Clip from Balakrishna's Bhagavanth Kesari Film | Source: X, US President Donald Trump

After US President Donald Trump's warning to Iran at the United Nations, Tehran's mission in Zimbabwe responded with a movie clip instead of a formal statement. The clip shows a scene of heavy firepower from a Telugu film and was meant to signal that Iran is far from defenceless. The embassy's social media team, however, called it Bollywood as the dialogues were in Hindi.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump listed the achievements of his presidency and then turned to Iran, presenting it with two options: annihilation or negotiation. He asked the assembled delegates whether he should destroy the Islamic Republic quickly, or drive it into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations.
The Iranian Embassy in Zimbabwe replied on X on Wednesday. Its post said Trump talks about annihilating Iran but knows the country is not defenceless. It then added a jibe, saying the US President had reportedly been watching Bollywood instead of Hollywood, which it suggested might explain his remarks.
The post carried a clip from Bhagavanth Kesari, the action film starring Nandamuri Balakrishna directed by Anil Ravipudi. In the scene, the actor's character takes on the villains with a barrage of weaponry, bombarding them with everything he has. By choosing it, the embassy appeared to compare Iran's military capability to the overwhelming firepower on screen, a message that any strike on the country would meet a forceful response.

Bhagavanth Kesari is a Telugu film from Tollywood, and not a Hindi-language Bollywood production. The handlers of the embassy's account seemingly did not realise this, and the mix-up has drawn as much attention online as the message itself, highlighting Balakrishna's popularity and Bollywood films in the Middle East. The exchange shows how Iran's diplomatic social media is increasingly using pop culture and film memes to address serious geopolitical threats.
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