From #10YrChallenge To The Mohanlal Controversy, Indian Cinema’s Top Social Media Moments This January

For the first time in Tamil cinema, a Rajinikanth and an Ajith Kumar film clashed this January. There was also large focus on the ‘Ilaiyaraaja 75’ event that happened early last week, with almost everyone from the industry stopping work to celebrate the TFPC organised-celebration despite the many controversies.

‘Petta’ vs ‘Viswasam’

During the two big Pongal releases – Petta and Viswasam – there were hourly social media updates about audience reactions and box office collections. Petta was an ‘out-and-out thalaivar film‘, said fans. Viswasam was the ‘family entertainer‘, said many who also shared videos of their children crying during the last scene.

While we don’t know if these were scenes from Viswasam theatres, and we still don’t have the exact numbers of the films’ collection, a controversy brewed when Sun Pictures, the producers of Petta, tweeted that the data of social media trackers was not reliable, and people must wait for information from trustworthy sources.

The trackers hit back with a response that many producers, including Sun Pictures themselves, had shared their numbers in the past, like during Vijay’s Sarkar.

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Ajith Said No To Politics

Actor Ajith said no to politics after Viswasam released. This was in response to Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan’s comment, “Ajith’s fans should take the schemes of Modi to the people.” He said, “Such news during the current period leading up to the elections would send out wrong signals that I have political aspirations.” He also said that he had disbanded all his fan clubs for this reason.

His fans and others from the industry saw his disinterest in politics as a high moral stand, and his criticism of other actors’ fan clubs turning into political parties.

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Prakash Raj, Kamal Haasan To Contest Lok Sabha Elections

Last month, Prakash Raj announced his entry into politics and said he will contest Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru constituency.

Kamal Haasan congratulated him, and confirmed that he too will contest Lok Sabha elections and Tiruvarur by-polls in Chennai. Bigg Boss fame Nithya Dheju joined the National Women’s Party and was appointed the president of the Tamil Nadu wing.

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Stars Geared Up For ‘Ilaiyaraaja 75’

About 20 promo videos and invites for Ilaiyaraaja 75 were released by celebrities, and they began doing the rounds right after Pongal. All the big stars confirmed that they would come, and as a surprise for Ilaiyaraaja, AR Rahman, who he has mentored, was invited as well.

Amidst the excitement for the mega event, the accusation of financial irregularities raised against the TFPC board by other producers didn’t seem to be a roadblock. A day ahead of the event, the Madras High Court ruled in favour of the TFPC and held the popular opinion that asking for a stay on the event was disrespectful to the composer.

Details about expenses made for the event were asked to be submitted post the event.

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Celebs Took Part In #10yearchallenge

The #10yearchallenge took social media by storm this month. Joining everyone who posted their then-and-now pictures, celebrities shared pictures of themselves from 2008-09, and some from the decade before that. Mamta Mohandas, Vishnuu Vishal, Varaxmi Sarathkumar, Raashi Khanna, Shruti Haasan, Chinmayi Sripada, Harish Kalyan, Ashna Zaveri and Khushboo Sundar were among the celebrities who participated.

The latest one by Mamta Mohandas was to mark World Cancer Day. She said how the decade changed everything for her, and that she fought cancer tirelessly, stayed strong and survived.

Raashi Khanna recalled how she was bullied as a child in school, but learnt that there was a lot more than physical appearance and never believed that she was not good enough.

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Simbu’s U-Turn On VRV Celebrations

Actor Simbu’s U-turn on instructions to his fans to celebrate his recently-released Vantha Rajavaathan Varuven got him trolled on social media. He asked fans not to waste milk and money by celebrating the film and this was called a publicity stunt.

Then when he heard people saying he didn’t have enough fans, he changed his stand and asked fans to celebrate the film like never before. A police complaint was also filed against him, and he later apologised.

Simbu’s fans however, were angry.

And nothing came in the way of their celebrations.

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Padma Awards Conferred On Cinema Stars; Mohanlal Trolled 

On the eve of Republic Day, this year’s Padma Awards were announced. From cinema, Mohanlal received the Padma Bhushan. Prabhu Deva, singer Shankar Mahadevan, drums Sivamani, lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, Khader Khan, among others were conferred the Padma Shri.

Mohanlal was grateful for the award and said he owed his thanks to the industry. Some on social media, however, trolled and abused him claiming that the award was a move by the BJP to try and ‘persuade’ him to join their party. The BJP in Kerala had earlier approached the actor to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.

Mohanlal, however, spoke to Malayalam Manorama, and said, “I’m doing my job and acting in my films scheduled. I’ve no idea about political offers. I don’t want to respond to baseless gossip.”

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Hansika Motwani Pictures Leaked

Pictures from actor Hansika Motwani’s phone leaked and went viral on social media. These were pictures of her in a swim suit, from her vacation in New York, which appeared on an unidentified Instagram account. They were reported and later taken down from all handles in which they was shared on Twitter and Instagram.

Recently, pictures of Amy Jackson and Akshara Haasan also leaked on social media.

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Hardik Pandya Controversy

The big Bollywood controversy that happened on social media this month was Hardik Pandya’s offensive comments on Koffee with Karan. He spoke about not making an effort to find out a woman’s name at a club: “I’m little from the black side so I need to observe and watch how they (women) move.” He then said he would tell his parents about it, “Main karke aaya hai aaj (I did it today).”

That got people up in arms, and Hardik and KL Rahul, the invitees on the show, were slapped with an interim suspension by the BCCI.

The suspension was later revoked and they flew to New Zealand to join the Indian team in a limited-over series match.

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