A scene from a commercial.
Not long ago hardly anyone had heard of Kodinhi, a small village in Malappuram district. However, almost overnight, it attracted widespread attention and turned Kodinhi and his people into a social media sensation.
E-commerce giant Flipkart’s summer sale ad added to that glory. Scenes showing Kodinhi’s twins in light-hearted and funny situations quickly went viral, with people laughing, sharing and replaying them on social media.
The bottom line
The ad opens with a cheery line: “Welcome to Kodinhi, the record holder for the number of twins. Double is in the DNA here.” It arouses curiosity from the very beginning.
In the ad, the Kodinhi twins become a playful symbol of Flipkart’s ‘SaSa Lele’ summer sale, which is built around buy-one-get-one offers. In the world of advertising, it seems that everyone in Kodinhi has a twin, just as every purchase on the platform comes with extras.
A scene from a commercial.
The scenes are simple yet memorable. In one, a nurse gently places a newborn baby in his mother’s arms and says, “Congratulations, it’s a boy.” Before the moment calms down, another nurse walks in, holding the second baby just like the first, smiling, “Boy, get one.
In another scene, a man rushes to the police station, worried about his missing brother. When the officer asks for a photo, he takes a close-up selfie and shows it to the officer. The inspector recognizes the missing person.
Then comes the love scene where the young man looks into his fiancée’s eyes and promises ‘you are the only one in this world for me’. Just then, her twin brother walks by. He is agape when she raises her hand in annoyance.
True story
The ad reinforces the message that nothing in Kodinhi comes by itself. But behind the laughter and viral fame was a real story. Kodinhi has long been known for its unusually high number of twins, nearly 400 pairs in a village of only 2,000 families. No one knew exactly why. There was conjecture, theories and endless curiosity, but no clear answer. Media from all over India and even from other countries visited and tried to understand the mystery.
However, it was never strange for the people of Kodinhi. It was just life. Two children run to school side by side. Two friends who answer to the same name. Two smiles where the world expected one.
The ad may have made Kodinhi famous, but it didn’t create his magic. She showed the world only what had always been there: a village where life comes in pairs, where joy quietly doubles, and where being “one” sometimes means being two.
Published – 06 May 2026 20:53 IST
