This is a scene from the 1986 Hindi film Naam, directed by Mahesh Bhatt. It stars Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav and Nutan, among others. If you cringed while and after watching this brief scene, I know exactly why. If you did not…

How do you pronounce GIF? As JIF? Or GIF, with the ‘Gi’ from Give? While that question rages on, what is your understanding of a GIF? Currently, because of the way they are used on social media, they have stopped being an…

‘The Deep Place’ is a film directed by Lindsay Branham and Andrew Michael Ellis, produced by Novo Films and for client International Justice Mission (IJM). I had no clue of IJM’s existence, but now I cannot get it out of my mind……

Many years ago, ‘phone directory’ signified a big, printed book full of numbers arranged alphabetically. Now, it is just a feature in our smartphones where you search. We used to remember phone numbers in our head. Now, I remember, at best, 2…

This ad by Frooti is from March 26, 2019. From the Bengaluru edition of The Times of India. It features Alia Bhatt, a Hindi star, known nationally, and with her is not Frooti’s ‘North Indian’ brand face, Varun Dhawan. Giving her company…

Li Xiao Long? Bruce Lee!Cheng Long. Jackie Chan!Li Lianjie. Jet Li! Ma Yun? Jack Ma! (Alibaba)Ma Huateng? Pony Ma! (Tencent) Chinese artists and CEOs choose an easier-to-pronounce (for people outside China) name to ensure they are pronounced and remembered better. Now, for…

While handling the mandate of an automobile brand a few years ago, in one of my agency stints, I recall suggesting to launch the pre-booking and test-drive booking of an upcoming model via Flipkart or Amazon. It had never been done before…