'Stranger Things' Takes Over In Karnataka: Even The ‘Old Man’ Got A Makeover

Last Updated:January 06, 2026, 16:22 IST

Smoke machines pumped mist into the crowd. Sound effects from the series echoed through the night, transforming familiar roads into something that felt like the “Upside Down.”

The monsters of Stranger Things took on that role. Vecna and the Mind Flayer became metaphors for the hardships of 2025. Image: X

On New Year’s Eve in Belagavi, the air usually smells of fireworks, sweets, and anticipation. But as the clock inched toward midnight this year, something else caught the city’s attention — a familiar tradition wearing an entirely new face. The burning of the “Old Man" effigy, a ritual that has marked the end of the year for generations, met global pop culture head-on, thanks to the influence of the Netflix series Stranger Things.

In the Camp area and several neighbourhoods across the city, young artists and organisers decided to reimagine the ritual. Instead of the usual old man figure that symbolises the troubles of the past year, many groups chose a darker, more dramatic avatar.

Stranger Things Galore

The monsters of Stranger Things, from Vecna to the shadowy Mind Flayer became the new symbols of everything people wanted to leave behind as they stepped into 2026.

For decades, the “Old Man" tradition has been a simple but powerful ritual in Belagavi. On the night of December 31, communities come together to build large effigies, often made of bamboo, cloth and paper.

At midnight, these structures are set on fire, marking the burning away of bitterness, loss and regret from the year gone by. It is both a farewell and a fresh start, wrapped into one dramatic moment. This year, that moment turned cinematic.

Effigies With Life

Across several streets in the Camp area, effigies were no longer just static figures. They became full-fledged installations inspired by the eerie world of Stranger Things. Red and black lighting cast long shadows.

Smoke machines pumped mist into the crowd. Sound effects from the series echoed through the night, transforming familiar roads into something that felt like the “Upside Down." When the effigies were finally lit, the flames did not just consume paper and wood — they devoured the monsters of a fictional world that had come to represent real-life struggles.

The creativity behind these displays was not accidental. Artists and local youth groups spent weeks planning how to merge a western pop-culture phenomenon with a deeply rooted local custom. For many of them, the challenge was to respect tradition while speaking the visual language of a new generation raised on streaming platforms and social media.

The result was a celebration that felt both old and new at once.

The Stranger Things-themed effigies quickly became crowd-pullers. People from surrounding villages travelled to Belagavi just to witness the spectacle. Smartphones were everywhere, capturing videos of glowing red skies, monstrous silhouettes and cheering crowds. For many visitors, this was not just a New Year ritual — it was a once-in-a-year cultural show that blended folklore with fandom.

Yet beneath the lights and special effects, the meaning of the ritual remained unchanged. In Belagavi, the “Old Man" has always stood for the burdens of the past year. This time, the monsters of Stranger Things took on that role. Vecna and the Mind Flayer became metaphors for the hardships of 2025 — from personal struggles to wider social anxieties. Burning them at midnight was a way of saying goodbye to fear and frustration, and welcoming hope for the year ahead.

Culture Meets Netflix Craze

What makes this shift especially striking is what it says about cultural change in smaller cities. Belagavi may be a tier-2 city, but its celebrations show how deeply global digital culture now flows into local life. A tradition once shaped only by folk imagination is now being re-designed through Netflix scenes, LED lights and cinematic soundtracks.

And yet, it doesn’t feel like tradition is being replaced. It feels like it is being re-written.

Elders watching the displays smiled at the enthusiasm of the younger crowd. Children pointed excitedly at the monsters they recognised from their screens. Teenagers discussed which character made the best symbol of the “bad year." In that mix of generations, one thing became clear — rituals survive not by staying frozen, but by evolving.

As the final flames died down and people wished each other a happy new year, Belagavi’s streets returned to normal. But the memory of that night lingered — of a city that chose to welcome 2026 by burning not just an old man, but a pop-culture monster too.

In doing so, Belagavi proved that even the most rooted traditions can find new life in unexpected places — sometimes in the shadow of a monster from a television show, glowing red against a midnight sky.

News viral 'Stranger Things' Takes Over In Karnataka: Even The ‘Old Man’ Got A Makeover