Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
p v sindhu
special
5-cover
collector’s
edition
Shuttle
To
Success
www.forbesindia.com
Bitcoin mania aliBaBa vs amazon
l
January 5, 2018
priyanka chopra
special
collector’s
edition West
Side
Story
www.forbesindia.com
Bitcoin mania aliBaBa vs amazon
l
January 5, 2018
anushka sharma
special
collector’s
edition Ms
Spontaneity
www.forbesindia.com
Bitcoin mania aliBaBa vs amazon
l
January 5, 2018
shahid kapoor
special
collector’s
edition Different
Strokes
www.forbesindia.com
BITCOIN MANIA ALIBABA Vs AMAZON
●
JANUARY 5, 2018
RAJKUMMAR RAO
SPECIAL
COLLECTOR’S
EDITION Almost
There
www.forbesindia.com
Welcome to the
I NDIA
Tablet Edition
Editor’s Note
As in previous years, Bollywood and cricket rule the list, with 46 actors and 15 cricketers
H
ollywood from multiple sources. performance and
actor Kevin They may be estimates, earnings don’t quite
Costner once but we can assure you that converge. That may be
famously they aren’t off the mark, the only explanation
declared that “being a as most of our celebrities for Rajkummar Rao not
celebrity is probably the will vouch for (read the making it to the list, albeit
closest to being a beautiful methodology on page 24). by a whisker. Yet, the
woman as you can get”. As in previous years, 33-year-old who had six
Priyanka Chopra, Bollywood and cricket releases in 2017, would
PV Sindhu, Deepika rule the list, with 46 be for many the star
Padukone, Anushka actors and 15 cricketers of the year. Read ‘The
Sharma and the 17 other (out of 21 sportspeople). Expressionist’ on page 96
women on the Forbes But, beyond the Khans, to know why. Look out
India Celebrity 100 list Kapoor and Kohli, there for Rao in future Forbes
may have a bone to pick are names that provide India Celebrity Lists.
with Costner’s take on a breath of fresh air. It’s not a bad idea to
“It’s also about
winning, and celebrityhood. They Ace shuttler PV look back, too—at stars
winning big.
Which is why may well be tempted to Sindhu, who has followed and superstars from
three of the five retort: “Being a beautiful up her 2016 Olympic the ’90s, ’80s, ’70s and
covers have
women gracing woman is probably silver medal with a even ’60s. One way to
them.” the closest to being a series of victories at the do that is to check out
celebrity as you can get”. world level, climbed 49 the photographs of the
Then again, that may points to No 13. Sindhu 84-year-old Nemai Ghosh,
not be totally accurate. snared some 16 brand best known as the photo-
After all, it’s not only endorsements in the biographer of Satyajit Ray.
about beauty for these period under review, Don’t miss the stunning
women who—as the piece which helped boost her portrait of Sharmila
on Priyanka Chopra on earnings by almost 1,600 Tagore from 1969, and a
page 52 is aptly titled— percent over a year ago. candid moment between
literally have the world at Other non-cricketing Amitabh Bachchan
their feet. It’s also about sportspersons to make it and Jaya Bhaduri from
winning, and winning big. to the list include Kidambi 1973. That’s in the photo
Which is why three of the Srikanth—the only Indian feature on page 124.
five covers we’ve created badminton player to Away from the
for this special issue have win four Superseries titles celebrity parade, we
women gracing them. in a year—and Indian dive into a different kind
The Celebrity 100 list football captain Sunil of stardust—bitcoin,
for the period between Chhetri, the fourth- and the heady levels
October 1, 2016 and highest international goal to which the digital
Best,
September 30, 2017 put scorer in contemporary currency has surged. At
together by the Forbes football. Apart from $18,000 levels, is bitcoin
India team with Salil actors and sportspersons, overvalued? Find out on
Panchal and Neeraj gracing the list are an page 32. Don’t also miss
Gangal steering the assortment of musicians, the story on page 36 on
Brian Carvalho project over three-and- filmmakers, comedians, how Alibaba is slowly
Editor, Forbes India a-half months is based authors and television but surely buying its way
on estimates of earnings personalities. into India to go head to
brian.carvalho@nw18.com
painstakingly compiled On occasion, however, head against Amazon.
58
Priyanka chopra is creating ripples in the West with her varied feats
70
Pv Sindhu is the youngest on the 2017 forbes India celebrity 100 list
24 | A New NormAl
The top three remain unchanged, but surprises galore in
the list of the 100 richest celebrities in the country
44 | HigH oN StArduSt
A rundown of the 2017 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List
50 | to weAr iS HumAN
Being Human may be Salman Khan’s apology for his
brash self, but there’s no denying the higher purpose the
clothing line serves
70 | BeyoNd BouNdArieS 74
Anushka Sharma’s never had a plan to bog her down.
Perhaps the reason why she manages to wear many
hats with elan
74 | tHe expreSSioNiSt
Rajkummar Rao who made realism mainstream is also
one of the most bankable stars of neo-Indian cinema
This page: Photograph by Mexy Xavier (Shahid Kapoor & Rajkummar Rao)
rajkummar rao: Fashion stylist: Anisha & Rochelle;
Wardrobe: Sweater: Brooks Brothers; Denims: Celio India;
Shoes: ShutiQ; Make-up artist: nitin; Hair stylist: Vijay
20 88
3o 3o
India has taken centre stage in Jack Ma’s global plans for alibaba
FeAtureS
croSS Border
82 | BillioN-dollAr BumBle
Three years after leaving Tinder following a nasty
dispute, Whitney Wolfe Herd is beating her former
colleagues at their own game
88 | 30 uNder 30
Forbes’s annual encyclopaedia of creative disruption
features 600 young stars from 20 different sectors
99 | StAr power
How some of the 30 under 30 alumni and newcomers are
shaking up the entertainment industry and beyond Prepare to be inspired by the forbes 30 under 30 list of achievers
recliNer 102
102 | Set iN time
Nemai Ghosh, better known as Satyajit Ray’s photo-
biographer, captures yesteryear’s celebrities in an
unusual candidness
106
Subscriber Service: To subscribe, change address or enquire about other customer services, please contact: FoRBeS InDIA, Subscription Cell, C/o Digital 18 Media Ltd,
empire Complex, 414, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013. Tel: 022 4001 9816 / 9782. Fax- 022-24910804 (Mon – Friday: 10 am - 6 pm)
SMS FoRBeS to 51818 email: subscribe@forbesindiamagazine.com, To subscribe, visit www.forbesindia.com/subscription/
To advertise, visit www.forbesindia.com/advertise/
Readers Say
Making News with great interest the cover story on
Refer to ‘The Internet’s Local Flavour’ PhonePay. I was an avid user of Flyte,
(Issue dated December 8, 2017). Flipkart’s online music download store,
Dailyhunt’s footprint has been growing and its closure disappointed me. Flipkart
by leaps and bounds and the distance could have come up with something
between the news aggregator platform proactive to solve the microtransactions
and its competitors is only increasing. problem. Had it done that, it might have
According to App Annie, an app market rolled it out for different platforms and
data and insights company, Dailyhunt got a headstart over Paytm and others.
has an industry leading market share of V Sitaram, on the web
27 percent. The gap between Dailyhunt
In the wild
and its closest rival has increased
Refer to ‘Visiting Relatives?’ (Issue
from 8 percent in January 2017 to 12
dated December 8, 2017). Primate
twitter.com/Forbes_India percent in September 2017, it claims.
tourism has evolved into a big
Madhuker, on the web
facebook.com/ForbesIndia industry. Reading about Uganda’s giant
The Payments Solution gorillas and monkeys was insightful.
linkedin.com/company/forbes-india
Refer to ‘Flipkart’s PhonePe Calculations’ It seems like a fun place to go to.
www.google.com/+ForbesIndia (Issue dated December 8, 2017). I read Greg Westergaard, on the web
Click Here
Magazine ForbesLife India Thought Leadership Web Special Lists Blogs Multimedia
virtual wealth
The first transaction involving
LeaderBoard
of new cases of breast
cancer among women in
the US in 2017
crowning momenT
US Approval
for Biocon
Holds Bigger
Promise
FDA nod to company’s biosimilar drug
is encouraging for other Indian pharma
companies in the same space
kiran mazumdar- patients from foreign
Shaw’s Biocon Ltd recently drugs and local innovator
surpassed a significant companies, Chandru says.
milestone, winning the first “It’s been a real challenge
approval from the United to get through the USFDA Kiran Mazumdar-
States Food and Drug regulations on biosimilars,” Shaw, chairman and
managing director
Administration (USFDA) he adds. Many in the of Biocon Ltd
for a biosimilar drug Indian industry believe
from India. The nod, for a that biosimilars can do
biological substance used to to the next generation of biosimilar drugs in India. to focus on developing
treat certain types of breast biotech-led companies Biocon collaborated with affordable biologics that
and stomach cancer, is seen what chemical generic Dutch company Mylan NV can make cancer care
as a landmark decision by drugs did to the pharma to develop its biosimilar both more effective and
the biopharma industry. companies—make them Trastuzumab, which is sold more equitable around
“Extraordinary. It’s large businesses. as Herceptin by the current the world,” Mazumdar-
an absolute landmark Biocon’s win raises intellectual property Shaw said in a Biocon
because the biosimilar hopes for other Indian owners Roche Holding Ltd press release. Sources say
guidelines in the US have pharma companies—some and Genentech Inc. The Biocon and Mylan may
been so tough,” says already sell biosimilars biosimilar, comparable in have invested as much as
Vijay Chandru, chairman in India, including Dr properties to the original $150 million since entering
and managing director Reddy’s Laboratories, biologic, will be sold as a partnership in 2010 to
of Strand Life Sciences. Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Ogivri by Mylan and develop their biosimilar.
Chandru, a professor Shantha Biotechnics Biocon. The breakthrough Herceptin patents
at Bengaluru’s Indian and Wockhardt. Biocon, gives them a shot at a global will expire in the US in
Institute of Science, is a too, sells various other market estimated to be 2019. Mylan and Biocon’s
pioneering entrepreneur in worth about $6.9 billion biosimilar for Herceptin
Bmaximage; Top: ShUTTerSTock
the Indian biotech research and projected to reach is also under review by
ecosystem, and has “It’s a landmark nearly $10 billion by 2025. regulatory authorities in
previously led the Indian “The USFDA’s approval Australia, Canada, Europe
biotech lobby, Association
decision as for Trastuzumab is a and other markets. The
of Biotechnology Led biosimilar crowning moment that puts company says the drug is
Enterprises (Able). guidelines in the us in an exclusive league of approved in 19 countries,
The US guidelines are US are tough.” global biosimilar players. including India.
tough in part to protect It strengthens our resolve —harichandan arakali
of discussions, but clearly, is something Amazon checked in advance on a a short span of time,
there is no urgency in can ill afford to ignore. route so a rider doesn’t Sengupta said in his post.
finishing things. This is —sayan cHakraborTy have to fish out his phone —HaricHandan arakali
1. 5. (tie)
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Youth Villages
Tuberculosis & Malaria Blue MerIDIAn PArTnerS
BIll AnD MelInDA GATeS $36 million
Q You were a successful Q What are the $600 million The donation will help launch and
The Gates Foundation’s money, finance YVLifeSet, a programme to
venture capitalist. Now better things? augmenting $12.9 billion donated aid the 23,000 Americans who age
you want to take a Stop requiring calculus, by others, aims to save some out of the foster-care system every
8 million lives and prevent year, assisting their transition to
wrecking ball to college for one, and start requiring 300 million more from contracting independent adulthood.
these diseases.
education. Why? statistics instead. Ask, 7.
Watching my kids in “Hey, Boeing, Microsoft: 2. (tie) Alliance for a
Innovative Vector Green revolution in Africa
school and saying, “What Anyone here doing Control Consortium roCKeFeller FounDATIon
BIll AnD MelInDA GATeS $50 million
the hell?” It’s as though integrals and derivatives $75 million AGRA works to help small farmers
The funds go toward continued across Africa triple or quadruple
educators want to crush by hand?” That’s laughable. development of a trio of their production through better
out of kids the very skills It’s done computationally. insecticides to prevent the spread technology and storage.
of malaria and other illnesses.
and mindsets they need. But statistics—every 8.
2. (tie) Cohens Veterans network
company I talk to is nurse Family Partnership STeVen AnD
Q Why are educators desperate for somebody Blue MerIDIAn PArTnerS AlexAnDrA CoHen
$33 million $275 million
doing that? with data analytics Helps finance expansion of NFP The hedge-funder and his wife
home-visitation programmes founded this network of 25 clinics
They follow a 125-year-old capability, where statistics across the US and improve that treat—for free—veterans
pregnancy and other health (and their families) who have
model. But now it’s much is essential. outcomes for 100,000 young, post-traumatic stress and
worse, with this Game Of lower-income, first-time mothers other ailments.
and their children.
Thrones competition to get Q You recently spoke 9.
4. united negro
into the best colleges. about this to 250 college Susan G Komen College Fund
admissions directors. African-American Health FunD II FounDATIon
equity Initiative $48 million
Q Is online education What did they say? FunD II FounDATIon The foundation’s money will go
$27 million toward mentoring, internships and
the answer? They said, “We like This Komen programme seeks to college scholarships for African-
reduce the black-white breast American students interested in
Let me be the skunk at calculus because it’s hard. cancer mortality-rate gap across science, technology, engineering,
the garden party: Making It’s a good way to compare ten US metro areas over five years. and mathematics (STEM).
it easier for kids to shove the kids.” What a bad 5. (tie) 10.
Tobacco Control Building equity Initiative
math procedures into their justification.
top right: john weber
1
salman Khan
` 232.83 crore
Actor
2
shah ruKh Khan
` 170.50 crore
Actor
3
Virat Kohli
` 100.72 crore
SportS
4
aKshay Kumar
` 98.25 crore
Actor
5
sachin tendulKar
` 82.50 crore
SportS
6
aamir Khan
` 68.75 crore
Actor
7
priyanKa chopra
` 68 crore
Actor
8
ms dhoni
` 63.77 crore
SportS
9
hrithiK roshan
` 63.12 crore
Actor
10
ranVeer singh
` 62.63 crore
aamir Khan (rank 6): wREStLE MAniA Actor
aamir Khan (52) has liVed up to his film PK (2014) was the first to enter 11
reputation of churning out quality the `300-crore club. He continued his deepiKa paduKone*
cinema while ruling the box office. His golden run with another acclaimed ` 59.45 crore
2016 film Dangal became Bollywood’s Actor
film, Secret Superstar, which released
highest grosser minting `540 crore in in October 2017. Khan not only had an 12
domestic collections alone. According extended cameo that was lauded, but ar rahman
to Forbes, the biopic of former wrestling also produced the film, which traced the ` 57.63 crore
coach Mahavir Singh Phogat is the journey of a schoolgirl who aspires to Singer/MuSiciAn
first Indian movie to earn `2,000 become a singer. It had earned over `50
crore worldwide. Khan’s previous crore at the box office by October-end. 13
pV sindhu
` 57.25 crore
*
Deepika Padukone’s team has claimed higher earnings but this is the estimate SportS
on the basis of the methodology adopted by Forbes India.
14
praBhaS (RAnK 22): BruTe ranBir Kapoor
BoX oFFiCe STrengTh ` 55.33 crore
Actor
for The Telugu STar, 2017 haS
been a terrific year. Baahubali 2: The 15
Conclusion, the sequel to Baahubali: SS raJamouli
` 55 crore
The Beginning (2015), had a record-
Director
breaking domestic box office
collection, earning over `500 crore 16
from its Hindi version alone. The aJay deVgn
epic fantasy drama, originally made ` 48.83 crore
in Telugu and Tamil, was dubbed Actor
in multiple Indian and foreign
languages and went on to earn an 17
ariJiT Singh
estimated `1,700 crore worldwide. ` 48.67 crore
Prabhas (38), who debuted on the Singer/MuSiciAn
Forbes India Celebrity 100 List in
2015, is said to have been offered 18
several brand endorsements worth Kapil Sharma
`18 crore during the filming of ` 48 crore
tV PerSonAlity
Baahubali 2 but rejected them as
he wanted to focus on the film. In 19
the past, he has endorsed sports Varun dhawan
utility vehicle Mahindra XUV 500. ` 43.50 crore
Actor
20
amiTaBh Bachchan
` 40 crore
Actor
21
alia BhaTT
` 39.88 crore
Actor
22
praBhaS
` 36.25 crore
Actor
23
raVichandran aShwin
` 34.67 crore
SPortS
it to the Celebrity 100 for the first time. He now Kapoor was honoured Suriya
List for the second year lords over a business with the Padma Shri in ` 34 crore
running. The 53-year- empire that is valued 2017 for his gastronomic Actor
old started off with one at over `1,000 crore exploits, putting him in
show, Khana Khazana, and includes a 24-hour the league of culinary 26
in 1992 that was the cooking channel, a chain elites like Tarla Dalal Kangana ranauT
` 32 crore
longest-running cookery of restaurants, a range of and Imtiaz Qureshi.
Actor
VIRAT KOHLI
SACHIN TENDULKAR 27
Ajith KumAr
` 31.75 crore
smaaash enteRtainment: Investor in
Actor
a sports and gaming arena
univeRsal ColleCtabillia: Owns 21 28
percent stake in Universal Sportsbiz, a sports SAlim-SulAimAn
merchandising and fashion retail startup ` 31.05 crore
sRt spoRts: Owns sports management Singer/MuSiciAn
company
tRue blue: Co-owns fashion retail brand 29
SAinA nehwAl
in partnership with Arvind Fashion Brands ` 31 crore
smaRtRon: Investor in Internet of Things SportS
and Original Equipment Manufacturing
startup 30
saChin by spaRtan: Investor and advisor rohit ShArmA
with the Indian arm of Australian sporting ` 30.82 crore
gear firm SportS
KeRala blasteRs: Has 60 percent stake in
31
the Indian Super League (ISL) team VijAy
tamil thalaivas: Co-owns Tamil Nadu ` 29 crore
franchise in Pro-Kabaddi League Actor
bengaluRu blasteRs: Co-owns Bengaluru
franchise in the Premier Badminton League 32
indian aCes: Co-owns the IPTL franchise AnuShKA ShArmA
` 28.25 crore
Actor
YUVRAJ SINGH 33
PritAm
youweCan ventuRes teChnologies ` 25.69 crore
llp: Co-founded a seed fund with `50 Singer/MuSiciAn
tendulkar: mexy xavier; yuvraJ: dave m. benett / Getty imaGeS; dhoni: daniSh Siddiqui/reuterS
crore corpus to invest in internet startups.
Beneficiaries include Healthians, Cartisan, 34
SAnjeeV KAPoor
Sports365, SportyBeans, JetSetGo,
` 24.85 crore
EazyDiner tV perSonAlity
yRal: Digital marketing agency, a joint
venture with AdLift 35
youweCan: Forayed into the fashion retail BAdShAh
sector with clothing range designed by ` 23.14 crore
Shantanu and Nikhil Singer/MuSiciAn
yuvRaj singh CentRe oF exCellenCe:
36
Cricket training academy rAnA dAgguBAti
` 22 crore
Actor
37
MS DHONI mAheSh BABu
` 19.63 crore
Actor
seven by ms dhoni: Co-owner of
lifestyle brand 38
Fit7 and spoRtsFit: Co-owns the fitness miKA Singh
and gym brands ` 18.59 crore
biKe Festival oF india: Co-owns two-day Singer/MuSiciAn
grand biking fiesta
Chennaiyin FC: Co-owns ISL team along
39
jAyAm rAVi
with Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan ` 18 crore
RanChi Rays: Co-owner of Indian Hockey Actor
League team representing his hometown
40
KARAN JOHAR (RANK 52): SONU NIGAM
STAR OF MANY STRIPES ` 17.35 crore
SINGER/MUSICIAN
THOUGH HE DID NOT DIRECT A MOVIE
in the period under consideration, Karan 41
SUNIDHI CHAUHAN
Johar (45) and his production house, ` 16.17 crore
Dharma Productions, produced three SINGER/MUSICIAN
films—OK Jaanu, Badrinath Ki Dulhania
and Ittefaq—in 2017. While the first sank 42
without a trace at the box office, the other SHANKAR-EHSAAN-LOY
two were well-received. But Johar laughed ` 16 crore
SINGER/MUSICIAN
all the way to the bank by being distributor
to the Hindi version of Baahubali 2: The 43
Conclusion, which earned `511.30 crore SHIKHAR DHAWAN
at the box office, making it the most ` 15.94 crore
successful movie of 2017. He has kick- SPORTS
started the shooting of his next directorial,
a segment for Bombay Talkies 2, which 44
stars Masaan actor Vicky Kaushal. Last SHAHID KAPOOR
` 15.88 crore
year, too, Johar hosted his popular talk ACTOR
show Koffee With Karan on which the
who’s who of the film industry made an 45
appearance. He has now turned radio SONAKSHI SINHA
jockey, playing the role of a love guru for ` 15.13 crore
BADSHAH: SHIVAM SAXENA / HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES; KARAN: AVINASH GOWARIKAR; JACQUELINE: TIANA KAMTE
a radio programme called Calling Karan. ACTOR
46
JACQUELINE NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI
FERNANDEZ (RANK ` 15.10 crore
57): A MIXED YEAR ACTOR
JACQUELINE FERNANDEZ 47
(32) struck gold at the box KABIR KHAN
` 15 crore
office with Judwaa 2, which
DIRECTOR
was 2017’s third-highest
Bollywood grosser with 47
collections of `138 crore. KAREENA KAPOOR KHAN
In the remake of the 1997 ` 15 crore
Salman Khan-starrer, she ACTOR
played her character with
aplomb, and charmed the 49
ALL INDIA BAKCHOD
audience with her comic ` 14.95 crore
timing. The success saw COMEDIAN
her being flooded with
endorsement offers. Her 50
other release, A Gentleman: DAVID DHAWAN
Sundar, Susheel, Risky, ` 14.75 crore
DIRECTOR
got a mixed box office
response, although 51
Fernandez pulled off IRRFAN KHAN
daring stunts in the film. ` 14.38 crore
She featured in Chandran ACTOR
Rutnam’s English crime-
thriller According to 52
Matthew. Her 2018 lineup KARAN JOHAR
` 14.13 crore
includes Drive and Race 3. TV PERSONALITY
By Monica Bathija
guess whether there would fiction The Krishna Key was the first in a trilogy on struck gold a decade or so
be a second book. It was (2012), after which he Shiva and, two books down ago with their first books
only when sales touched co-wrote two books in in the second trilogy about are increasingly making
70,000-80,000 copies that the Private series with Ram, he points at the clues the most of their success.
Sanghi knew a second book American crime writer he has left in each book that This doesn’t just involve
would happen. “Once you James Patterson, and bind not just the current churning out more pulp
have a successful book a non-fiction 13 Steps series but also the earlier on their own but setting
out there then to a very series, co-written with one. “If I had spoken about up content companies
great extent your inertia domain experts. the clues at that time people and collaborative writing.
is also affected because Unlike Sanghi, whose would have said, ‘yeah, Having made a name for
your publisher then starts writing career was more yeah, you’ve got a 25-year themselves, the attempt
following up,” he says. or less unplanned, author plan’. They wouldn’t have now is to extend the
And only when the second Amish Tripathi says he had believed it. But now that brand and create new
52
John AbrAhAm
` 14.13 crore
Actor
54
ViJAy sethupAthi
` 14.08 crore
Actor
55
sonAm KApoor
` 14 crore
Actor
Writer Chetan Bhagat’s website has T-shirts with the author’s quotes on sale
56
revenue streams. and that is my source,” he and Amitav Ghosh, who KAtrinA KAif
The success of Anand says, adding he has nearly are successful writers ` 13.83 crore
Neelakantan’s Asura 18,000 stories. “I can keep across genres. Some like Actor
proved there was a churning out stories as long Bhagat branch out into 57
market for mythology as I have time, that’s what other avenues like speaking JAcqueline fernAndez
of a less conventional I believe. There is no end and motivational talks, ` 13.63 crore
variety—while Asura is to it, no dearth of stories. but most writers haven’t Actor
the Ramayan written from But there’s only that much created platforms, apart
58
Raavan’s perspective, I can do. Twenty years ago, from their books, that KAJol
the Ajaya series is the outsourcing changed the they can monetise.” ` 13.38 crore
Mahabharata from Indian IT industry; I Bhagat, who is also in the Actor
Duryodhana’s point of view. believe if we can find Bollywood space, remains
It also brought his a business model, we in a league of his own as 59
dilJit dosAnJh
way the writing of the can supply stories to a brand; his website for ` 13.36 crore
prequel to the story of the the entire world.” instance also has T-shirts Singer/MuSiciAn
hit Baahubali films, after It’s a model that has and frames with the
director SS Rajamouli worked in the West, author’s quotes on sale. 60
approached him to tell points out Anish Chandy, But books will have to milAn luthriA
` 12.67 crore
the historical epic in three head of digital business be at the core. Durjoy Director
books that are planned to development and offline Datta, who was picked
be made into a mini-series. sales at Juggernaut Books, up by Penguin Random 61
And besides a 10-book deal adding that while he House in 2013, has written imtiAz Ali
(five with Westland, four sees a similar attempt 15 in the last decade. Ravi ` 12.50 crore
Director
with Penguin and one with in India, he isn’t quite Subramanian, who has
Jaico, two of which are sure it will work here. written nine, has with 61
non-fiction) Neelakantan “Right now I don’t see his latest novel branched sushAnt singh rAJput
is looking at forming a a trend of writers who out from the world of ` 12.50 crore
shanKar mourya / hindustan times via Getty imaGes
content company so that are monetising, but they banking to write a general Actor
he can bring to the world are trying to. There are contemporary thriller. 63
the folk and oral tales writers like Amish, Chetan Sanghi writes fiction and AnirbAn lAhiri
he has been collecting Bhagat, Ravindra Singh, non-fiction under three ` 12.44 crore
over the last 25 years. Twinkle Khanna; you different categories—the SportS
“We have a huge oral and could also include people Bharat series, the Private
series and the 13 Steps
64
performing arts tradition, like Ramachandra Guha nehA KAKKAr
series—while mythologist ` 12.21 crore
“ We Can Supply
Devdutt Pattanaik writes Singer/MuSiciAn
prolifically about lessons
from Indian religious 65
Stories To The World.” texts. He also gives talks,
writes columns and
sAif Ali KhAn
` 12.17 crore
Actor
—Anand Neelakantan hosts TV shows.
by prAvin pAlAnde
will like it and some will The rights have been Indian mythology in rights using this statement
not. But it is important to moved from Karan Johar’s schools, and it will rather than getting some
be true to yourself. I don’t company. I have struck only help liberals. Western scholar.
66
SunIL gROVeR (rank 77): tIgeR ShROff
no breaKUP blUes ` 11.94 crore
Actor
ORIgInALLy DISCOVeReD by
the late TV personality and 67
comedian Jaspal Bhatti, Sunil fARhAn AkhtAR
Grover (40) started his career ` 11.92 crore
Actor
with the lead role in SAB TV’s
Gutur Gu in 2010. He achieved 68
fame after playing the characters yuVRAj SIngh
Ghutti, Rinku Bhabhi and Dr ` 11.60 crore
Mashoor Gulati in Comedy SportS
Nights with Kapil and the Kapil
Sharma Show. Earlier this year, 69
pAwAn kALyAn
Grover and Sharma got into an
` 11.33 crore
altercation on a Melbourne- Actor
Delhi flight while the crew
was returning from Australia. 70
After the incident, Grover left DhAnuSh
Comedy with Kapil and has been ` 11.25 crore
ambivalent about working with Actor
Sharma again. Grover has tied up
70
with colleagues Kiku Sharda and VIShAL bhARDwAj
Ali Asgar to launch a new show. ` 11.25 crore
Director
72
pARIneetI ChOpRA
` 11.19 crore
Actor
mohanlal: Yogen Shah / IndIa TodaY group / geTTY ImageS; SunIl: WaSeem gaShroo / hInduSTan
73
TImeS vIa geTTY ImageS; bhagaT: anShuman poYrekar / hInduSTan TImeS vIa geTTY ImageS
MOhAnLAL
` 11.03 crore
Actor
74
ARjun kApOOR
` 10.83 crore
Actor
75
VIR DAS
` 9.95 crore
comeDiAn
76
ChetAn bhAgAt (rank 82): Writing for Millennials ShRADDhA kApOOR
` 9.88 crore
Actor
the wRIteR hAD One bOOk ReLeASe The book also ran into a plagiarism row.
last year, his seventh novel One Indian The movie Half Girlfriend, starring Arjun 77
Girl, which had its share of hype and Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, based on SunIL gROVeR
controversies. The book’s ads were his 2014 book by the same name, released ` 9.83 crore
displayed on Mumbai’s local trains (a in May. Bhagat co-produced the film. tV perSonAlity
first in the publishing world) and Bhagat The book and the film did
(43) went on record to say that as part of reasonably well and the author 78
the research he had his body hair waxed SIDhARth MALhOtRA
has retained a position on the
` 9.31 crore
to write from a woman’s point of view. Forbes India Celebrity List. Actor
The year 2017 has been a breakouT and a master at net play, Srikanth’s convert to the singles game—he
year for 24-year-old Kidambi conquests include reigning World primarily played doubles before
Srikanth as he won four Superseries No 1 Viktor Axelsen, whom he his coach Pullela Gopichand asked
titles (two among them back-to- defeated on his own turf in the him to switch—Srikanth reached
back)—only the fourth men’s singles quarterfinals of the Denmark a career-high rank of World No 2
player and the lone Indian to do so Open, and Chinese Olympic before a leg injury halted his charge;
in a calendar year. Extremely agile gold-medallist Chen Long. A late he finished the year as No 4.
79
Dulquer salMan
sunIl ChheTrI (rank 100): ` 9.28 crore
IN THE BIG LEAGUE Actor
89
kl rahul
matthew aShton, ama / Getty ImaGeS
` 4.04 crore
SportS
90
uMesh yaDaV
` 3.94 crore
SportS
91
shabIr alhuwalIa
` 3.49 crore
CompIled by anShul dhamIja, kathakalI Chanda, kunal purandare, monICa bathIja, ruChIka Shah, tV perSonAlity
Samar SrIvaStava, Sayan Chakraborty
The Rising
major Infosys. “I didn’t want to be an engineer for the
rest of my life,” she tells Forbes India. Pannu, however,
nurtured ambitions of an MBA degree and a high-flying
corporate job. But those plans, too, failed to fructify.
Instead, her part-time modelling career in college
They may not be a part of our helped her bag her first movie Jhummandi Naadam,
List yet, but these are the stars a Telugu drama that released in 2010. Since then, she
has acted in about 20 films and co-starred with some
to watch out for of Indian cinema’s bigwigs such as Amitabh Bachchan,
Akshay Kumar, Dhanush, Prabhas and Mammootty.
by Anshul DhAmijA She also endorses seven consumer brands, including
Panasonic (mobiles), Women’s Horlicks, Honda
(two-wheelers) and hair-care brand Kesh King.
Mexy xavier
92
sugandha mIshra
` 3.39 crore
TV PersonaliTy
93
bhartI sIngh
` 3.25 crore
TV PersonaliTy
nIvIn pauly: The hiT machine JeJe lalpeKhlua: on The Ball
94
the former Infosys employee Is one of hardIK pandya
IndIan football’s most excItIng prospect
` 3.04 crore
the most bankable stars in Malayalam films. since skipper Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua sPorTs
He debuted in 2010 and delivered a string has impressed as much on the domestic
of hits starting with Thattathin Marayathu circuit as he has on the international stage. 95
in 2012. His romcom Premam (2015) earned In 2015, he scored a double, winning the Karan patel
`60 crore and became the highest-grossing I-League with Mohun Bagan and the ` 2.95 crore
Malayalam film ever at the time. A lot of Indian Super League with Chennaiyin TV PersonaliTy
Malayalam movies are made on a tight FC, scoring six goals and three assists in
budget, one of the reasons why Pauly hasn’t 96
the latter. The following year, he helped dIvyanKa trIpathI
made it to our list. But with his foray into India lift the SAFF Cup with three goals dahIya
the Tamil industry this year with Richie and was adjudged AIFF’s Player Of The ` 2.92 crore
(he’s had a bilingual release in 2013), and Year. His exploits have made him one of TV PersonaliTy
about 10 releases between now and 2020, it the highest-paid footballers in the ISL this
could well be a different story in the future. season, earning him a whopping `1.4 crore. 97
Krushna abhIsheK
` 2.90 crore
hs prannoy: SmaSh hiT TV PersonaliTy
disha, Kriti: saChin goKhale; nivin: neilson barnard / getty iMages; JeJe: viJayanand gupta / hindustan
spearheaded the charge of ` 2.80 crore
star-studded 82nd Senior
sPorTs
Indian badminton on the Nationals. Prannoy was the
world stage, climbing 18 most expensive buy at the 99
spots to end 2017 as World Professional Badminton bhuvneshwar Kumar
No 10. The 25-year-old League, with the ` 2.53 crore
made it to the semifinals of Ahmedabad Smash Masters sPorTs
two Superseries events—the picking him up for `62 lakh.
100
sunIl chhetrI
` 2.30 crore
dIsha patanI: BriSK STarT KrItI sanon: caTwalK
2 4
1
actor Virat actor
Sachin
Kohli tendulKar
Salman
Khan 100.72 82.50
SportS SportS
232.83
actor
WHEELS OF FORTUNE: THE TOp DEck’S EaRNiNgS METER
eleven of the top 20 celebrities have seen their earnings dip compared with last year.
riding the Baahubali wave, SS rajamouli has found a place at no 15
2017 earningS (` crore) 2016 earningS (` crore)
17%
232.83
Salman Khan 270.33
170.50
Shah ruKh Khan 221.75
Virat Kohli
100.72
134.44
WOMEN cELEbRiTiES’
98.25 Share in oVerall
aKShay Kumar 203.03 earningS
82.50
Sachin tendulKar
21
58
68.75
aamir Khan*
68.00
priyanKa chopra 76.00
The number of women in The
63.77
mS dhoni 122.48 lisT. iT is eighT less Than lasT
hrithiK roShan
63.12 year’s. They collecTively
90.25
earned `462.58 Cr, around 5%
62.63
ranVeer Singh 67.42 less Than lasT year
59.45
deepiKa paduKone 69.75
57.63
avERagE EaRNiNgS pER
ar rahman 37.50 caTEgORy (` crore)
57.25
pV Sindhu
3.42
55.33
ranbir Kapoor 55.50
SS rajamouli* 55.00
Kapil Sharma
30.17
48.00
34.8 25.44
Sachin: chriS JackSon / Getty imaGeS; Salman, Shahrukh, Virat, akShay: Sachin Gokhale
Varun dhawan 43.50
25.00
* these celebrities were not in the 2016 list in the absence of releases or endorsements
200
aKShay Kumar
150
Salman Khan comedianS tV perSonalitieS
50
Virat Kohli authorS
6.52
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
directorS SS RajaMOULi 55 15
aLLU aRjUN
-71.33
7.74
2,683.31
ajay DEvgN
8.1 502.88
27 81
16
48.83 cHETaN bHagaT
22.75 -68.57
7.15 earnings
82 of top 3
7.53 RaviNDRa
jaDEja
359.23 504.05
34.58 bHaRTi SiNgH
24
8.8 -63.05 3.25
5.75 SHaNkaR-
EHSaaN-LOy 16 93
178.26
18.78
viR DaS
3.75 9.95 28
70
165.33 11.25
75
14
Share of their
Number of Celebrities earnings in the
from the south iNdiaN film overall celebrity
100 list
iNdustry*, iN this year’s list
* ar rahman has not been considered because he has been a part of hindi and global mainstream cinema for a long time
11.6%
earnings (` crore) rank
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 TEaM EaRNiNgS
SS rajamouli 55 15 baaHUbaLi (` crore)
19.63 37
Team ‘Baahubali’
maheSh babu
jayram raVi 18 39
BAChChAn
number of releases First day average collections (` crore)
26.59 7
75 years
Salman Khan
`40 crore
Shah ruKh Khan 19.29 9
average opening-weekend box office collections* of india’s top stars, over the past six years
number of releases opening-weekend average collections (` crore)
0 20 40 60 80 100
Source: boxofficeindia.co.in * net box office collections
how the Khans have dominated the list of the top ten bollywood movies of all time, in terms of box office collections*
1162.56 ` Crore
6 dhoom 3 261.25
7 Chennai express 218.52
8 kick 214.04
sAlmAn khAn
9 3 idiots 202.47
10 krrish 3 198.6
Source: boxofficeindia.co.in
830.93
* net box office collections (domestic)
218.52
alia bhatt 19.3 deepika padukone 34 Salman Khan 28.8
A
up attention for that landmark. Mumbai-based clothing company. The
“We couldn’t keep asking T-shirt was retailed in three colours—
people for donations, so we set black, white and grey—with the
up the clothing line,” says Khan, words ‘Being Human’ printed in small
51, of the start, blowing circles typeface. These were initially made
of smoke into the night air. in one batch of 5,000. “They flew off
We’re seated in the studio the shelves,” says Khan, “So we made
compound under a dimly lit blue tent. another batch and those too sold out.”
Even in the poor light, Khan’s angular, It didn’t take long for him to realise
flutter of activity heralds rough-hewn face and biceps—bulging that he was on to something big. He
Salman Khan’s arrival at Mehboob from beneath his black Being Human licensed the brand to Mandhana
Studios in Bandra, an upscale suburb polo—are visible. The Being Human Industries, run by Khan’s then
in Mumbai. Staff members race to his brand is the soft foil to the obvious acquaintance and now friend Manish
car, whispering in hushed cohesion ruggedness. As is the origin story of Mandhana, in 2011 for the design,
that “he’s here”, while bystanders the venture, which was triggered by manufacture, retail and distribution of
look up from their phone screens. his love for painting. After dabbling clothing and accessories. In December
Khan, who has dominated Hindi in it for a bit, Khan realised he was 2016, Mandhana Industries spun
cinema for close to three decades good and decided to get one of his off its subsidiary MRVL (formed in
along with the other two Khans, artworks printed on a T-shirt. He 2012), which handles Being Human
Shah Rukh and Aamir, has just begun wore it to actor Mithun Chakraborty’s Clothing, into a separate listed entity.
shooting for Race 3. But today, at the son’s film’s music release in late 2010. “The idea was to create more long-
studio, just a few minutes away from Two days later, when he was driving term value for our stakeholders,”
his home, Khan doesn’t want to talk past Linking Road—Bandra’s busy says Mandhana, adding that the
movies. Being Human Clothing, the shopping street—he saw rip-offs of company posted a topline of `216
apparel brand he formally launched his T-shirt all over. “I told myself, crore in FY17 on net profits of around
with The Mandhana Retail Ventures ‘This is it. We’ll sell T-shirts to make `20 crore. Mandhana pays Khan a
Ltd. (MRVL) in 2012 to support money for the charity’,” recalls Khan. licence fee [an undisclosed percentage
the activities of the foundation he A discussion with his family ensued of sales] for leveraging his brand.
set up ten years ago, marks its fifth and the idea took off in a small way At this point, I interject to ask
anniversary and he’s here to drum in partnership with Cottonworld, the him how the name Being Human
came about, a name which took birth to shed. After all, Khan has been rub off on Khan’s otherwise brash,
in 2007 when he set up his charity under the scanner for decades: He controversy-oriented imagery.”
‘Being Human–The Salman Khan was charged with poaching the Sure enough, today Being Human
Foundation’ to focus on health care endangered blackbuck in Rajasthan Clothing is the money earner for
and education for the lesser privileged. in 1998; with culpable homicide when Khan, all of which he claims to put
He pauses, takes a long puff and he allegedly crashed his car into a into charity post taxes. “We don’t
looks into the distance. “Have you bakery in Mumbai in 2002, killing make any money from this venture.
ever heard someone say, ‘Oh I’m just one person and injuring four. Khan After tax, every penny we get goes to
human’?” Before I can nod in the has been acquitted in these cases, the foundation,” says Khan. He calls
affirmative, he continues, “People but the matters still remain under on his staff member Loretta to give
say it when they’ve made trial or appeal within details of the work they do in the
a mistake. It’s an easy way the judicial system. areas of health care and education.
to justify the mistake. So forbes india What of the criticism, She has the facts on the tips of her
c e l e b r i t y 100
what we’re trying to say then, that Khan’s charity fingers: The foundation supports
is that instead of using rank work is an attempt to clean 400 children’s heart surgeries a
the term so conveniently, up his image? “It’s okay if year, provides assistance towards
just try and do your best. no.1 they think so. People say I’m life-limiting cranio-facial surgeries,
Even if it means smiling successful because of what runs eye-camps and women’s check-
at someone when you’re I do with the foundation. ups; it has also adopted two schools
in a bad mood… and to forgive. To If this is the formula to success, they in Mumbai as well as multiple
let it go. I think there should be an should also start charities,” he laughs. educational resources centres in
expiry date on animosity, on hatred, N Chandramouli, who runs a Maharashtra, among other initiatives.
on not being able to forgive. I don’t brand advisory, TRA, weighs in: “One “People who we help want to thank
think you should stretch that too far never starts such a large venture with me for it. But I don’t meet them. It’s
because life is too short to hate.” the only objective being a clean-up. no big deal. There’s no need to take
mexy xavier
This reflective version of the Khan’s motives may be multiple but credit for something that you should
superstar is a far cry from the brash, a positive fallout is that some of the be doing as a human being.” That,
impatient image he can’t seem sheen of brand Being Human will according to Khan, is being human.
forbes india
c e l e b r i t y 100
Rohan ShReStha
rank
no.7
H
she explains. “People would crack
tells Forbes India over a half-an-hour aving worked hard for jokes and I would not understand
call from her New York residence. over a decade to make a them. I didn’t understand pop culture
Chopra isn’t exaggerating. Hers is mark in the Indian film that well, having not spent enough
one of the most successful crossover industry, Chopra knows time there (just 2-3 years of shooting
stories by an Indian actor. The that she’s only scratched the surface for movies). Even in Quantico, I
first season of Quantico (2015-16), of the potential the global platform played an American girl, not a girl
an American TV series in which offers. “I am right at the beginning of from India; she was born and raised
she plays FBI agent Alex Parrish, my [Hollywood] journey. I have not in America. So, every Sunday, I
“I Am rIghT AT The
Beginning Of My Hollywood Journey.
I hAve noT cemenTed my
Getty ImaGeS
A
KevIn WInteR / Getty ImaGeS
Among the other brave choices s a go-getter, Chopra arc lights, what would she want
that she took in Bollywood was has seen the highs and to be remembered for? She pauses
working on diverse and challenging lows that come along for a while and says slowly: “As an
projects like Krrish (2006, India’s first with fame. The actor, achiever, someone with integrity and
superhero franchise), Barfi! (2012, therefore, has a message for today’s as a girl who had big dreams and just
in which she played an autistic girl) youth: “We live in a digital world went after them.” She seems to have
and Mary Kom (2014, a biopic on the where anyone can have an opinion. done well on that front already.
by KathaKali Chanda
Reuben Singh / hinduStan timeS via getty imageS
forbes india
c e l e b r i t y 100
rank
no.13
S
`70 crore and `80 crore), next only to
springs to its feet, flashes pop like indhu isn’t India’s first Virat Kohli, currently Indian cricket’s
corn and requests for sound bites are global icon in badminton. man with the Midas touch. “Life
hurled in the air. A crowd conjures It was Prakash Padukone, has changed completely in the past
out of nowhere, phone cameras who, in 1980, put India year. I can’t go out and shop, I get
flip into selfie mode and kids with on the world map by winning the mobbed. At movie theatres, I have
autograph books run with the people All-England Championships and to leave before the lights are back.
thronging her 5’11’’, lithe frame. becoming World No 1. Two decades But,” she adds as an afterthought,
Sindhu obliges all, sometimes later, in 2001, Pullela Gopichand, “I quite enjoy it. It feels nice.”
even doubling up to fit into the photo now Sindhu’s mentor, repeated the Sometimes, this candour is a
frame. At 22, she is no stranger to All-England feat. In 2012, Saina refreshing reminder of how young
the frenzy once accorded only to Nehwal, a trainee at an academy Sindhu is; a fact that her long list of
achievements tends to bury. Shorn of she won points. We had to work on As a child, Sindhu would
those, she would be just another MBA reversing that.” Heartwarming images accompany her father to the volleyball
student at St Anne’s College, a degree of Sindhu picking up Marin and her court and, just for fun, fiddle with
she is pursuing alongside badminton. racket at the end of the loss in the the badminton racket at the court
Her easy, uncomplicated nature is Olympic final may be reminiscent of next door. As she took to the game,
reiterated when she discusses, among the genial person she is, but infused her parents encouraged her to
other things, her love for Paris, junk in that character now is a combative pursue it. “Many people ask me why
food—ice cream, pizza, burgers, what streak that lets out a roar or a searing badminton and not volleyball. My
have you—and mobile phones. “I “I’m-that-good” look at her opponent father appreciated badminton because
wonder how I gave up my phone for every time she hits an impeccable it was an individual sport and only you
three months before the Olympics, drop or makes an impossible retrieve. can control its result,” says Sindhu.
Sindhu started formal training
W
when Gopi Sir asked for it,” she
says, rolling her eyes. “I must have hile her on-court with Mir Mahboob Ali when she was
been in the zone at that moment, belligerence is new- eight-and-a-half, and, at 10, shifted to
because I had instantly said yes.” found, Sindhu has the Gopichand Academy that offered a
haRSha vadlamai foR foRbeS india; Raj K Raj / hinduStan timeS via getty imageS
But it’s this self-effacing persona always been a fighter. larger pool of sparring partners. That
that Gopichand had to work hard Her compatriot and men’s world meant a punishing daily schedule of
on for Sindhu to curb on the court. No 4 Kidambi Srikanth, who has waking up at 4 am, commuting about
“Off the court, she is one of the grown up playing with her, vouches 28 km from her home in Secunderabad
nicest persons you’ll ever meet. That for it. “We’ve played together since to Gachibowli, where the academy
sometimes would stop her from being the juniors and Sindhu hasn’t ever was located, returning home for
super-competitive,” he says. It’s part lost any match for want of a fight,” school and rushing back to practice
of sporting lore how, one fine day, says Srikanth. It’s also an attribute once school got over. It would often be
Sindhu landed up for training and that defines her brand value and has 10 pm before she would return home.
Gopichand refused to let her play till helped her cobble together a name But Gopichand, known to be an
she stood in the middle of the court even beyond her Olympic success, exacting taskmaster, spotted the talent
and let out one roar after another. says brand consultant Harish Bijoor. powerhouse that Sindhu was and not
“On-court aggression isn’t just Perhaps such on-court spunk only ensured that she stuck to the
about gaining an advantage; it can be is only too natural for Sindhu, schedule but, in 2010, asked her to
quite cathartic,” says Shree Advani, the daughter of Ramana and arrive an hour earlier so that he could
a mind coach who worked with Vijayalakshmi, both national-level spend more time with her. “The first
Sindhu in 2013 and 2014. “What I volleyball players. Ramana, in fact, was thing you notice about her is that she
first started noticing about her was part of the team that won bronze at the would keep on fighting till the end. It
that she was more vocal on court 1986 Asian Games and was an Arjuna was clear that she would be the next
when she committed an error and awardee in 2000, a recognition that big thing in Indian badminton,” he says.
was more subdued and quiet when his daughter would also earn in 2013. “In terms of her athletic physicality,
there were signs that she would Is this sense of responsibility with a global representation and an
become a tall, lanky player. So we made proving to be a tad too onerous? open field. It’s difficult for one person
her train accordingly, started working While her close losses to Marin and to dominate. How do you sustain
extra on her strength so that she had a Okuhara at the Olympics and the yourself amid such stiff competition?
low centre of gravity and could remain World Championships, respectively, Just keep playing and adapting. Credit
steady at that height,” says Gopichand. have attracted questions about to Sindhu’s team for helping her peak
The gruelling routine yielded her finishing ability, Sindhu isn’t at the right time. To continuously do
results soon. In 2012, Sindhu defeated doing herself a favour by losing well at big events is a great thing.”
reigning world champion and Olympic matches where she’s the favourite Gopichand, too, doesn’t read much
gold medallist Li Xuerui of China at and to opponents she has beaten into the claims of inconsistency:
the China Open Super Series. For before. Consider her tame defeats “She’s 22 and already has three
perspective, imagine a 17-year-old to Chinese qualifier Gao Fangjie World Championships, Olympics,
beating Roger Federer in his own in the quarterfinals of the China Asian Games, Commonwealth and
backyard. And then came the two Open, where she was the defending Superseries medals. I don’t mind the
bronzes at the consecutive World champion, and to Japanese Akane occasional losses if she can produce
Championships, where she outclassed Yamaguchi at the French Open. Or the such results. At the end of the day,
Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, who loss to Okuhara, whom she had beaten I don’t expect her to win every
RichaRd heathcote / getty imageS
were part of the Chinese ‘Wall’ that handsomely in the Olympics semifinal. match and tournament she plays.”
dominated world badminton. “At that Nine-time national champion Clearly, Gopichand is betting on
time, when I used to play the top guns, Aparna Popat, though, isn’t worried. Sindhu as the big-match player. But,
I had nothing to lose. I went into these The nature of the game has evolved with competition heating up, she
matches with the mindset of giving my over the past several years, she will have to transform into a giant-
best. But now things have changed. believes, shutting off the Susi slayer in every match if she has to
Post-Rio, I am a lot more confident, Susanti-style domination of the ’90s. upgrade her medal at the Tokyo
but there is a lot of responsibility “Women’s badminton today,” she Olympics in 2020. And a billion
to do well too,” says Sindhu. says, “is just like women’s tennis, Indians are betting on that.
by Neeraj GaNGal
PhotograPh by mexy xavier
forbes india
c e l e b r i t y 100
rank
No.44
Shahid & Pankaj: GaneSh Lad / FotocorP; haider: Viacom18 motion PictureS
Chaubey-directed film ended up
becoming the biggest opening
of his career, collecting `33.8
crore over the first three days.
“I met the literati of the country
when Haider was screened.
Everybody wanted to see it,
everybody had a point of view. So I
learnt a lot from their perspectives.
Udta was no different… it was another
controversial film because we were
talking about a problem that exists.
I think it’s appreciated when you
talk about things that are real issues
through movies,” Kapoor says.
“Of course, films should be about
entertaining people and giving them a
(Clockwise from top): Shahid Kapoor in Haider, one of his most acclaimed performances;
portraying a drug-addict in Udta Punjab; with co-star Kangana Ranaut in Rangoon; with good experience, but that should not
father and noted actor Pankaj Kapur be the only thing they find in cinema.”
By kunAl PurAndAre
forbes india
Errikos AndrEou
c e l e b r i t y 100
rank
no.32
prEvious sprEAd: FAshion stylist : AlliA Al ruFAi; WArdrobE: nush Autumn WintEr collEction 2017;
first film made by Clean Slate Films, to do quality work because the first I am a little bit of a recluse maybe,”
a production house set up by Sharma time she saw herself on celluloid, she says Sharma, who recently tied
and her brother Karnesh in 2014. didn’t like seeing herself on screen. the knot with cricketer Virat Kohli
Another trait that hasn’t gone Others, however, had a favourable in a private ceremony in Italy.
unnoticed is her unselfishness. Ranveer opinion. Celebrities like playback Ranveer is aware of the reclusive
hasn’t forgotten the handholding singer Sunidhi Chauhan were gushing side of Sharma and therefore enjoys
from her during the making of Band about her talent. “Whether she’s pestering her even more. He says
Baaja Baaraat. “She was two films old performing on my songs or acting or although they share a “volatile
then and knew much more than me. doing advertisements, everything that friendship”, he gets tremendous joy
But she was gracious, generous and she does on screen, I see an absolute in annoying her. “But we share a
by aveek Datta
PhotograPhs by mexy xavieR
in a dance reality show. The surgery, I just wanted to act. Though it was goers is in sync with his strengths as
a titanium plate attached to the ankle, a lot of hard work, I never felt tired an actor. “Content is king today as
and crutches, however, weren’t and really enjoyed those days,” says audiences have access to international
enough to dampen his cheerful Rao. “In fact, I feel I used to work stuff and expect the same quality here.
demeanour as he breezed through much harder then, than I do now.” They discard anything perceived
an hour-long conversation and an Rao feels his presence in cinema to be mediocre. Ten to 15 years
elaborate photoshoot in December. was part of a divine plan. Theatre as ago, very few people were making
But there is a crucial difference an activity had just restarted at ARSD this kind of cinema,” he says.
between Rao and his inspiration when he joined, so had the course at Consumers of content gravitating
Khan, arguably the biggest superstar FTII a year before he decided to apply. towards digital as a medium has also
of Indian cinema since the 1990s. It was FTII that, Rao says, fostered allowed actors like Rao to explore
While Khan has been relatively less his growth as an actor, introducing web series such as Bose. It was
experimental in his choice of roles, him to the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, commercially remunerative and
choosing to stick to the paradigm Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. creatively satisfying enough for the
of the quintessential romantic hero While Khan and DDLJ may have actor to devote five months of his
previous spread: styling: anisha & rochelle; Wardrobe: shirt and blazer: paul smith; trousers :
(Swades and Chak De! India were encouraged him to look at cinema as a schedule, gain 12 kg and shave off half
notable exceptions), Rao continues to career, it was another cult film, Shool his head, “since a wig and prosthetics
explore characters that are as different (1999)—in which Manoj Bajpayee weren’t having the desired effect”.
as chalk and cheese. Sometimes, he is plays a police officer fighting a “Rao is an actor who is not greedy
an immigrant from Rajasthan trying corrupt system—that propelled him about the volume of the role he
to make ends meet in the concrete towards experimentation. Bajpayee gets to play, but about the kind of
jungle of Mumbai (CityLights), at is now a friend, Rao says, after cinema he gets to do,” says Mehta.
other times he is a heartbroken groom they worked together in Aligarh, He is open to try new things, even
F
experimental with your craft. unnoticed at the box office and among
Acting and film-making are about critics. He delivered two back-to-
taking risks,” Khurrana tells Forbes back hits Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh
India. “In this day and age, when Mangal Saavdhan in 2017. Shubh
there are lots of options on digital Mangal Saavdhan, where his character
platforms to get edgy content, you suffers from a sexual disorder, is
have to deliver something different an antithesis to Vicky Donor where
to pull people to the movie hall.” he portrays a sperm donor.
The actor, who had made it to The actor admits that the films
from his debut film vicky donor the 2013 Forbes India Celebrity that have worked for him are the ones
(2012), with its witty take on 100 List with net earnings of where he has either essayed a middle-
infertility and sperm donation, to `2.58 crore, adds, “It’s fun playing class person or ones set in small towns.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017), taboo characters and subjects.” “If you’re changing yourself in every
which discusses the much-tabooed His offbeat characters and a film, and for every character, you will
topic of erectile dysfunction, rocking debut with Vicky Donor get exhausted as an actor,” believes
Ayushmann Khurrana’s penchant for notwithstanding, Khurrana could Khurrana. “You [an actor] need to
unconventional roles has earned him not make a mark at the box office establish yourself in a particular genre
a definitive identity in Bollywood. with urban-centric romcoms like first before making a shift,” he says.
The 33-year-old says he has no Bewakoofiyaan (2014) and Meri Pyaari And 2018 will see him do just that. In
qualms about being part of films that Bindu (2017). However, his Dum Laga his upcoming thriller Shoot the Piano
explore beyond-the-pale subjects. “I Ke Haisha (2015), with its message Player, he plays a visually-challenged
think you need to be courageous and against body shaming, did not go pianist. While it’s a new genre for
T
thanks to a phenomenon that was Today, the 34-year-old seems
beginning to unfold in India around to have finally found his feet in
that time. It was called the web series, Bollywood, after two seasons of
a show that can be viewed only on Permanent Roommates and Tripling,
the internet. In early 2014, Vyas both on The Viral Fever channel,
agreed to act in such a show, The and Stories By Rabindranath Tagore
Viral Fever’s Permanent Roommates, on Netflix. He recently starred in
despite being paid a pittance. “I a film, Ribbon, along with Kalki
was like, we are anyway working in Koechlin. Next up is Veere Di
till 2014, sumeet vyas, with 14 theatre for free, so it doesn’t matter Wedding, where he will share the
years of acting behind him, was if they pay or not,” he jokes. screen with Kareena Kapoor, Sonam
just another thespian waiting in the The shooting proved to be more Kapoor and Swara Bhaskar.
wings. He had dabbled in theatre, cumbersome than he had anticipated. Vyas is just one of the many
television and blink-and-you-miss “The first season was supposed to actors on the fringes who has gained
roles in films since he was 17. While be a weeklong shoot. But it took mainstream recognition through
Vyas had wangled key roles in about six days to shoot the first over-the-top (OTT) platforms—
some television serials, he says he episode itself,” recalls Vyas, who was Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar,
always wanted to focus on cinema. beginning to get impatient. After Voot, Viu, AltBalaji and TVF, to
There were tiny roles in movies all, engagements that paid his bills name a few. At the same time,
like Aarakshan and Aurangzeb had to be put on the backburner. convinced by the original and
but, says Vyas, “The last thing that It all changed with the third exclusive content available as well as
did decently for me was English episode, which was uploaded on the diverse and huge reach of those
Vinglish (in 2012).” He further tells YouTube one November midnight, platforms, mainstream artistes, too,
Forbes India over phone: “Film and clocked about 4 lakh views by 7 are jumping on the bandwagon.
actors and directors didn’t pay am. “That is when I realised that it For instance, Radhika Apte, Saif
much heed to TV actors. It was was big and not something that you Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui
almost like making a fresh start after could take casually. By the time the will star in an adaptation of Vikram
spending so many years in acting.” last episode came out, people had Chandra’s novel, Sacred Games, on
However, Vyas did not have to started clicking pictures with me, Netflix; Richa Chadda and Vivek
deal with this obscurity for long, complimenting me,” says Vyas. Oberoi headlined Amazon Prime’s
Inside Edge; Swara Bhaskar is on multiplexes. Meanwhile, most OTTs OTTs seem to have taken note. “One
Voot with It’s Not That Simple operate on a “freemium” model thing we noticed that we had to build
as is Tahir Raj Bhasin with Time where a large part of the content can from ground up is originals, fiction
Out; and Anil Kapoor, never to be viewed for free while users shell series that are of the highest quality.
be kept out of the game, will be out a monthly subscription between There was a need for content that
seen on Amazon Prime’s Oasis. Rs 80 and Rs 500 for exclusive customers couldn’t find on everyday
For the actors, it is about being content. “Digital doesn’t have the TV,” says Vijay Subramaniam,
where the audience is. “If you have same pressure as films in terms of box head of Amazon Prime in India.
to be a movie star, you have to reach office collections. Also, there is no Netflix, for instance, has announced
out to the audience all the time. The censorship. We can touch upon topics four shows from India while Amazon
digital audience is the youth today which are a taboo. For instance, Inside Prime, apart from announcing 21
and this is the same youth who will go Edge had a caste angle,” says Chadda. exclusive shows, has bagged broadcast
to the theatres to watch your films,” “The downside is that everyone now rights to films like Padmavati,
says Bhasin, who earned his stripes wants to do a web series and all the starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika
in movies like Mardaani and Force content is not up to the mark.” Padukone, and Rajinikanth’s 2.0.
2. “In between big studio films, you Ashish Pherwani, head, advisory, However, monetisation still
have to churn out digital content that media & entertainment, at EY shares remains a hurdle. While Netflix
connects with the youth,” he adds. Chadda’s optimism. “OTTs are alive and Amazon Prime do not feature
Bollywood has obviously taken a and kicking. Consumers want more free content, a significant part of
cue from Hollywood, where artistes content for personal consumption the content offered by homegrown
are, in fact, gravitating towards the and OTTs are the best way to do that. businesses comes for free. Most
OTT platforms to stay relevant in an While TV and living room will always OTTs, hence, are exploring multiple
adapt-or-die kind of an industry. Not rule, consumers are individualistic revenue streams apart from traditional
just the actors: Years after his show and want to watch something of subscription. “The propensity to
Seinfeld went off air, comedian Jerry their choice, not necessarily with not pay is something you cannot
Seinfeld reinvented himself for the the family,” says Pherwani. outrun. Hence you have to be
online platform with Comedians in According to a July 2017 report patient,” says Vishal Maheshwari,
Cars Getting Coffee, which was first by EY and Ficci, the digital medium country head at Viu India.
distributed by digital platform Crackle, is projected to clock a compounded All said, proliferation of cheap
and has now moved to Netflix (also annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26 smartphones and inexpensive
the home for his Jerry Before Seinfeld). percent between 2016 and 2021, albeit internet connections have set the
According to Richa Chadda of on a lower base, as compared to TV, stage for OTTs to flourish. And the
Fukrey and Gangs of Wasseypur which is poised to grow at a CAGR actors stand to benefit. As Bhasin
fame, who recently acted in Inside of 11 percent. But, to leverage this puts it, “Digital is the Indian Premier
Edge for Amazon Prime, OTTs are opportunity, Pherwani believes OTTs League for entertainment. With its
the way forward, given the shrinking need to differentiate themselves from quicker and shorter format, it has
number of single-screen theatres and the rest of the pack with exclusive done to entertainment what IPL
the high cost of watching movies in content, among others. And the did to cricket 10 years ago.”
3O 3O
BILLION-DOLLAR
BUMBle
three years after leaving tinder amid a nasty dispute,
30 under 30 honouree Whitney Wolfe Herd is beating
her old colleagues at their own game, offering women
a dating app that’s designed for them—and entrepreneurs
a blueprint on how to succeed in a saturated field
By Clare O’COnnOr
W
hen Whitney Wolfe Herd started more than 70 percent year-over-year growth, to
planning an October launch party Tinder’s roughly 10 percent, it’s closing the gap quickly.
for a new product at Bumble, Bumble began monetising via in-app purchases only
America’s fastest-growing dating-app in August 2016 and will cross $100 million in sales
company, she was deliberate in her this year, a figure that—aided by the introduction of
choice of venue: The Manhattan space that for 57 years tailored, hyperlocal advertising—is projected to double
hosted the Four Seasons restaurant, where regulars like in 2018. Herd turned down a $450 million buyout offer
Henry Kissinger, Vernon Jordan, Edgar Bronfman and from the Match Group earlier this year, according to
Stephen Schwarzman created the ultimate power lunch. sources with knowledge of the conversations. And
PHotogrAPH by JAMel toPPin for forbeS
The space now has a new name, new management these sources maintain that Match approached the
and a new menu. And, as Herd insists, a new perspective company again this fall to discuss a valuation well
on business. “The power lunch is no longer just for over $1 billion. This 30 Under 30 honouree retains
men,” Herd announces to the mostly young, mostly 20 percent of Bumble, a stake that makes her a
female crowd, before ceding the stage to the pop centimillionaire. (Match declined to comment.)
star Fergie. “We all deserve a seat at the table.” It’s a stunning comeback. As co-founder and vice
That table surely now includes the 28-year-old Herd, president of marketing at Tinder, which has reinvented
who has changed the tenor of dating dynamics. By letting how people date and mate, she was part of one of the
women make the first move, Bumble has amassed over great business success stories of the smartphone age.
22 million registered users, to Tinder’s 46 million, and at But then she found herself in one of the era’s great
H
erd’s path to Bumble was unintended. In the
lunch is no family of her then boyfriend
Michael Herd, who’s
months between filing suit against Tinder longer just for now her husband. “I was
and settling, she experienced the sort of men. We all broken,” she says. Trying
online abuse that’s all too familiar to women to give some purpose to
who make public sexual harassment allegations. “I was
deserve a seat this trauma, Herd began
being told the ugliest things by complete strangers, and at the table.” sketching out a women-
BIRDs Of A fEAthER
Niche-dating sites abound. These are some of the best known
the match disappears after 24 hours, like in Cinderella, in surprising dividends. Hundreds of thousands of
the pumpkin and the carriage? It’d be symbolic of a women indicated on their profiles that they weren’t
Sadie Hawkins dance—going after it, girls ask first. What there only for love. They also cared about friendship
if we could hardwire that into a product?” It was the and career. Hence BFF, an offshoot that focuses on
kind of brilliant tweak that comes from someone who platonic connections between women, and Bizz, which
understands the target demographic because they’re in launched officially at the October party at the old Four
it. After toying with names, the two settled on Bumble, Seasons in New York and offers a challenge to LinkedIn,
confident that branding details like hives and bees would with the same women-first interface that Bumble’s
prove a marketing boon. The app went live in December users have grown accustomed to. “We’re taking out
2014 and garnered over 100,000 downloads in its first the soliciting nature and the sexism that exists in
month. “Women were ready for this,” says Dave Evans, networking,” Herd says. “We think we have a chance.”
an industry consultant who has chronicled hundreds of Success for these offshoots has been modest so far.
bad experiences women have had with men on dating Bumble BFF has been tried by over 3 million users,
apps. “Women got scared years ago. This goes way back.” but just 500,000 are active
I
in a typical month. Bumble
t’s 105 degrees outside Bumble’s new headquarters Bumble feels Bizz is too new to evaluate,
in an otherwise residential neighbourhood in north more polite but like taking on Tinder
Austin, Texas. The oppressive August heat hasn’t
stopped passersby from gawking at the building’s
and walled with a product customised
for just under half the
exterior. For its grand opening, artists have covered off, avoiding workforce, even modest
the sunflower-yellow roof and walls with thousands
of oversize pastel balloons. It looks like the inside of a
the unsolicited success carries huge
potential. “To be able to test
gumball machine. Pedestrians take selfies in front of photos that at that scale is something
it; cars linger, drivers asking the name of the company plague online most startups can’t do,” says
inside. At Bumble, even something as ostensibly mundane Evans, the consultant. “They
as a crosstown move is a marketing opportunity.
dating can seed that network with
Bumble has 70 employees, approximately 85 millions of people on Day 1.”
percent of whom are women, including in all the top Of course, there’s at least one other dating startup that
jobs, Andreev aside. The new office reflects that, from also has the scale—and enough men and women—to delve
posters and neon signs espousing various Bumble into such areas. Rad, who is still at Tinder running its
mantras like “You’re a Queen Bee”, “Be the CEO mergers and acquisitions arm, Swipe Ventures, declined
Your Parents Always Wanted You to Marry” and to comment for this story (as did Mateen). But the
“Make the First Move”. When Bumble hands out its company is obviously taking notes on Bumble’s
cream-and-yellow sweaters as gifts at events—the moves: Last year Tinder also expanded into platonic
familiar honeycomb logo on the front, along with relationships with an investment in Hey! Vina, a fast-
the word “Honey”—there’s invariably a scramble. growing female-friendship network. And then there’s
“I think it’s part of feeling empowered, being the keen interest of Tinder’s parent, the Match Group,
proud enough to say ‘I’m on this service’,” which remains the biggest player in the online-dating
Evans says. “On the street, if I was wearing an business in the United States. The publicly traded
AdultFriendFinder shirt, it’d be a different story.” company, which in addition to Tinder owns Match.
The bee theme and Bumble’s signature yellow are com, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and other niche dating
front and centre in the app, which works like this: sites, would clearly like to add Bumble to its roster.
When two users of the opposite sex match by swiping “Look, Match has been lucky, because they have 45
right on each other’s profile, the woman must send her different brands,” says Brent Thill, who covers the dating-
potential date a message first or the connection is void. app market for Jefferies. “But probably the one brand that
By giving women control over the initial contact, seems to have caught everyone’s imagination is not theirs.”
Bumble feels more polite and walled-off than competitors, Herd wouldn’t comment on the attempted buyouts,
avoiding the unsolicited photos—including the occasional but selling to Tinder’s parent and folding Bumble under
male genitalia—that plague online dating. Last year the same corporate umbrella would, of course, serve as a
Bumble banned shirtless mirror selfies (common in male poetic coda to the ugliness of 2014. Indeed, among those
profiles on Tinder); they were the most-left-swiped at the headquarters dedication were representatives
photos. This doesn’t mean Bumble can prevent all abuse of a high-profile Hollywood production company that
or unpleasant experiences—but it does undercut them. is contemplating making a movie about her saga. It is,
The more controlled environment has resulted Herd acknowledges with a laugh, a pretty good story.
StYle aSSiStantS: maximillian paRkinson, Deb milsTein, paTTie baRbosa; grooming: suzana hallili
Management Olivia nuzzi, 24
CO-FOUnDER, CADRE
Amol Jain, 29 Sarah Adler, Washington correspondent,
Analyst, Duquesne Family Office Mackenzie Barth, 26, 26 New York Magazine
What does Ryan Williams think
Thomas Kamei, 27 Co-founders, Spoon University Alexandra Petri, 29
about commercial real estate? Columnist, Washington Post
Senior associate, Morgan Stanley “A pretty jurassic industry,” he says. Laila Alawa, 26
Cadre, he insists, is the dawn of a new Co-founder, The Tempest Phillip Picardi, 26
Charles Korn, 29 Digital editorial director,
Partner, Pershing Square Capital age. He founded the startup in 2014 Emma Allen, 29
Cartoon editor, New Yorker Teen Vogue & Allure, Condé Nast
Management with heirs to the kushner real estate
Erin Lee Carr, 29 Lauren Shippen, 26
David Levine, 29 fortune: Harvard classmate josh, Creator, The Bright Sessions
co-founder of oscar Health, and jared, Documentary filmmaker
Principal, Blackstone Group Jacob Smilovitz, 28
son-in-law of US President donald Brent Chow,
Luca Lin, Christina Qi, Jonathan Sophia Dominguez, 28, 25 Director, M&A and investments,
Trump. Their business offers an online New York Times
Wang, 27, 26, 26 Co-founders, SVRF
marketplace for pre-vetted real estate
Co-founders, Domeyard Marley Dias, 12 Clint Smith, 29
deals: “A digital stock market for real Author
Fahmi Quadir, 27 estate today and for other alternative Founder, #1000blackgirlbooks
Founder, Safkhet Capital Sky Dylan-Robbins, 28 Peter Sterne, 26
asset classes in the future,” says Wil-
Management Founder, The Video Consortium Senior reporter,
liams. It collects fees from investors— Freedom of the Press Foundation
Douglas Schadewald, 28 the company insists they’re 40 percent Aaron Edwards, 26
VP, Barclays Special projects editor, The Outline Ben Taub, 26
less than private equity fund fees. Staff writer, New Yorker
David Sklar, 29 Investors have used Cadre to close Caroline Fairchild, 27
Managing news editor, LinkedIn Jacob Tobia, 26
VP, Bank of America a dozen deals, worth a total of
Author
Saron Tesfalul, 28 $1 billion. for now, Cadre is open to Windsor Hanger Western,
only accredited investors (folks with at Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, John Traver, 29
VP, Bain Capital Annie Wang, 29, 29, 28 Co-founder, Frame.io
least $1 million in net worth).
Ryan Williams, 29 Co-founders, Her Campus Media Lilly Workneh, 26
—Nathan Vardi, Antoine Gara, Lauren
Co-founder, Cadre Cooper Hefner, 26 Senior editor, Black Voices, HuffPost
Gensler & Kristin Stoller
Grant Wonders, 27 Chief creative officer, Playboy Rachel Zarrell, 28
Portfolio manager, Enterprises New initiatives lead, BuzzFeed
Viking Global Investors Judges: Jazmine Hughes, 26
Leon Cooperman, founder, omega Associate editor, New York Times Judges:
Charles Young, 28 Advisors Magazine Jim Bankoff, CEo, Vox Media
VP, Morgan Stanley
Steven Schonfeld, founder, Schonfeld Andrew Kaczynski, 28 Brian Stelter, senior media correspon-
Julia Yu, 28 Group Senior editor, KFile, CNN dent, CNN (Under 30 Class of 2014)
Investment analyst, Vlad Tenev, co-founder, Robinhood Rupi Kaur, 25 Elaine Welteroth, editor-in-chief,
Millennium Management (Under 30 Class of 2016) Author Teen Vogue
Venture Capital
LEATHER SANdALS by jIMMy CHoo ($895).
EARRINGS ($245), 5-LINE bANGLE bRACELET
($545) ANd 11-LINE bANGLE bRACELET
($1,340) by offICINA bERNARdI. GoLd LoVE
bRACELET ($6,300), jUSTE UN CLoU bRACE- Damir Becirovic,
LET ($6,800) by CARTIER.
Dino Becirovic, 25, 25
StYle aSSiStantS: maximillian paR- Investors, Index Ventures
kinson, Deb milsTein, paTTie baRbosa;
hair anD makeuP: suzana hallili
Michael Caso, 28
Managing partner, Rosecliff
Ventures
StYle aSSiStantS: maximillian paRkinson, Deb milsTein, paTTie baRbosa; grooming anD hair & makeuP: suzana hallili
Art & Style Vipin Chamakkala, 29
Principal, Work-Bench
Andrew Farage, 26
Rocco Basilico, 28 Senior associate, United
CEO, Oliver Peoples Talent Agency Ventures
Meriem Bennani, 29
Artist
Joseph nahmad, 27
Founder, Nahmad Contemporary Adam Vanunu, 28 Jason Fiedler, 28
Principal, Red Sea Ventures
Vivian Brodie, 27 FOUnDER, COTTOn CiTiZEn Charlie Friedland, 29
Chelsea neman nassib, 29
Specialist, Christie’s Co-founder, Tappan Partner, Geodesic Capital
Maryellis Bunn, 25 When Adam Vanunu told his father Elizabeth Galbut, 28
nicolas Bijan Pakzad, 26
Co-founder, Museum of Ice Cream that he wanted to study fashion Managing partner, SoGal Ventures
Co-owner, House of Bijan design, his dad persuaded him to find
Adam Charlap Hyman, Andre Talia Goldberg, 27
Herrero, 28, 28 Davidson Petit-Frère, 28 his way through the family business, VP, Bessemer Venture Partners
Interior designers, Charlap Hyman Fashion designer, Musika Frère American dye House, a denim-dyeing-
& Herrero and-distressing factory for brands like Wei Guo, 29
Bunny Rogers, 27 Founding partner, Uphonest Capital
Jourdan Dunn , 27 Artist Calvin klein and j Crew. but in late
Model 2009, his father died of colon cancer, Zachary Hargreaves, 28
Diamond Stingily, 27 Principal, Founders Fund
Awol Erizku, 29 Artist leaving the oldest son as the boss
Artist of an eight-figure-revenue business. Jennifer Kaehms, 26
Martine Syms, 29 Unscrupulous staffers embezzled more Associate, Canvas Ventures
Manuel Gutierrez, 26 Artist
Beauty influencer than $2 million. “I didn’t know who to Anna Khan, 29
Ashley nell Tipton, 26 trust,” he says, “but I had to step up”. Senior associate,
Jasmin Larian Hekmat, 29 Fashion designer, Ashley Nell Tipton by 2012, with funding from the Bessemer Venture Partners
Founder, Cult Gaia
Adam Vanunu, 28 factory, he launched Cotton Citizen, a Vivek Ladsariya, 28
Poppy Jamie, Leo Seigal, Suki Founder, Cotton Citizen line of high-end T-shirts and sweats. Partner, Sinewave Ventures
Waterhouse, 27, 26, 25 Celebrities like Gigi Hadid and
Co-founders, Pop & Suki Armando Veve, 28 Sam Lerer, 29
Illustrator kourtney kardashian wear the brand’s VP, General Atlantic
Maria Kazakova, 29 $225 jogging pants and $195 cropped
Fashion designer, JAHNKOY Lauren Wasser, 29 Susan Liu, 29
Model
sweatshirts, and Cotton Citizen sells in Principal, Scale Venture Partners
Karlie Kloss, 25 more than 300 stores worldwide. With
Model Ramtin naimi, 27
Chloe Wise, 27 2018 revenues projected to exceed $15 Founder, Abstract Ventures
Lily Kwong, 29 Artist million, Vanunu says: “It’s not neces-
Landscape designer, Studio Lily Maria Salamanca, 25
Sean Yoro, 28 sarily just one T-shirt that you’re buy- Senior associate,
Kwong Artist ing. you’re buying into the lifestyle.” Unshackled Ventures
Asher Levine, 29 —Susan Adams, Samantha Sharf
Fashion designer, Asher Levine Santosh Sankar, 29
Judges: & Michael Solomon Co-founder, Dynamo
Sandy Liang, 26 Ashley Graham, model-advocate (Under
Fashion designer, Sandy Liang 30 Class of 2016)
AdAM VANUNU WEARS A LEATHER jACkET by SAINT LAURENT ($4,990), CoTToN T-SHIRT by
Olivia Locher, 27 Cynthia Rowley, fashion designer CoTToN CITIzEN ($65), jEANS by j bRANd ($188) ANd LEATHER booTS by CoMMoN PRojECTS
Photographer Michael Xufu Huang, collector and ($695). GoLd WATCH by RoLEx.
Benjamin Milstein, 22 museum co-founder, M Woods TALIA GoLdbERG WEARS LEATHER bIANCA jACkET ($998) ANd SILk jULIA ToP ($328) by ToRy
Founder, Grey Space Art (Under 30 Class of 2017) bURCH. jEANS by j CREW ($110) ANd PATENT LEATHER SANdALS by GIUSEPPE zANoTTI ($895).
Co-founders, NexHealth
Science Alexendar Pérez, 28
MD/PhD candidate, Weill Cornell/ Cody Daniel, 28 Manik Bhat, Eric Conner, Daniel
Levenson, Alex Villa, 27, 28, 25, 27
Rockefeller/Memorial Sloan CO-FOUnDER, 3SCAn Co-founders, Healthify
Tyler Allen, 25 Kettering
Tomas Pfister, 29 Andrew Brimer, Abby Cohen,
PhD candidate, North Carolina State Analysing tissue samples is a laborious,
27, 26
University Staff research scientist, Apple manual process that hasn’t changed Co-founders, Sparo
Dinesh Bharadia, 29 Ritu Raman, 26 significantly in a century. Scientists still
Post-doctoral fellow, MIT Sol Chen, Evan Ehrenberg, 22, 24
Assistant professor, University of cut tissues into slices, stain them and
Co-founders, Clara Health
California, San Diego negar Reiskarimian, 28 examine them through a microscope. for
PhD candidate, Columbia University Cody daniel, that’s not good enough. Giffin Daughtridge, 29
Kristi Bradford, 27 Co-founder, UrSure
Senior instrument systems engineer, Peyton Robertson, 16 “We need to develop better tools, better
Planetary Resources Inventor understanding of the world around us ivonna Dumanyan,
and better methods of continuing the Gabrielle Levac, 23, 25
Ritchie Chen, 29 Conor Russomanno, 29 Co-founders, Fathom AI
Postdoctoral fellow, MIT Co-founder, OpenBCI human endeavour here on Earth.”
To that end his company, 3Scan, Kevin Eisenfrats, 24
Cody Daniel, 28 Lauren Sherman, 29 Co-founder, Contraline
Co-founder, 3Scan Post-doctoral fellow, Temple offers a modernised alternative. Instead
University of fewer than ten slices, its robotic mi- Trit Garg, 28
natalya Gallo, 29 Resident physician, Stanford Health
PhD candidate, University of Hao Sun, 29 croscope can turn a small tissue sample
Assistant professor, University of into up to 60,000 slices. Then rather Care
California, San Diego
Pittsburgh than producing stained, two-dimensional Jeffrey Huber, Garrett Spiegel,
Erik Hoel, 29 28, 29
Post-doctoral researcher, Danielle Szafir, 29 images, its machine vision creates robust,
Assistant professor, University of 3d images, which can be better explored. Co-founders, Standard Cyborg
Columbia University
Colorado, Boulder “The opportunity to influence the course Doug Jacobs, 28
Ashlee Howarth, 29 Primary care resident physician,
Postdoctoral fellow, Fred Turner, Sam Parlett, 22, 26 of humanity through clever tools and
Co-founders, TL Biolabs insightful design is a real responsibility,” Brigham & Women’s Hospital and
Northwestern University Harvard Medical School
Deep Jariwala, 29 Spin Wang, 27 says daniel, who has helped 3Scan raise
Co-founder, TetraScience $21 million in funding. Alistair Johnson, 28
Assistant professor, Research scientist, Laboratory for
University of Pennsylvania Liang Wu, 29 —Alex Knapp, Sarah Hedgecock
Computational Physiology, MIT
Patrick Kaifosh, 29 Post-doctoral fellow, University of & Matt Perez
California, Berkeley Moufeed Kaddoura, 25
Co-founder, CTRL-Labs Co-founder, ExVivo Labs
Tomas Leijtens, 29 Amber Yang, 18 Judges:
Founder, SEER Tracking Danielle Bassett, associate professor, Kunwoo Lee, 29
Post-doctoral fellow, Stanford Co-founder, GenEdit
University Zhou Yu, 29 University of Pennsylvania; MacArthur
Assistant professor, University of fellow Oren Miron, 29
Karthish Manthiram, 29 Research associate, Harvard
Assistant professor, MIT California, Davis Sabrina Pasterski, Phd candidate, Har-
William Zeng, 28 vard University (Under 30 Class of 2015) Medical School
Aaron Meisner, 29 Director, software and applications,
Co-founder, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Rigetti Computing Cody dANIEL WEARS CASHMERE SUIT ($9,050), CoTToN SHIRT ($870), SILk TIE ($290) ANd
Prineha narang, 28 You Zhou, 29
CoTToN PoCkET SqUARE ($220) by kIToN. LEATHER bELT by PENGUIN ($20) ANd LEATHER
Assistant professor, Harvard Post-doctoral fellow, Harvard
SHoES by fRATELLI RoSSETTI ($660).
University University LEAH SIbENER WEARS A SILk GRACE ToP ($298) ANd STRETCH CoTToN VANNER PANTS ($258)
by ToRy bURCH. SANdALS by SAM EdELMAN ($100).
StYle aSSiStantS: maximillian paRkinson, Deb milsTein, paTTie baRbosa; grooming: suzana hallili
summer electric outages, it needed Michael Benko,
more power plants. So the young in- Rogelio ‘Roger’ nores, 28 EJ Carrion, 28, 28
vestment manager and CEo of Stone- Founder, StoneWay Capital Co-founders, Student Success Agency
Energy Way Capital set out to build them.
first he negotiated with the
Ethan novek, 18
Founder, Innovator Energy
Vinay Bhaskara, Zack Perkins,
Johan Zhang, 23, 22, 22
government, which agreed to buy Annie Ostojic, 15 Co-founders, CollegeVine
Liam Berryman, 21 whatever power Nores could generate Inventor Yoran Brondsema,
Co-founder, Nelumbo at a fixed price for ten years. With that Thomas Ketchell, 28, 29
Lauren Otto, 27 Co-founders, Sutori
David Bierman, 28 deal in hand, Nores went to Siemens,
Founder, Marigold Power Founder, Laminera
the German industrial giant, and con- Elyse Burden, 28
Cassie Bowe, 28 vinced it not only to get on board with Jake Rozmaryn, 27 Co-founder, Real World Scholars
Associate vice president, supplying and building four new plants, Vice president, strategy and business
development, Antenna Group Xiaohoa Michelle Ching, 27
Energy Impact Partners but also to loan Nores $100 million to Founder, Literator
Emily Callahan, Amber Jackson, get rolling. Then Nores hit Wall Street, Saheb Sabharwal, 29
Allyson Dias, 28
28, 28 and in early 2017, raised $500 million in Vice president, CSL Capital Programme manager, Thiel Fellowship
Co-founders, Blue Latitudes a debt offering bought by the likes of Management
Katie Fang, 26
Maher Damak, Karim Khalil, 27, 27 blackRock and fidelity. His plants, set Tirthak Saha, 25 Founder, SchooLinks
Co-founders, Infinite Cooling to go online by 2018, will power more Grid modernisation engineer,
than 800,000 homes and businesses. American Electric Power Shiv Gaglani, 28
Molly Grear, 28 Co-founder, Osmosis
PhD candidate, University of “If you’re one of those electricity Lauren Salz, 29
Washington companies that focuses on [emerging Jonathan García, 28
Co-founder, Sealed.com Senior director, strategic
ian Hamilton, 25 markets], you’re always doing a public
Yichen Shen, 28 partnerships and external affairs,
Founder, Atlas Energy Systems good.”
Post-doctoral associate, MIT Portland Public Schools
Eli Harris, Hannah Sieber, Lei —Christopher Helman & Aaron Tilley
Adam Small, 28 nick Garvin, 25
Wang, Fan Zheng, 24, 26, 29, 28 Founder, Stackup
Co-founders, EcoFlow Tech Co-founder, Urbix Resources
Justin Whiteley, 29 Emily Graslie, 28
Hannah Herbst, 17 Tian Li, 29 Chief curiosity correspondent,
Inventor Post-doctoral researcher, University Co-founder, Emergy Labs
The Field Museum
Prateek Joshi, 29 of Maryland, College Park
Founder, Pluto AI David Magid, 29 Judges: Andrew Hermalyn, 29
David Crane, operating advisor, Pegasus EVP, university partnerships
Robert Kabera, 29 Founder, YSG Solar and programmes, 2U
Capital; former CEo, NRG Energy
Founder, Credimarks Chadwick Manning, 28 David Freed, project manager, NET Jomayra Herrera, 24
Alden Keefe Sampson, Marshall Co-founder, ElectrIQ Power Power (Under 30 Class of 2017) Analyst, education investments,
Moutenot, 27, 26 Scott Martin, 25 Bryan Sheffield, founder, Parsley Energy Emerson Collective
Co-founders, Upstream Tech Principal, 8 Rivers Capital
WW event strategy
Co-founder, Studypool manager, IBM
Richard ‘Prince Ea’ Williams, 29 Everette Taylor, 28
Filmmaker-poet Founder, PopSocial
Ryan Williams, 28 Elizabeth Walton, 29
Co-founder, Jopwell Vice president, marketing, Yext
Judges: Marlowe Williams, 28 George
Charles Best, founder, donorsChoose.org
Senior brand manager, PepsiCo ‘HotshotGG’
Stacey Childress, CEo, NewSchools
Jennifer Wong, 29
Vice president of marketing, Tune Georgallidis, 27
Venture fund Stephan Goss, 29 nina Yiamsamatha, 29 FOUnDER, COUnTER LOGiC GAMinG
Wendy Kopp, co-founder, Teach for All CO-FOUnDER, ZEETO Product marketing manager,
Joe Vasquez, co-director, Runway
Instagram Standing in front of a sold-out Madison
Incubator (Under 30 Class of 2017)
As a Swiss immigrant studying at the Square Garden crowd in 2015, George
University at Albany, Stephan Goss lived Judges: Georgallidis basked in the adoring
off money from affiliate marketing: He’d Andrew Essex, former CEo, Tribeca cheers of tens of thousands of specta-
Marketing advertise companies’ products across Enterprises and droga5 tors. He and his five-person team had
the internet, and they’d give him a Cindy Gallop, founder, MakeLoveNotPorn accomplished something there that the
& Advertising commission every time he sent them a Anda Gansca, co-founder, knotch (Under knicks and Rangers haven’t in years.
paying customer. In 2011, a health care 30 Class of 2016) They’d won a championship—top place
Brunno Attorre, 28 client led him to a lucrative insight. If he Bozoma Saint John, chief brand in the North American League of Leg-
Co-founder, Uru could identify high-value web visitors, officer, Uber ends Championship Series, one of the
such as diabetics, the client would be world’s biggest e-sports associations.
Christina Baldassarre, Rocco
Baldassarre, 29, 28 willing to pay him over six times more, STEPHAN GoSS WEARS A WooL SPoRT Their performance caught the atten-
Co-founders, Zebra Advertisement or $8 per lead, as opposed to the usual jACkET ($498) ANd PoCkET SqUARE ($30) tion of more than just the arena’s fans.
by joS A bANk; CoTToN SHIRT ($295), SILk
$1.25. So he started showing visitors a In july 2017, the business that owns the
Travis Chambers, 29 TIE ($160), WooL PANTS ($450), ANd bLACk
Founder, Chamber.Media one-question survey that asked whether LEATHER bELT ($350) by CANALI; SoCkS by stadium, the Madison Square Garden Co,
they were diabetic. If the users said yes, GoLdToE ($19). LEATHER doUbLE-MoNk purchased Counter Logic for an undis-
Shirley Chen, 29 Goss would show them relevant ads
STRAP SHoES by MAGNANNI ($435).
closed sum. “It’s been a scary, exciting,
Founder, Narrativ
immediately after. That strategy became fun ride,” says Georgallidis. He founded
Melanie Cohn, 29 the basis for zeeto, which has boot- Counter Logic Gaming in 2010 when e-
Senior manager, digital and social
media, Dunkin’ Donuts
strapped its way to 80 employees and Games sports were still a novelty, and he grew
projects revenue climbing by 27 percent it both as the player ‘HotshotGG’ and
Benjamin Conway, 29 to $43 million this year. now as president. He faced the same
Co-founder, VNTANA Anele Andeshmand, 28
Today Goss has about 25 engineers tribulations as player-managers in other
Jenelle Coy, 25 Head, North America partnerships
and seven data scientists working at his and development, Twitch sports, including a rebuilding period that
Founder, Coy + San diego-based company on thorny followed a disappointing 2014, when
William Danilow, 26 math problems, such as determining the Becca Bair, 29 Counter Logic was a game away from
Senior copywriter, David&Goliath series of survey questions that generate Co-founder, Twin Otter Studios being kicked out of its league. Counter
Corbett Drummey, 27 the most ad revenue. “I have never had Caitlin Banford, 28 Logic now pulls seven-figure annual
Co-founder, Popular Pays a boss,” he says. “I’ve never had a job, Technical product manager, Riot revenues and features a full roster of 33
Adam Friedman, 28 actually. I was really able to develop Games players plus coaches, a physical thera-
Executive, global client strategy, everything from scratch.” Søren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg, 21 pist and chefs.
Creative Artists Agency —Jeff Kauflin & Jennifer Rooney Professional gamer, Team SoloMid —Matt Perez & David Ewalt
StYle aSSiStantS: maximillian paRkinson, Deb milsTein, paTTie baRbosa; hair anD makeuP: suzana hallili
Partnerships associate, Twitch
Erik Martin, 24 Tara Pham, 28
Senior education program manager, Co-founder, Numina
Unity Technologies Eli Pollak, Earl St Sauver, 28, 26
Andrew Maximov, 27 Co-founders, Apollo Agriculture
Technical art director, Naughty Dog Diana Rau, 27
Blake Rochkind, 29 Co-founder, Veterati
Agent, United Talent Agency Victor Santos, 26
Jake Stauch, 26 Co-founder, AirFox
Founder, NeuroPlus Matthew Scanlan, 29
Eric Stirpe, 29 Co-founder, Naadam
Season lead writer, Telltale Games Michael Schoenfeld,
Stanislav Vishnevskiy, 29 Samuel Silverman, 29, 29
Co-founder, Discord Co-founders, EB5 Affiliate Network
Jenny Xu, 20 Social Ohad Elhelo, 28
Founder, Our Generation Speaks
Tenzin Seldon, 28
Co-founder, Kinstep
Founder, JCSoft
Saleem Young, 23
Entrepreneurs Brin Enterkin, 27
Founder, The African Soup
Sheldon Smith, 29
Professional gamer, Most Valuable Founder, The Dovetail Project
Gaming Andrew Foote, 29 Phil Wong, Ann Yang, 24, 24
Alberto Altamirano, 28 Co-founder, Sanivation
Co-founder, Cityflag Co-founders, Misfit Juicery
Judges: Jack Amend, 26
Gator Halpern, Sam Teicher, 27, 27
Arthur Woods, 29
Co-founders, Coral Vita
Shawn Layden, president, Sony Founder, Web Neutral Project Co-founder, Imperative
Interactive Entertainment America
Aerica Banks, 29 Mary iafelice, 28
Co-founder, humble ventures Elvis Zhang, 19
Ralf Reichert, CEo, ESL Co-founder, Beacon Founder, Oxy2
Kim Swift, design director, EA Motive Ebele ifedigbo, 29
Yuja Chang, Watson Yim, 27, 24
Studios (Under 30 Class of 2013)
Co-founders, Aira Co-founder, The Hood Incubator Judges:
Liz Chen, Cristina Leos, 29, 26 Robert Lee, 26 Jean Case, CEo, Case foundation
GEoRGE GEoRGALLIdIS WEARS A LEATHER
boMbER jACkET by PHILIPP PLEIN ($4,495), Co-founders, MyHealthEd Co-founder, Rescuing Leftover Cheryl Dorsey, president, Echoing Green
WooL SWEATER by boSS ($215), ANd jEANS Cuisine
Lisa Curtis, 29 Randall Lane, editor, Forbes magazine
by PT PANTALoNI ToRINo ($395). HEAdSET by
LoGITECH ($100). Founder, Kuli Kuli Jay Lipman, Douglas Scott, 29, 29 Teju Ravilochan, co-founder, Uncharted
Co-founders, Ethic (Under 30 Class of 2017)
Arpit Dhupar,
Kushagra Srivastava, 25, 22 Patrick Mateer, 24
Co-founders, Chakr Innovation Founder, Seal the Seasons kELLy PEELER WEARS A CoTToN-ANd-SILk
SydNEy dRESS by ToRy bURCH ($448) ANd
Ashley Edwards, 27 Reyna Montoya, 27 PATENT LEATHER SANdALS by GIUSEPPE
Co-founder, MindRight Founder, Aliento zANoTTI ($1,195).
StYle aSSiStant: John anThony bonilla; grooming: suzana hallili; PhotograPheD at The WesTin, JeRsey ciTy, neW JeRsey.
him at No 43 on last year’s list of the
Founder, Pilot FOUnDER, PiLOT Kawhi Leonard, 26
world’s highest-paid athletes. Forward, San Antonio Spurs
Yuan Gao, 29 —Chris Smith & Dan Kleinman
Co-founder, Mavrx At 16, joseph fasone decided to skip his Jessica Long, 25
senior year of high school and become Swimmer, Team USA
Michael Garland, Percia Safar,
26, 27 IT director at WeWork, a co-working- Christina Milano, 26
Co-founders, WorkRamp space startup. Seven years later, he’s the Director of business development,
founder and CEo of his own promising Excel Sports Management
Enis Gayretli, İlker Köksal, 27, 27
startup, Pilot, a fibre-optic internet Amanda nunes, 29
Co-founders, Botanalytics
service provider for businesses in New Fighter, UFC
Jon Goldsmith, nik Liolios, 19, 20 york City, Philadelphia, Washington, dC,
Co-founders, Tetra Anthony Rizzo, 28
and boston. Pilot takes advantage of the First baseman, Chicago Cubs
Micah Green, 21 unused fibre-optic cables already under
Founder, Maidbot a city. “The infrastructure was there, but Alex Rosen, 28
Counsel, Major League Baseball
Lucy Guo, Alexandr Wang, 23, 20 there wasn’t the right service provider,”
Co-founders, Scale fasone says. Preetam Sen, 29
Pilot has raised $32.3 million to Director, Partnership Sales
Jay Hammonds, 25 (Americas), City Football
VIP Operations, Facebook build a service that’s faster than its com-
Group
Khizer Hayat, 28 petitors by orders of magnitude. Typical
internet speed is around 18.7 megabits Daniel Sillman, 28
Co-founder, ThroughPut CEO, Relevent Sports
per second. Pilot’s slowest service is 100
StYle aSSiStant: maximillian paRkinson; grooming: suzana hallili
Power
MusiciAn
himself from competitors, he created
30 under 30 debut: 2014
a graphics-heavy live show that feels
like watching a videogame projected
Before regularly scoring six-figure
onto a movie screen with a custom
nightly fees spinning thumpy elec-
visual for each song. A cable runs from
tronic tunes, Zedd got his start playing
his computer to the front of the house,
classical music at the age of four. He
Forbes’s annual list of America’s top young learnt how to plan performances with
where a team of technicians makes
sure everything syncs up, including the
innovators always includes famous faces. meticulous detail, an ability that’s
obvious in his carefully choreographed
programme’s lasers and pyrotechnics.
Now we’re putting the spotlight on four shows today, which feature less of
“It used to be really cheap to make a
show—I used to be able to keep all the
the freewheeling song selection used
of these celebrities—two alumni and two by most popular DJs. “I see myself as
money,” Zedd recalls. “Now the shows
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
newcomers—and their disruption of the an artist who presents a show,” says
Zedd, who earned $19 million this year
As costs continue to escalate in
entertainment industry and beyond and $85 million over the past five.
a musical arms race, Zedd is flirting
with the idea of reinventing the DJ
“It’s almost like when you go to the
model again by turning to something
movies. You’re not going to buy your
with which he’s very familiar: Live
ticket and see a movie and, if you don’t
instrumentation. “I think I will one day
like it, expect the movie to change in
go unplugged.”
real time.”
—Zack O’Malley Greenburg
Zedd has produced hits for Justin
Set in Time
curated by mexy xavier | PhotograPhs by nemai ghosh
sharmila, amitabh bachchan and Jaya bhaduri: images sourced from dag modern
Girija Devi (far left), renowned vocalist of the Seniya and Benaras gharanas, and Kishori
Amonkar (far right) of the Jaipur gharana perform in the mid-1990s on the occasion of
Dol Purnima at the residence of businessman Harshavardhan Neotia, in Calcutta
Child protagonists
in films do much
more than play lead
The Kids
characters—they hold
a mirror to a world
messed up by adults
a r e (n o t ) By Radhika OBeROi
A l r i g h t
adults are befuddled targets and tragic series of decisions that are calamitous
fatalities in dramas orchestrated by for Nisha but seen as appropriate
grown men and women. A poignant steps in a prudish community. It also
example is New Delhi-based director denunciates people who migrate to the
Dheeraj Jindal’s The School Bag, West in search of better opportunities,
which is a fictional retelling of the but carry the baggage of oppressive
2014 terrorist attack on the Army values. With biographical undertones,
Public School in Peshawar; at least Haq’s film examines Nisha’s
132 children were killed in the bewilderment and torment. Ekavali
massacre. In the film, little Farooq’s Khanna, who plays Nisha’s despotic
persistent pleas for a new school bag mother Najma, highlights how
as a birthday present, and his mother’s migrant communities cling to beliefs
ultimate giving in, become a comment that no longer serve them: “They move
on a milieu racked by terrorism. to the West for more freedom, but
The schoolbag—a proud emblem of are trapped by regressive attitudes.”
certitude and discipline—becomes Other child protagonists, in a
the metaphor of uncertainty and vastly different portrayal of human
irredeemable loss. “Whenever you misadventure, are eager perpetrators
read about a tragedy in the papers, of violence. Israeli director Yaniv
or see images, you see footwear or Berman and Palestinian producer
other personal items covered in Tony Copti’s Land of the Little
blood,” says Jindal. “The schoolbag People is about four children who
is meant to be a symbol of something turn an abandoned military camp
terrible that has just occurred.” into an arena of atrocities. When
Land of the Other DIFF films also examined they discover two army deserters
Victor BezrukoV
M
ainstream Hindi cinema
has grappled with the joys,
sorrows and perplexities
of children through a variety of stories.
An example from recent times that
suggests itself for its contemporariness
and sensitivity is Taare Zameen Par
(2007), which highlights the havoc
wrecked by dyslexia on children and
their families. The film’s creative
director and writer Amole Gupte
hosted a talk show on Sony TV
called Bindaas Bol in the mid-1990s,
which dealt with the complexities
of parent-child relationships and
peer pressure. “Taare Zameen Par
is a byproduct of sitting and talking
with children for a decade,” he says,
referring to the insights he gathered
through Bindaas Bol. He mentions our
tendency to judge and label children
as “clever” or “dull” or “quick” or
above: The School Bag is a fictional account of the 2014 terror attack that killed at least
“slow”, and hopes that Taare Zameen 132 children in Peshawar; Nisha, 16, with her father Mirza in What Will People Say
Par is a gentle condemnation of this.
“Teachers ought to teach, not judge; ‘Lakdi ki kaathi’ in Masoom (1983)— examples of an imaginative retelling of
in schools, even a slightly different or fantastic elements, such as in folktales and mythology with a moral
child is not tolerated by the staff.” Haatim Tai (1990), Chhota Chetan lesson. CFSI Chairperson Mukesh
Gupte’s subsequent films—Stanley (1998) and Bhootnath (2008). It was Khanna, however, highlights the
Ka Dabba (2011), Hawaa Hawaai also common for child actors such inclination of current filmmakers:
(2014) and Sniff (2017)—have been a as Baby Tabassum, Jugal Hansraj, “The whole point of children’s
continuation of his portrayal of the Baby Guddu and Master Bittoo to films has become festival-oriented;
world through the eyes of children. sing, dance and mouth dialogues directors want to win the Best
Traditionally, Bollywood films in films that were thematically for Director at Cannes!” He talks about a
were indifferent to the child- adults, with oblique references need for films that drive children to
centredness that Gupte ushered to their own joys and sorrows. the theatres: “If you can’t make films
into the mainstream, and dealt with The formation of the Children’s like the Harry Potter series, at least
children, or entertained them on Film Society of India (CFSI) in 1955 make something like Shaktimaan.”
screen, by incorporating slapstick was intended to encourage films In an essay titled ‘The Death
comedy, fantastic elements, or specifically for children. Work of Children’s Cinema’ in the book
comic action scenes. Often this was done under its aegis include Shyam Hindi Cinema: An Insider’s View
done by including incidental songs Benegal’s Charandas Chor (1975), Sai (2009), author Anil Saari rues the
like ‘Phoolon ka taron ka’ in Hare Parānjpye’s Jadu Ka Shankh (1974) swift passing of an enthusiasm for
Rama Hare Krishna (1971), the title and Sikandar (1976), and Mrinal children’s films, which was initiated
song of Yaadon ki Baaraat (1973) or Sen’s Ichchapuran (1970), which are by the Indian New Wave in the
1970s, “Regrettably, there were no three films that children identify who, inspired by APJ Abdul Kalam,
new or younger directors waiting to with most were not written for sets about altering his own destiny.
step in once the ‘seniors’ moved out. them. I chose not to dumb down the “I had lost my childhood in the
Nobody was impatient to seize the stories; in fact, I was quite surprised struggles of life. I wanted to tell the
opportunity that suddenly became when Dhanak won an award in the story of a child who creates his own
available. Even more regrettably, of children’s film category at Berlin.” destiny,” explains the filmmaker.
the luminaries of new Indian cinema, Dhanak, which premiered at It isn’t easy, though, to slip under
only Satyajit Ray was to return the 65th Berlin International Film the skin of children and tell their
constantly to children’s films.” Festival and won the Crystal Bear story. “The biggest challenge is
The work of filmmakers such as BV Grand Prix for best Children’s Film, how to filter out the director’s own
Karanth (Chor Chor Chup Ja, 1975), or is the story of 10-year-old Pari, perspective from that of the children.
Kantilal Rathod (Adventure Of Sugar and her visually impaired brother, The most successful films with
Doll, 1964) would become examples eight-year-old Chotu, who walk a children as protagonists are those
of a drive that held promise but did long distance to school every day, that manage to present a worldview
not culminate into a movement. and tell each other stories about that is entirely from the child’s
films of their favourite stars, either perspective,” says Sarin, citing the
D
reams great and small, and Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan. 1959 French Drama Les Quatre Cents
the obstacles that must The film is also about the arduous Coups (The 400 Blows), directed by
be overcome to achieve journey they must undertake in a François Truffaut, as an example of a
them are the gossamer material of bid to restore Chotu’s eyesight. film that has succeeded in this. “This
recent films with child protagonists. These seemingly insignificant is a difficult thing to achieve; as adults,
For instance, Nagesh Kukunoor’s ambitions of children are also we have lost the ability to think and
filmography—Rockford (1999), Iqbal portrayed in Nila Madhab Panda’s see like children.” The child’s eye,
(2005), and Dhanak (2016)—is I Am Kalam (2011), which hinges or a view of the way things are, or
either about the messy business on its child hero’s question: “Why ought to be, makes for forceful and
of coming-of-age, or about the can’t poor kids go to school, father?” intimate cinema. Says Sarin: “The best
ephemeral ambitions of children. His father’s response, “Destiny!” children’s films force us to reconsider
But the filmmaker says, “These simply isn’t good enough for Chhotu, our own certainties as adults.”
Overnight stardom
can be harmful to
your mental health.
Yeah. It has ruined
a lot of people.
—CLint
eaStWood
Whenever I start feeling
too arrogant about myself, I
always take a trip to the US. The
immigration guys kick the star out
of my stardom.
—Shah rukh khan
I have both joyful In rock stardom
and heartbreaking there’s an absolute
moments in life, economic upside to
even now. Stardom self-destruction.
Eastwood: stEphanE MahE / REutERs; Khan: MaRK Blinch / REutERs; Bacall: danny MoloshoK / REutERs; hayEs: BEttMann / GEtty iMaGEs;
Tablet Edition