha creates content revolving around the themes of parenting, toddler meals, and real mom-life moments. “I have always enjoyed capturing moments creatively, by the time my kids turned six months old. I started sharing videos of them eating, feeding, and making adorable messes. While friends and family kept asking for more, a brand reached out for collaboration, and that is when I realised that this is something I truly enjoy and I am meant to be doing this,” expresses Sneha.
Over time, the kids grew “fairly comfortable in front of the camera.” Sneha sits the kids down and explains, “These videos are part of mumma’s work and the brands collaborate with us to promote fun and kids-friendly products, so they have an idea of what I do and I keep things candid and natural.”
Limiting her mother-children videos to three-four a month, she says “shoot sessions add shared memories. It is lovely to look back at videos we were creating, laughing and being ourselves,” adding, “I wish to visit a snowy place like Switzerland with my kids so that we could capture them playing in the snow and have fun.”