World Features

November 2020 Recap: Top Social Media Moments

By Ramya Ashok Kumar
https://twitter.com/kunalkamra88/photo , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kamala_Harris_official_photo_(cropped2).jpg

2020 has arguably been one of the saddest in human history. The good news – there’s only a month left. November saw the end of the Trump presidency, the Grammy awards nominations come out dogged with controversies, and the release of a number of trailers (including Kamal Haasan‘s Vikram and Vijay‘s Master) as a battered but not beaten film industry rallied.

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While social distancing ensured overall less football outdoors, social media had much to say about this and more. Here’s a look at some of the top social media moments of November 2020.

The Sunburn Festival gets burned

It doesn’t happen often, but in the first week of November, social media users gathered for something good.

Sunburn, the famous electronic dance music festival was originally scheduled to be held in Vagator, Goa, on December 27, 28, and 29. Organisers said “your safety is our priority” and posted a set of rules that they were adhering to while organising the event.

However, the announcement did not sit well with social media users, who immediately called the organisers out for holding the event amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Within a week, the organisers had to announce that the event had been rescheduled.

Teaser Release Alert

The film industry has been one of the worst affected by the pandemic, but it has now begun to ride over the storm. Many film teasers and trailers released in November, with some gathering more chatter than others. Among these were the teasers of two Lokesh Kanagaraj‘s films – Vikram, starring Kamal Haasan, and Master, starring Vijay.

1. Vikram Title Trailer Released

On Kamal Haasan’s birthday, the title teaser of his upcoming movie with Kanagaraj, Vikram, was released. Though called a title teaser, the two-minute-long video was arguably a theatrical trailer on its own.

While many fans seemed impressed, some criticised Kanagaraj for allegedly ripping off scenes from the trailer of the Netflix show Narcos Mexico, Season 2.

2. Master Teaser Released

After months of begging Kanagaraj for Master updates, Vijay fans were finally treated to the teaser of the film on Diwali. Not even a month has passed and the one-and-a-half minute-long teaser already has over 42 million views on YouTube.

Recently, there were rumours that Master would be released directly on an OTT platform. However, the filmmakers confirmed that the film would be releasing in theatres only.

It looks like there’s more impetus now for fans to ask for some Valimai updates from Boney Kapoor.

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Kamala Harris ‘s Victory Spurs Congratulations From Tamils

The much anticipated US elections results were announced in November and Joe Biden, representing the Democrats, won the presidential race. Asian-American Kamala Harris will now become the Vice-President, making her the first ever woman of colour to hold the post.

A video from Harris to Biden saying, “We did it, Joe,” hit more than 20 million views and 2 million shares. Soon after their victory, Tamils began taking to social media to congratulate Harris. Harris has roots in Tamil Nadu.

Harris’ mother came to the United States at the age of 19.

Where’s Sai Pallavi?

Dhanush‘s music video of Rowdy Baby from the movie Maari 2 had 1 billion views on YouTube in November. However, social media users were quick to point out that the appreciation video posted by Wunderbar Studios, the production house that produced Maari 2, had not included Sai Pallavi.

Many fans felt that one of the reasons for the song’s popularity and reach was Sai Pallavi’s seemingly effortless and catchy dance steps. Hence, it was not fair to neglect her.

The Weeknd gets snubbed by the 2020 Grammy Awards

It has been a great year for women artists at the 2020 Grammy Awards with a historic number of nominations. Not so for the artist, The Weeknd.

The Canadian pop star was not nominated for even a single award at the Grammys this year. The news came as a shock to many given that The Weeknd’s album After Hours and the single Blinding Lights has been one of the most popular albums of the year.

Many, including The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, Akon and Tinashe, called out the Grammys for corruption.

#ReleasePerarivalan

On November 20, a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Chennai, several Tamil celebrities, including director Bharathiraja, actors Prakash Raj, and Vijay Sethupathi, took to social media to amplify the hashtag #ReleasePerarivalan. They were posting support alongside political leaders and writers asking that Perarivalan, the man arrested in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, be released.

 

Perarivalan was just 19 when he was arrested on charges of purchasing two nine-volt batteries for the bomb that was used to assassinate the former Prime Minister. He is now 48.

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Kunal Kamra’s Joke

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra had tweeted a joke aimed at the Supreme Court, in response to its decision to grant interim bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. Goswami was arrested after he was named in the suicide of an architect, Anvay Naik, and Naik’s mother in 2018. Kamra tweeted:

His tweet did not settle well with the Supreme Court. On November 12, Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his consent to sue Kamra for criminal contempt.

Kamra has refused to apologise or retract his tweet. He went on to post:

 

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Ramya Ashok Kumar is a Social Media Correspondent at Silverscreen India, and can be reached on Twitter at ramyashokumar or by email at ramya@silverscreen.in