Chennai: In 2018, almost every day was field day for meme-makers in these parts, as they were supplied content non-stop by top personalities from various walks of life. Nobody was left out by these modern day message-messiahs who take the comedy route to convey even the most serious of criticism. Though some of them went overboard, many made ‘tharamana sambavams’ and earned ‘likes’ and ‘shares’.
POWER POINTS
Controversial self-styled godman Nithyananda, who was accused of raping his former disciple in the garb of spirituality, continued to be the darling of the social media. With his videos that showed him emitting power (courtesy: graphics) turning out to be self-made memes, they also gave enough templates to meme-makers. His ‘this me in me is talking to that me in you’ was trolled ‘dheiva level’.
SUPERSTARU YAARUNU KETTA…
Though Rajinikanth is popular worldwide, a Thoothukudi youth asking ‘who are you’ and the superstar replying ‘Naan thaan pa Rajinikanth’ went viral on social media. It was then followed by ‘Entha ezhu per?’ when the actor asked reporters who sought his response about the seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Though Rajini fans justified their Thalaivar’s acts soon after these episodes, meme-creators were not ready to accept it. And the delay in the floating of a political party by Rajini was another troll topic.
CUBAN CONNECTION
“EPS and OPS are like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. They will lead us.” These words by Minister D Jayakumar paved the way for a meme festival on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Jayakumar, a favourite for meme-makers, started enjoying memes on him. But, at one point of time, he got frustrated and challenged meme-makers to come out with their contact details.
IDLY, THE HOT NEWS
While the public were in shock to know that the food bill of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa during her stay at Apollo Hospitals was Rs 1.17 crore, meme-makers were in joy and flooded the social media with new concepts. One of the memes had the father and son of Arunachalam (both played by Rajinikanth), with the former asking, ‘How will you spend Rs 30 crore in 30 days?’ and the latter replying ‘By eating idlis in Apollo’. Hospital authorities, however, clarified that the bill included the food served to VVIPs, officials and mediapersons.
‘AANDAVAR’, ARIVALAYAM & THAMARAI
Kamal Haasan’s confusing comments, DMK men’s alleged behaviour in public places that were caught on CCTVs, remarks of BJP leaders Tamilisai Soundararajan, H Raja and S Ve Shekher were ‘trends’ on social media in 2018 with loads of memes. With the year ending today, a meme-maker tells News Today: “We are waiting for new concepts and templates in 2019.”
Happy New Year, folks.