Bollywood goes all out with a Bernie Sanders meme fest

It was not only Joe Biden, President of the United States of America and Vice-President Kamala Harris, who stole the show at the US Presidential inauguration on January 20. US Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, clicked sitting on a chair with his mask and mittens braving the chilly weather in Washington, became the talk of the town even more than the performances of Grammy-winning musician Lady Gaga and singer-actor Jennifer Lopez.

It triggered a meme fest with Bollywood celebs joining the gang. The latest is actor Sidharth Malhotra, who shared two pictures on Instagram. The first shows him seated on a pink chair, the other has him standing next to a photoshopped image of Sanders on the chair that was captioned, ‘Because Sanskar...#berniesanders’. Talking about it, Malhotra laughs, “I enjoy innovative memes and when the Bernie Sanders memes began to take over the internet, I decided to join in!”

Actor Gajraj Rao, who tweeted a still from Badhaai Ho (2018) with Sanders’ picture, says, “When the image from the inauguration appeared, it was so unexpected from an otherwise serious occasion that, that it immediately made us all smile. It’s important that we always maintain a sense of humour about our daily lives, and I’d like to thank everyone who participated for spreading some much needed cheer.”

A still from Badhaai Ho shared by Gajraj Rao, captioned: ‘Hamare ghar chhota mehmaan aane wala tha, par pehle naraaz fufaji tapak pade’ (Photo: Twitter/GajrajRao)

Brand strategist Harsh Bijnoor feels that it is the responsibility of social media managers to scout for such opportunities. He says, “The task of a social media manager is to hunt for opportunities and they need to make the [celeb’s account] relevant, original and innovative. The idea is to switch to social media into a star. The star in this case was Bernie Sanders.” To this, brand guru Jagdeep Kapoor adds, “It is a way to stay ‘on trend’ more than being relevant. Thanks to instant access to technology and international news, jokes are global too!”

Later, as Sanders appeared on American television show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, he responded to the viral picture and said, “I was just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on”.

Here are all the memes shared by Bollywood celebs:

Deepika Padukone asked fans to the caption the photo. Ranveer Singh commented , “Namak zara kam daalna beti” (Photo: Instagram/deepikapadukone)

Kunal Kemmu captioned his photo, “Har chamakti cheez sona nahi hota ... har footballer Maradona nahi hota ... har sweet dish firnie nahi hota aur har homie Bernie nahi hota” (Photo: Instagram/khemster2)

Mallaika Arora wrote, “Need a caption ....#GettinAsunBern” (Photo: Instagram/malaikaaroraofficial)

Sidhant Chaturvedi captioned, “It’s no poetry till you’re found. #MyNotes” (Photo: Instagram/sidhantchaturvedi)

Actor Priyanka Chopra shared a story on her Instagram from the sets of her recent film

Vidyut Jammwal captioned, “ME:.... HIM: Waiting for my beer and the balancing act to get over #berniememes #berniesanders” (Photo: mevidyutjammwal)

Rannjvijay Singha wrote, “Bus yaar....” (Photo: Instagram/rannvijaysingha)

Parineeti Chopra too took to Instagram story to share a meme

Bhumi Pednekar also posted a Bernie Sanders meme

Interact with author/sanchita_kalra.