I&B Ministry shares meme on Allu Arjun's Pushpa to spread COVID-19 awareness

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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday shared a cheeky meme modelled on superstar Allu Arjun's blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise to reiterate COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. The picture, posted by the ministry's Twitter page '#IndiaFightsCorona @COVIDNewsByMIB' which shares updates on COVID-19, featured Arjun's titular character wearing a photoshopped mask in a still from the Telugu movie.

To fit the context of the meme, the popular dialogue of the film, "Pushpa, Pushpa Raj. Main jhukega nahi (I am Pushpa, Pushpa Raj. I won't back down)" was changed to, "Delta ho ya Omicron, main mask utaarega nahi (Whether it is the Delta variant or Omicron, I won't remove the mask".

The tweet further stated that the country's fight against COVID-19 was ongoing and people should continue wearing their masks, sanitise their hands, maintain social distance and get fully vaccinated.

The action thriller opened theatrically in December to a thunderous response and was also released in dubbed versions including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. Written and directed by Sukumar, Pushpa: The Rise also features Rashmika Mandanna and Malayalam cinema star Fahadh Faasil in his Telugu debut.

According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday, the country reported 2,82,970 new coronavirus infections in a day, taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,79,01,241, which includes 8,961 cases of the Omicron variant.