The fictional character of Nesamani has provided the much-needed laughter dose to Indians in the last couple of days with the hashtag #Pray_for_Nesamani trending globally. While north Indians wondered who Nesamani was, Tamilians used the opportunity to add insult to injury with unending memes and jokes. The conversation soon hilariously moved in the direction of Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami as users demanded a prime time debate on his channel over the health of Nesamani.
The conversation on Nesamani also coincided with the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This prompted twitterati to jokingly ask if Nesamani had been included in the new cabinet of Narendra Modi.
Dear @narendramodi Ji why no cabinet post for @RubikaLiyaquat , @anjanaomkashyap , @rahulkanwal , @republic ‘s Arnab Goswami
Kindly allocate some posts these ppl
— NesaMani Exhuman (@Aslam_khader) May 30, 2019
Arnab be like: The Nation Wants to know Who is #Nesamani LOL..!!
— Allan (@allan_andy) May 30, 2019
Nesamani has agreed to give Republic the first interview after discharge.
– Arnab Goswami
— EswaR ?? (@Ear_ToTheGround) May 30, 2019
Today’s Arnab Goswami’s 9 pm TV Panel Discussion is on the Topic “‘INDIA WANTS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPEND TO CONTRACTOR NESAMANI ” #Pray_for_Neasamani
— True Indian (@trueindianfan) May 29, 2019
Arnab didn’t #Pray_for_Neasamani
He is an anti-Tamil
Let’s make it loud and clear— Contractor Ashik (@allmen__mustdie) May 30, 2019
In reality, Nesamani is a fictional character from hit 2001 Tamil comedy film Friends, where he gets injured after a hammer falls on his head. The character of Nesamani, who’s a painting contractor in the film, was played by actor Vadivelu. The ‘culprit’ accidentally dropping the hammer on Neasamani’s head was the film’s character Krishnamoorthy, played by Ramesh Khanna.
It appeared that some Tamil social media users were keen to have a laugh ahead of Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, scheduled for 30 May (today), so they started this quirky trend. Many social media users were seen taking pride in stopping the BJP’s entry into Tamil Nadu in the just-concluded parliamentary polls. The Nesamani meme fest, they said, was a great stress buster to deal with the ‘sadness’ of Modi’s election as India’s prime minister for the second term.
It all started with a Pakistani Facebook page posting a photo of a hammer on 27 May with a question, “What is the name of the tool in your country?” Nesamani fans seized the opportunity to cause a laughter riots as they explained the importance of hammer, known as suthiyal, Tamil for Hammer, in the 2001 comedy film Friends, where Nesamani had got himself injured.
Local TV channels reached out to actor Vadivelu, who doesn’t exist on social media, for his reactions on the trending phenomenon. He was susprised that he had become famous globally as he asked, “What? It has become famous across the world? Oh god. It has gone to America and everywhere? Thank you. Yes, the movie was with Vijay and Suriya. I have acted in a lot of movies and made the whole world laugh. But I didn’t know about this.”
The actor said that he was pleased that he had become a reason for bringing a smile to faces of millions of people across the globe.