India, Feb. 9 -- Instagram feeds are seeing a surge of short character-intro reels inspired by a recent film announcement from actor Allu Arjun. Known as the AA23 trend, the format allows users to turn a normal photo into a Tamil gangster-style reveal video using AI tools, editing templates, and a popular background score. The trend has also spread to TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

The AA23 trend takes cues from a teaser released in January 2026 to announce Allu Arjun's 23rd film, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The announcement used a character reveal format where a regular image shifted into a stylised illustration at a music drop. Social media users have recreated the same format for personal intro reels.

The trend usually follows a simple...