Listicle: 10 viral moments of 2023

Pathaan released in January and Shah Rukh Khan was officially back. The high-octane masala Bollywood spy-versus-spy flick had no surprises, but it reminded the film industry who’s on top, as if we ever forgot. There were memes, there were trolls, there were box-offce records and there was Deepika Padukone in Besharam Rang and Jhoome Jo Pathaan. Phew!

In the lead-up to the Oscars in March, the RRR team put the pedal to the metal with marketing promotions. We heard Naatu Naatu almost non-stop, on Reels, on TV, in interviews and everywhere else. It won the Oscar for Best Song in March, which was pretty damn cool, so it all paid off.

The dance group came by in March and made several very fun Reels with Suniel Shetty, Virat Kohli and Raveen Tandon, set to Dilbar, Bijlee Bijlee and Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast. Old tunes, new choreography, precise movements. It had to go viral.

Sure, we believe that you bought that banana-shaped bag before the Tik Tok video made it famous. The hold-it-all sling was among 2023’s hottest fashion products. It has no logos, no obvious branding, no bling, no designer price tag. But it holds more than it looks like it can. Everyone tried it out and came away thrilled.

Apart from the shocking final board vote on the Waystar-GoJo deal, the Succession finale also introduced us to the idea of understated shows of wealth. Luxe fabrics, but no screaming monograms, no signature checks. Every brand followed with simpler, quieter styles, but the same inflated price tags. The hashtag #QuietLuxury has over 380 million views on TikTok alone.

American rapper Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, aka Doja Cat, wore an all-red ensemble to Schiaparelli’s Paris Fashion Week show, covered in 30,000 Swarovski crystals and red body paint. Of course, she went viral, with many Indians comparing her to Rajpal Yadav’s Chhote Pandit.

Christopher Nolan’s ultra-serious biopic about J Robert Oppenheimer, released the same day as Greta Gerwig’s fun, imaginative kinda sorta biopic, Barbie. It spawned memes, rivalries, marketing gimmicks and ultimately, sold a lot of tickets and a lot of pink. Barbie won globally. Opp fired up India.

Girl math, boy math, dog math. Turns out we’ve all been doing it all along, and all it took was TikTok creator @samjamessssss to bring it to everyone’s attention. In August, her video explained girl math: the logic some women use to justify shopping. ‘If you pay with cash, it’s free’ or ‘Pizza calories don’t count when you’re on your period.’ Makes perfect sense.

Virat Kohli was waiting on the sidelines during the last league match of the Asia Cup 2023 against Bangladesh. He then ran on to the field, carrying water bottles for his teammates. The funny run made the internet fall in love with him again. Some called him ‘the richest waterboy ever’, but his stunning performance in the World Cup shut everyone up.

One Insta Live from Delhi-based boutique owner Jasmeen Kaur and all our lives were irrevocably changed for a week. Never again can one hear the words ‘So beautiful’ without now also rushing to add ‘so elegant, just looking like a wow’ after it. The phrase that took over Instagram like wildfire. Everyone from Deepika Padukone and Sanya Malhotra to model Ashley Graham and musician Yashraj Mukhate jumped on the trend. So did you.

This Serbian song, Dzanum, has taken over our lives. There are now thousands of Instagram reels, featuring at least one character who is missing either an arm or a leg or is blind – or all three. When other characters realise the limbs are missing, they break into a ‘Moye Moye’. Everyone from Delhi Police to Bollywood actors are doing it. It’s just so hard to get out of your head.

We saw him hang off the arm of every celebrity and billionaire we know. He’s attended every party possible. His interviews are delightfully vacuous: He lives, so he’s a ‘liver’. Orry is a mystery but a fun one so far. Half the internet is obsessed with what he does and the other half wants to be him.