Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing: Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan trends after Mamata Banerjee's gaffe goes viral

India's Chandrayaan-3 on August 23 became the first space mission to make a soft landing near the south pole of the Moon. Hours after the country's historic achievement, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan occupied one of the top spots on the trends list and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has a part to play in it.

To give a background, the West Bengal CM, while speaking at an event in Kolkata ahead of Chandrayaan-3’s moon landing, referred to Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma as Rakesh Roshan in a blooper that has gone viral all over social media.

“First of all, congratulations Isro. Please land safely. We wish you a safe and sound journey. Earlier also, you’ll already know, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had sent people to the moon. We were young at that time. When Rakesh Roshan (sic) landed on the moon, Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from there. And they had said, Saare jahaan se achcha, Hindustan hamara," Mamata Banerjee had said.

Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, was the first Indian to travel to space in 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme.

As Mamata Banerjee's video went viral, netizens took to X (formerly Twitter) to share memes and reactions around the blooper.

"Rakesh Roshan announces immediate retirement from Film Industry. Will venture into space," a user wrote. "Dear Mamata di, It was not Hrithik Roshan's dad 'Rakesh Roshan' who went to space in 1984 but it was 'Rakesh Sharma' from India. Just for your information," another added.

See reactions here:

Meanwhile, in a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country into an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

With this touchdown on the Moon to script history after a flawless 41-day voyage and less than a week after a Russian lander headed to the lunar south pole crashed, India has become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the Moon after the US, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union.