From Akshaye Khanna’s FA9LA memes to Ram Charan’s ‘Peddi’ dance and the Coldplay kiss-cam moment: How 2025 turned pop culture into a nonstop viral loop

One of the biggest meme engines of the year was the Bollywood action spectacle ‘Dhurandhar’. Almost overnight, the film turned into online fodder, thanks largely to Ranveer Singh’s dramatic entry. This sparked the ‘First Day as a Spy’ trend, where creators imagined undercover agents being undone by unmistakably desi habits. Scenes from the film were endlessly repurposed with comic edits, voiceovers and reaction videos, transforming slick espionage into lighthearted parody. The soundtrack and visuals, too, travelled far beyond cinema halls, finding renewed life on social media feeds.

A major highlight from ‘Dhurandhar’’s viral run was Akshaye Khanna’s unplanned dance in the FA9LA sequence. What began as a fleeting on-screen moment quickly became one of the year’s most replicated trends. His quirky, improvised moves inspired thousands of short videos across platforms, recreated by everyone from fans and influencers to families, office teams and sports stars. The charm lay in its spontaneity, combined with the dramatic beat of the song, making it perfect for endless remixes.

Another trend that dominated loop culture came from the upcoming entertainer ‘Peddi’. The now-famous Peddi step, popularised by Ram Charan, stood out for being intentionally rough-edged and grounded rather than overly stylised. When the ‘Chikiri Chikiri’ promo dropped in November 2025, the dance quickly caught on. Its simplicity allowed it to travel across spaces and identities, with students performing it in hostels, athletes recreating it on playgrounds, and office-goers filming playful versions in parking lots and corridors.

Not all viral moments were scripted. One of 2025’s most talked-about real-world clips came from a Coldplay concert in Boston. During the show, the band’s kiss cam zeroed in on a couple whose reaction immediately raised eyebrows. Instead of waving or smiling, the pair visibly panicked and attempted to hide as their faces appeared on the giant screen. The brief moment was clipped, shared and dissected endlessly, quickly turning into a global talking point.

In an unexpected twist, Arjun Kapoor emerged as one of India’s most memed personalities of 2025. A short clip from a 2017 press event for ‘Half Girlfriend’, where he sharply responds to a journalist with “Tune bola?”, resurfaced online mid-year and went viral. The moment, originally a mild flash of irritation, was transformed into GIFs, reels and reaction memes, often paired with dramatic soundtracks and witty captions. Its popularity was such that it went on to become Google’s top trending meme in India for the year.