Allu Arjun Offers Namaste to His Own Statue, Internet Responds with Memes
The statue features his iconic Pushpa Raj look, complete with sunglasses, beard and his trademark “Thaggede Le” pose.
Allu Arjun has once again become a talking point on social media, this time after a rather amusing moment at the inauguration of AAA Cinemas in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
The actor was photographed standing in front of a bronze statue of himself and offering a respectful namaste. The statue features his iconic Pushpa Raj look, complete with sunglasses, beard and his trademark “Thaggede Le” pose.
Naturally, social media users were quick to turn the picture into meme material. One Telugu comment that went viral read, “Em chesthunnav bhAAi?” — a question many others seemed to be asking as well.
The image also reminded fans of a famous sequence involving Rajinikanth in Sivaji: The Boss, where the Superstar has a larger-than-life interaction involving his own statue. While Rajinikanth’s scene carried the usual mass elevation, Allu Arjun’s real-life moment has unintentionally generated plenty of humour online.
Allu Arjun has often faced criticism on social media for allegedly promoting himself, and the photograph is unlikely to silence those comments. Some users have gone as far as calling the moment “self-worship” rather than self-promotion.
However, there is another side to the story. The statue is based on Pushpa Raj, one of Allu Arjun’s most popular characters. The Pushpa franchise played a major role in taking his popularity beyond the Telugu states and establishing him as a pan-India star.
So, perhaps greeting his own iconic character is not entirely surprising. Still, the visual has proved irresistible to meme creators. After all, when your fictional character gets a bronze statue, apparently the appropriate response is a respectful namaste.
Thaggede Le, indeed.
