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Bollywood actor Imran Khan was detained in Mumbai on Saturday for participating in a protest in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which is demanding the ouster of India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.

The news of his arrest prompted a wave of reactions across Indian and Pakistani social media, which couldn’t help but draw comparisons between the situations of the Indian actor and PTI founder Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 2023.

The Bollywood star seemed to take the arrest in his stride as he took a selfie from inside the police van and posted it on Instagram with the caption: “Apparently I’m going for a drive.”

Within minutes of the news breaking, social media erupted — not over the charges, but over the headline. Many jokingly pointed out the commonality in the names of the two prominent personalities from India and Pakistan.

Even the Bollywood actor seemed to be in on the joke in his Instagram comments.

From now on, if you’re chanting “Release Imran Khan”, you’ve got to specify the country, like this user from X did.

As did this netizen from Pakistan.

This user just wants both of them out.

Others pulled in yet another Imran Khan — the Pakistani singer-songwriter and rapper, who shot to global fame with his song ‘Amplifier’ — into the meme fest.

This user is wondering if the singer — who was born in the Netherlands — should be worried.

The Indian actor’s arrest also spawned a flood of memes, many of them linked to his debut movie Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na.

For some context: in the movie, the main character, Jai Singh Rathore (played by Imran Khan the actor), has to complete three conditions to prove he is a true ‘warrior’ from his father’s side of the family and one of those conditions is that he should get arrested.

This user used a scene from the movie, showing Bollywood actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah (who played Jai’s parents), to draw the parallel between reel and real life.

In the movie, Jai also has a long-standing (fr)enmity with the local police officer (played by Indian actor Paresh Rawal). This X user made sure to remind people of that.

Later, Jai heroically rides on a horse after leaving prison, so, of course, this user made use of it.

In a fresh wave of protests, the Indian youth-led CJP is demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists.

The demonstrations, centred in New Delhi, have expanded to other cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai. Indian authorities have responded by detaining protesters, shutting down major railway lines and even temporarily suspending mobile internet in parts of the capital.

The protests have also drawn support from Bollywood, with actor Imran Khan among several people detained in Mumbai on Saturday, while actors Vijay Varma and Huma Qureshi have also publicly expressed solidarity with the protesters.