
Exploring the Tamil man's obsession with the question 'Saaptiya?'
In India, texting has always carried a certain cultural weight, especially when it comes to flirting. Back in the Nokia 1100 days, where love bloomed over missed calls and thumb stamina (remember pressing 4 three times to type I, 5 three times to type L, and so on?), texting was the safest way to express love without actually saying it. Now the tradition, for Gen Z and Millennials, lives on — with emojis, voice notes, and carefully crafted replies. Yet, one thing hasn't changed for Tamil men sliding into chats. The opener is almost always the same: 'Saaptiya?' (Did you eat?) or the respectful 'saapteengala?'
Memes, centering around Tamil men's apparent inability to go past the ritualistic 'saaptiya?' and its follow-up 'enna saapta?', while speaking with their love interests, often flood our social media feeds. Some of them take it a step further, jokingly labelling them 'saaptiyasexuals' for their undying loyalty to this one phrase. Gen Z has even made it their own by adding their slang to it, calling it the 'Saaptiya Rizz'. Rizz, a slang in popular culture, is short for 'charisma' and is often used to describe a person's ability to flirt or charm others in romantic contexts.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
When Miranda met Andy! Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway spotted shooting together for The Devil Wears Prada sequel
The marketing team working the scene for The Devil Wears Prada sequel is clearly working overtime! Spotted! Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway shoot for The Devil Wears Prada 2 together in New York City (Photo: X) The sequel the rom com crowd has been waiting on for over 2 decades kept surging in and out of headlines earlier this year with a proper confirmation being dropped in May. It proceeded to go into production as the calendar turned to July and since then the streets of New York City have become (a) 'R'unway — pun intended. Anne Hathaway won fans' hearts for the millionth time when she recorded herself getting ready to head to work for Devil Wears Prada 2, in a cerulean blue sweater nonetheless! Now while everyone thought that's all the intel they'd have till the film storms theatres way down the line, Anne has been having quite some fun on her Instagram, even sharing her first ever look stepping back into her Andy Sachs era, though the fit choice feels like Miranda Priestly's sartorial training from the original film has stuck with her (character). Soon enough, she was seen flitting through the streets of NYC, reminiscent of her early Runway days. A casual trench fit stopping a fleet of traffic also made its way to the Internet till it stood completely upstaged by — no points for guessing — Meryl Streep's Miranda! Dress in lavender, tan, beige and the character's trade mark layered white crop bob, it's safe to say Miranda's first sighting from the film completely upstaged Andy's. Now if you thought your little heart stuck in the hallways of Runway from back in 2006 couldn't take it anymore, there's now a shot of Miranda and Andy, erm, we mean Meryl and Anne, shooting together! And of course, the snap is giving us…everything. Miranda is poised is her red bowed heels, a casual white blouse and a slim fit black skirt with a light beige trench for layering. The shell-rimmed sunnies add a chic finish. Andy on the other hand is giving updated rich b*tch millennial energy in her perfectly fitted wide leg white pants and an oversized white t-shirt — with a train nonetheless! White pumps, chunky neck pieces and rimmed sunnies complete the look. Both are being directed to position in the shot that's now going viral and it throws up a host of questions. Have Miranda and Andy reunited back at Runway? Is Runway even part of the narrative? Are they finally equal in social stature? We can hardly wait to have these questions answered! Besides Anne and Meryl, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci will also be returning to reprise their respective roles of Emily and Nigel in the sequel. Kenneth Branagh has been roped in to play Miranda's husband with Patrick Bremmall locked in to play Andy's love interest. The supporting cast too has expanded with the likes of Lucy Liu, Justin Theurox, BJ Novak and Pauline Chalamet have been brought on for undisclosed roles. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is eyeing a May Day release next year.


New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- New Indian Express
A life on the line: South Indian stunt artists battle danger without a safety net
He was the original action hero, a man who dared to do what no one else would. On November 16, 1980, Malayalam superstar Jayan strapped himself to a dream—and a helicopter. While shooting the climax of Kolilakkam in Sholavaram near Chennai, he leapt from a moving motorcycle onto a hovering Bell 47. The scene was already in the can, but Jayan, ever the perfectionist, wanted a retake. What followed was horror: the helicopter spun out of control and crashed. Jayan was killed instantly. He was 41. More than four decades later, the story repeats itself—this time in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. On July 13, 2025, S. Mohanraj, known in the industry as SM Raju, one of Tamil cinema's seasoned stunt masters, died performing a high-speed car stunt for director Pa Ranjith's upcoming film Vettuvam. The vehicle overturned during filming. He was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved. These aren't isolated tragedies. Last year, a car chase gone wrong during the filming of Bromance left actors Arjun Ashokan and Sangeet Prathap injured, prompting a Motor Vehicles Department case for overspeeding. In 2016, two stuntmen drowned during the shoot of Masti Gudi, a Kannada film. The two—Uday Raghav and Anil Kumar—jumped from a helicopter into a reservoir without life jackets. They drowned. The film's lead actor, who wore a life jacket, survived.


New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Maareesan Movie Review: A pleasant ride derailed by a string of unpleasant surprises
This is not the first time we have seen Vadivelu in a full-fledged non-comedic role, and certainly not the last time anybody is going to talk about the actor's seismic impact on Tamil pop culture. What is still surprising is how celebrated and yet unexplored his acting range is. Both in Maamannan and Maareesan, there are instances where Vadivelu breaks down after a moment of abject powerlessness, with similar emotions but wildly different reasons behind them. And yet, you don't see traces of his earlier characters. Sometimes, there is no Maamannan, Velayudham, or even Vadivelu, but just a man conveying a feeling authentic enough that it even crosses the context of a functional scene to move you. From world view to general countenance, there is a stark difference in characterisation between Dhayalan and Velayudham, and it is wonderfully accentuated by Fahadh's nonchalance. He could have played the well-established 'charming scammer' trope for this role and gotten away with it, but he never does. The actor achieves more by doing less and walks away with your respect.