From Pappu Pager to Pushpa, how India had a blast with pagers

In the history of communication devices in India, pagers might at best get a page devoted to them. Pagers, which made an entry into India in the mid-90s after the economic liberalisation of 1991, was the evolutionary link between the landline phone and the cellphone. It will be difficult to explain to Generation Alpha what a floppy disc or a CD player is. Pager, one such device, has ironically been resurrected in our conversations due to the spectacular explosions in the hands and pockets of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
However, long before the Lebanon explosions blamed on Israel’s spy agency Mossad, India had a blast with pagers, in a harmless way.
Traditionally, pagers were a one-way communication device through which the user could receive messages but couldn’t respond. It had neither a speaker nor a camera. Therefore, cellphones soon rendered pagers jobless.
Movies, for one, are one of the essential repositories of technology sent to the warehouse of history. And pagers find due place in Indian films. That’s also because of the status that pagers had in Indian society, albeit for a brief period.
Pagers were used essentially by delivery workers in the West. However, in India, which was tasting economic liberalisation, the device found a place of pride. Wide-eyed kids would gawk at pagers fixed to the belt of a well-to-do gentleman. Though there were a handful of companies selling pagers in India, the ones by Motorola were very popular.
That pagers were flaunted in mid-90s India is showcased by Anurag Kashyap in Gangs of Wasseypur 2.
The film, released in 2012 and re-released in August 2024, talks about Jharkhand (then part of Bihar) and its badass gangs of the 1990s. The protagonist, Faizal Khan (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui), flaunts a pager as he lands at the house of his love interest Mohsina (played by Huma Qureshi).

Faisal Khan, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, flaunts a pager in Gangs of Wasseypur 2. (Screengrab: Phantom)

Faizal Khan uses the pager to send across the message of his financial prowess.
The pager, decades after it disappeared from India, also makes a comeback in 2021 in Pushpa: The Rise.
The protagonist Pushpa, played by Allu Arjun, uses a Motorola Gold Flex Pager. The film, directed by Sukumar, was one of Allu Arjun’s biggest hits, and earned him a National Award.

Pushpa Raj, played by Allu Arjun, receives a tip-off on his pager, saying ‘Danger’. (Screengrab: Mythri Movie Makers/Muttamsetty Media)

In a crucial scene in the film, Allu Arjun receives a tip-off on his pager that enemies would be attacking him. The message ‘Danger’ flashes on the screen of his pager, and it paves the way for a fight sequence.
Pager wasn’t just used by Allu Arjun’s character Pushpa Raj, even Prime Video India used it to promote the film.
“What message would you send on Pushpa’s pager?” it asked.

The humble pager also finds a quick mention in the iconic ‘What is Mobile Number’ song in the David Dhawan film ‘Haseena Maan Jaayegi’ (1999).
In the song, the character played by Govinda wooes Karishma Kapoor and asks for her mobile number, to which she responds:
“Sorry mobile nahi
Lele tu pager number”
Pager, however, has been immortalised in Indian movies by the legendary actor Satish Kaushik, who plays Pappu Pager in Deewana Mastana.
If the 1997 David Dhawan film, which had a massive star cast, is remembered today, it is because of Pappu Pager.
Combining ‘tapori’ lingo with a floral shirt, sunglasses and a pager in hand, Satish Kaushik stood out, and Pappu Pager became another everlasting character, like Calendar from Mr India.
Pappu Pager went on to have a fan following of his own, and Satish Kaushik would on several occasions be referred to as Pappu Pager. After Satish Kaushik’s demise in March last year, Govinda, his co-star in the film, said that it deeply saddened him that his Pappu Pager from Deewana Mastana was no more.
Pagers played a blink-and-miss role when it comes to the Indian communication scene, but it was an essential evolutionary link between land phones and cellphones. How it was once an aspirational product has been documented by Indian movies. Indians did indeed have a blast with pagers.