Dancing Uncle
Sanjeev Shrivastva, an Indian professor, is a casual dancer who gained unprecedented popularity after one of his dance videos went viral. The video was shot May 12 during a ‘sangeet’ (music) ceremony in the marriage of his brother-in-law in Gwalior (MP). He was dancing to a song of superstar Govinda. Govinda himself watched that video and gave his reaction. This was followed by Shrivastva’s meeting with Salman Khan. Being a professor at Bhopal’s Bhabha Engineering Research Institute, his moves were inspired by the Govinda-starrer Bollywood film ‘Khudgarz’. Srivastava was an aspiring dancer during his early years and has been doing dance shows since 1982. His phone hasn’t stopped ringing ever since the video went viral and he reportedly had to take off on Fridays to field calls from fans, friends and media. Srivastava has drawn praises from celebrities like Raveena Tandon, Divya Dutta and political bigwigs such as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan. 46-year-old Sanjeev Srivastava was appointed as the brand ambassador of Vidisha Municipal Corporation.
Netflix and Radhika Apte
Netflix India and Radhika Apte became the talk of the town after three back-to-back collaborations: Kalindi in Lust Stories, RAW agent Anjali Mathur in Sacred Games and Nida Rahim in Ghoul. Apte became a regular face on the online streaming giant. This inspired a lot of memes in social media platforms. The streaming service has been in India since 2016. However, it gained significant traction this year with original content for viewers here.
Taimur
Taimur Ali Khan, son of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kappor, is arguably the country’s youngest superstar right now and he knows it too. Ever since he stepped into this world, Taimur has been the paparazzi’s favourite boy. And boy, does he like to pose. Every single movement by Taimur was tracked by media outlets as Taimur’s popularity in India skyrocketed overnight.
Anushka Sharma
Although the actor had played many characters in her career, the character from her movie Sui Dhaaga spawned memes by the hundreds. From being morphed into the Mona Lisa painting to games, the Bollywood star was candid in accepting the title ‘Memes Ki Rani’ (Queen of memes).A video of her berating a man for throwing garbage on the road from his car, was also proudly shared by her husband Virat Kohli.
Sunil Chhetri
The Indian Football team captain’s tweet urging people to come to watch India play Kenya didn’t just become one of the most retweeted tweets of the year, it also filled up an entire football stadium in Mumbai. The video accompanying the tweet was viewed over a million times. With hashtags like #IndianFootball, #BackTheBlues and #Chhetri100 (to mark his 100th game for India) Chhetri was the most visible Indian footballer on social media.