From Akshaye Khanna’s ‘Dhurandhar’ dance to Lionel Messi in India: top 10 viral moments of 2025

Akshaye Khanna’s dance on FA9LA in Dhurandhar

Call it recency bias but nobody had “Akshaye Khanna breaking the internet with a dance move” on their 2025 bingo card, but here we are. In the high-octane spy thriller Dhurandhar, Khanna didn’t just play a villain; he became a meme legend. Shooting in the freezing altitudes of Ladakh, he performed a high-energy hook step while wearing an actual oxygen mask. The sheer “swag” of a 50-year-old actor showing the youngsters how it’s done turned the song FA9LA into the biggest reel challenge of the year.

Only thing better than Akshaya Khanna’s Rehman Daikat walk is the song playing in the background.

A track you don’t understand a word of, yet it gets to your head. Downright addictive🎶🔥 #Dhurandhar pic.twitter.com/N4lDwGIrXd

— Arun Bothra 🇮🇳 (@arunbothra) December 12, 2025

Shubhanshu Shukla’s space odyssey

In June, India didn’t just look at the stars; we sent one of our own to live among them. Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla made history aboard the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. The viral highlight? His live video call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he showed us how Indian food looks like in zero gravity. For 18 days, a billion people followed “Shux” as he became a symbol of India’s growing footprint in the final frontier.

Sydney Sweeny has great jeans

In 2025, Sydney Sweeney remained a constant topic of conversation, for both praise and backlash. From selling soap made from her bathwater to starring in an American Eagle ad that ignited major controversy, she dominated headlines. Her American Eagle ad, where she playfully linked genetics to her “blue jeans”, went viral for its provocative tone. The campaign was later criticised for alleged eugenics undertones and hypersexualisation, triggering widespread online debate.

Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle, oh my god. pic.twitter.com/tDkeGT9R7G

— Sydney Sweeney Daily (@sweeneydailyx) July 24, 2025

Turn this into an AI Ghibli art

Ever wondered what your life would look like if Hayao Miyazaki directed it? In 2025, AI gave us the answer. The “Ghibli Art” trend took over social media, with people turning selfies, pets, cities, and even political moments into soft, dreamy illustrations. While some praised the creativity, others questioned originality and ethics, fuelling one of the year’s biggest digital debates.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Met Gala debut

It finally happened. Shah Rukh Khan graced the Met Gala steps in May, and he didn’t just attend, he conquered. Dressed in a custom Sabyasachi ensemble featuring a Tasmanian wool coat and a Bengal Tiger Head Cane, SRK brought “Indian royalty” to New York. The image of him doing his signature open-arm pose on the most famous staircase in fashion was shared so many times that it practically crashed servers in Mumbai.

 

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Coldplay kiss cam moment

By now, the clip is impossible to miss: a couple caught in a close embrace at a Coldplay concert, suddenly pulling away as the camera finds them. Chris Martin jokes about an affair, and the moment explodes online. Within hours, internet sleuths identified the pair as married senior executives from a New York data firm, Astronomer. As personal details surfaced, outrage and fascination spread in equal measure. The whole thing went so viral that for Astronomer’s disaster management, they hired Coldplay’s lead singer’s ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and it turned out to be a great PR move.

Coldplay accidentally exposed an alleged affair between Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his colleague Kristin Cabot at one of their recent concerts. pic.twitter.com/hsJHV2u5UM

— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 17, 2025

Taylor Swift’s engagement breaks the internet

The world’s most famous “invisible string” finally tied the knot—or at least, the engagement ring. In August, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced they were engaged. The post, captioned “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” became the most-liked Instagram photo of the year. From numerology breakdowns of the date to floral arrangement deep-dives, it was the celebrity event of the decade.

 

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A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

Ee saala cup namdu

After nearly two decades of chanting “Ee sala cup namde” (This year the cup is ours), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 2025, ending an 18-year wait and a long history of heartbreaks for the franchise and its massive fanbase. The win brought the “King of Indian cricket” to tears. Virat Kohli, who had been with the franchise since the inaugural season in 2008 and had previously lost in three finals (2009, 2011, and 2016), described the win as an “unbelievable feeling” and dedicated it to the loyal fans and former teammates like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. The victory was widely seen as a culmination of years of loyalty and perseverance, finally turning the popular fan chant “Ee sala cup namdu” (This time the cup is ours) into a reality.

 

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The GOAT lands in India

Late in the year, the impossible finally happened as Lionel Messi arrived in India for his GOAT India Tour 2025, his second visit after 2011. Spanning December 13–15, the multi-city tour covered Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi. While the Kolkata event saw chaos and fan frustration, later stops ran smoothly with clinics, exhibitions, and celebrity interactions. Joined by Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul, Messi thanked fans before ending the trip with a private visit to Vantara, the private wildlife conservation initiative in Jamnagar.

 

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A post shared by Sachin Tendulkar (@sachintendulkar)

Zohran Mamdani’s Dhoom Machale exit

Politics met Bollywood in the most unexpected way when Zohran Mamdani became the first Indian-American mayor of New York City. But it wasn’t just the win that went viral; it was the victory exit. As Mamdani stepped off the stage after giving his victory speech to the thumping beats of Dhoom Machale, he proved that you can take the man out of India, but you can’t take the Bollywood out of the man.

Zohran Mamdani closes victory speech as mayor of New York to Dhoom Machale. This is like a Bollywood movie in real life 😭🔥 pic.twitter.com/2M9ic2wazO

— sohom (@AwaaraHoon) November 5, 2025