Utho Anarkali

About

Utho Anarkaki is a phrasal template and image macro of a screencap from the 1960 Indian epic historical drama Mughal-e-Azam, where emperor Akbar's son Salim is seen trying to wake up his lover Anarkali. The meme utilizes the phrase "utho anarkali," meaning "wake up anarkali," followed by a joke statement. The meme first appeared on the internet in 2018 and popularized in the year 2019.

Origin

Mughal-e-Azam, directed by K. Asif and starring Prithviraj Kapoor as Emperor Akbar, Dilip Kumar as Prince Salim, and Madhubala as Anarkali, follows the love affair between Salim (who went on to become Emperor Jahangir) and Anarkali, a court dancer.

The earliest known meme made using a still depicting Salim looking at a sleeping Anarkali was posted by Facebook^[1] page "Meem Hakeem" on February 16th, 2018, gathering 64 likes in nearly five years (seen below). The text superimposed on the image reads, "Wake up Anarkali, today is Jumma (blessed Friday), won't you make some Biryani (rice dish)?"

Spread

On May 11th, 2019, the meme resurfaced on the aforementioned Facebook page, with the text edited to read, "Wake up Anarkali, go back to sleep after Fajr (prayer at Dawn)."^[2] The post gathered over 100 likes in four years (seen below, left). The meme was also posted to Twitter on May 21st, 2019 by user @Goldenthrust,^[3] with the caption, "Wake up Anarkali, EVM has decreed that we cry / Let me sleep Saleem […]." The post gathered over 60 likes in nearly four years (seen below, right).

The meme soon became more viral on Twitter, with user^[4] @urbanXpunjabi posting a meme on June 10th, 2019 that read, "Wake up Anarkali, electricity is back, let's sleep with the AC inside." The post gathered over 200 likes in nearly three and a half years (seen below, left). The earliest viral iteration of the meme was posted on June 5th, 2020 by Indian entrepreneur Anand Mahindra,^[5] gathering over 19,000 likes in three years (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References