Winking sensation
Priya Prakash Varrier became the winking sensation of the internet earlier this year. She rose to fame for her wink in the music video Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the Malayalam film Oru Adaar Love. The video made waves in the internet and Priya’s Instagram account garnered a whopping five million followers. She even surpassed Anushka Shetty and Mohanlal’s followers in just two days. The YouTube song video was trending for a long time and inspired thousands of memes. The 18-year-old, first-year B Com student of Vimala College, Thrissur was also the most searched personality of the year, according to Google India.
#MeToo in Kollywood
While #MeToo stormed Hollywood, closer home singer Chinmayi Sripaada became a sensation after she started exposing sexual predators in the film industry on social media. She accused National award-winning lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual misconduct. She also supported women who came forward and spoke up against Radha Ravi who heads the Dubbing Artistes Union.
Kamal’s party time
Kamal Haasan launched his party in February this year. The actor hosted the flag before conducting a speech and announcing his party name as, Makkal Needhi Maiam. This was received well by his fans who had gathered in large numbers to witness the event. This evoked reactions from the Internet. While fans showed support, a few netizens came up with witty memes and tweets.
#karanarmy breaks the internet
Actor Karan, who fell out of the limelight, made it back with a bang. This time it was because of his fans. #karanarmy started as a fun and went on to become a sensation. He became the talk of the town and dozens of individual accounts shared pictures, video clips from the actor’s movies besides comparing him with contemporary mass heroes.
The sound Shroov….! was used in almost all the videos. Fans call themselves Karanians on social media and went ga-ga over Karanism. The actor was last seen in Uchathula Siva.
Kiki, Nillunillu challenges
The Kiki challenge or #InMyFeelings challenge was quite a trend in foreign countries. It soon became a trend in India with #InMyFeelings or #KekeChallenge. Actress Regina Cassandra also took up this challenge and it became a sensation. In between shoots, the actress, dressed as a woman from a rural place perhaps with mallipoo on her head, does the challenge and totally nails it. Another actress, Adah Sharma, who has starred in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil films, did her version of the challenge, too, where she channeled her inner Vijayanthimala and included bits of Kathak to it.
Similar to KiKi Challenge, the NilluNillu Challenge became a big hit in Kerala. This involved youngsters wearing a helmet and holding some leaves in hand and suddenly appear before a bike, a car or even a bus and dancing. The videos became viral and Kerala Police has to intervene.
Celebrity weddings
There was nine celebrity wedding this year and each was no match to the other in terms of style, fashion, and money.
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra got married on 1 Dec 2018. The wedding took place at the Umaid Bhavan Palace, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. They tied knot both in a Christian and Hindu traditions. Deepika and Ranveer tied the knot on 14 November 2018. The star couple got married in an intimate ceremony in Italy’s Lake Como. Post wedding the couple hosted three reception parties for their close friends and families. Prince Harry married Meghan Markle on the 19 May 2018 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. A star-studded affair, Meghan walked down the aisle in a couture wedding dress by Givenchy, and a five-metre-long white silk veil.
The biggest wedding of the year was Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha Ambani, who tied the knot with childhood friend Anand Piramal. It was one of India’s most lavish weddings and Ambani shelled out over 100 million. Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia had a solemn Sikh ceremony on 1O May 2018 in Gurudwara. The bride informed with her tweet “Best decision of my life.. today, I married my best friend. Hello there, husband!”. And they even had a baby this year!
Actress and daughter of Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor married Anand Ahuja, a businessman. Sonam’s wedding reception happened at The Leela, wedding affair They became the talk of the town with the trending hashtag ‘everyday phenomena’. Actress Shriya Saran married her Russian boyfriend Andrei Koscheev in a secret ceremony on 12 March 2018. Her marriage was very low affair which took place in Mumbai in presence of few close friends and family members. On 22 April 2018, Milind Soman and Ankita Konwar got hitched. The interesting part of their relationship is the age gap between them. Milind’s age is 52 whereas his spouse age is 27. Actress Bhavana and producer Naveen got married in a simple ceremony on 22 January 2018. Bhavana and Naveen dating each other since 2014.
Chai aunty
Somvati Mahawar, a passionate vlogger, made heads turn with her words – “Hello friends! Chai pi lo.”
Her 15-second-video of politely urging the people to drink chai has over thousands of views on social media platforms. She even came to be known as chai aunty after this.
Famous parliament hug
Videos of Rahul Gandhi hugging Prime Minister Modi in Lok Sabha after his speech during the no-confidence debate created quite a stir. Hashtags pappukijhappi and hugplomacy made headlines in all social media platforms. The visuals were repeatedly played across all mediums.
Dancing uncle
Sanjeev Shrivastava, a professor, made a sensation on the internet with his dance moves. A die-hard fan of Bollywood actor Govinda, he nailed all the social media platforms with his dancing skills. A video of him shaking his legs on Govinda’s number in a marriage ceremony went viral. He has been titled as the “dancing uncle”. His fans include celebrities such as Raveena Tandon, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan among others.
Sivakumar’s phone smacking moment
A video of actor Sivakumar breaking a young man’s phone was widely shared online and also led to memes on the subject. Sivakumar’s act did not go well with social media users and he was the butt of the joke for the next few days. Several memes mocking the actor’s behavior and went viral on the internet. The actor later apologized.
