Why is the world praying for a man called Nesamani?

One man is potentially the most talked about person in the world right now, but everyone is confused as to why.

Contractor Nesamani is a fictional character from the 2001 Tamil film Friends.

Contractor Nesamani is a fictional character from the 2001 Tamil film Friends. Source: Supplied

The Twitter universe is in overdrive for two hashtags, but not a lot of people seem to know why. 

It all started in India, where the hashtags #Pray_for_Neasamani and #Nesamani are trending.

Now #Nesamani is trending second in the world. 

But who is he? And why is everyone praying for him?

Nesamani is a fictional character from a 2001 Tamil film called Friends.

He is played by popular Tamil actor Vadivelu, who is equally confused as to why his character is now making waves 18 years later. 

In the film, Nesamani is a building contractor who struggles with bumbling assistants.

In one scene, he is hit by a hammer - and it's this scene that has led to a thousand memes.
Sowmya Rajendran, a film and features editor from South Indian website The News Minute said it all stemmed from a Pakistani memes page on Wednesday. 

Someone had posted a picture of a hammer asking "what is the name of this tool in your country?".
It prompted a Tamil Facebook user to comment with what it was called in his language. He then wrote "contractor Nesamani's head was broken... with it", but provided no context.
Cue the tweets and memes. Some have been serious, some not.

Many are in on the joke, others are simply retweeting.  

But there's reportedly also a political link to the hashtags. 

Ms Rajendran said many were making mocking references to politics.
"As you know, Tamil Nadu completely bucked the national trend, voting overwhelmingly in favour of the party that did not ally with (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she said, as reported by the BBC.

"In Tamil Nadu, people take a lot of pride in their culture - in standing apart and being different. This is also an assertion of identity. The rest of India doesn't understand us - we walk our own path.
"Vadivelu is very popular here and Tamil Nadu has a very vibrant meme culture. So his films from the 90s and early 2000s are used a lot in memes - particularly in political commentary."

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2 min read

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By Charlotte Lam


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