Evian-les-Bains (France): The ‘Melodi’ buzz made a return to the G7 Summit at Evian-les-Bains in France on Tuesday with a brief but interesting interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni.
A video has now gone viral showing PM Modi and Meloni greeting each other and shaking hands moments before lining up for a group photo with other leaders, including US president Donald Trump.
While the audio isn’t very clear, PM Modi appeared to refer to their popularity on social media to Meloni, as reported by NDTV.
To this, the Italian prime minister said: “Yes, we are the most famous couple on Instagram”.
During his trip to Rome, nearly a month ago, the Indian PM had gifted Meloni a packet of Parle’s Melody candy. This was in reference to the viral ‘Melodi’ term. Sharing the video of PM Modi’s ‘sweet’ gesture on her social media accounts, Meloni wrote, “Thank you for the gift”.
PM Modi and Meloni were seen holding a packet of the popular Indian candy, known by its ‘very, very chocolaty’ tagline, as they laughed over the cheerful internet trend. In the clip, the Italian prime minister says: “Prime Minister Modi brought as a gift a very, very good toffee.”
“Melody,” PM Modi said.
The term ‘Melodi’ was coined in jest after the bilateral meeting between the two leaders in 2023. Often used in many viral clips and memes depicting warm, unscripted moments between the two leaders at multilateral summits, the term has helped rack up millions of views.
In 2024, Meloni had herself used the term in a post, along with a selfie with PM Modi. “Hi friends, from #Melodi,” she had posted on X. Again in June 2025, she posted a selfie video with PM Modi from their G7 Summit interactions and captioned it as: “Hello, from the Melodi team.”
The warm, personal bond between the two leaders is not a mere photo opportunity though. It is foreign policy in motion. Italy has emerged as India’s most consequential global partner, with both nations working towards the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that anchors Rome as Europe’s gateway to the Indo-Pacific.
Bilateral trade between the two nations has also crossed $16.77 billion.
