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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Unlike the traditional Bollywood template of flashy acting debuts, celebrity relatives are increasingly building loyal audiences on social media first and monetizing their personal brands before stepping into films, shows or mainstream entertainment projects.Figures such as Riddhima Kapoor, who is set to appear in a film soon, and Krishna Shroff, recently seen in multiple reality shows, have leveraged the low barriers to digital content creation to build personal brands and attract collaborations with companies before taking the mainstream entertainment route.Industry experts say the strategy is straightforward: a ready-made audience reduces marketing costs and lowers the risk attached to launching fresh faces in films and television. Instead of building visibility from scratch, producers and brands now rely on measurable engagement and documented fan bases.“These are individuals who may not have broken into mainstream acting or production, but they carry significant advantages: access, wealth, network, and a powerful surname.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Pain is invisible; the sufferer has to make noise for it to be acknowledged, treated or accepted. Mumbai-based artist Koshy Brahmatmaj, 34, lives with chronic endometriosis, a painful condition that afflicts millions of women around the world.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Urban India appears to be going through a parenting revolution. Only one in five persons interviewed in a recent Mint survey said they believe in raising their kids similar to how their own parents raised them.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India Inc’s debate over work-from-home is returning on a call from prime minister Narendra Modi as part of a strategy to deal with the repurcussions of the West Asia war. This comes at a time artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs and productivity expectations, while macroeconomic pressures—from currency weakness to tighter cash visibility—add a new layer of urgency for chief executives.Mint reached out to Dr Ram Charan, feted global advisor to CEOs and boards, for his views on the tough choices CEOs need to make. Dr Charan, formerly a board member at Hindalco Industries, dwelled on work from home, top CEO worries, how AI will reshape the workplace, and how workers can retrain themselves.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In an industry long powered by hype, three recent Hindi films are forcing a rethink.Dhurandhar: The Revenge, now the highest grossing Hindi film with domestic collections crossing ₹1,100 crore, along with its predecessor Dhurandhar (Rs. 895 crore) and romantic drama Saiyaara, which made over ₹300 crore last year, have shown that minimal promotions paired with strong content can deliver outsized returns.For years, studios leaned heavily on television, print, outdoor, social media campaigns, influencer collaborations and brand tie-ups to generate pre-release noise.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged employees across organizations to work from home (WFH). With fewer commutes, nationwide fuel consumption would fall, making WFH seem like an instant remedy for the current fuel crunch. The critical question, however, is whether WFH is a reversible move.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s social capital deficit registers as a factor in its current account deficit through the demand for gold. Our appetite for gold is not an irrational cultural quirk. It is, in part, a revealed preference and a tangible symptom of our collective distrust in one another, society and civic institutions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For many of us, a delayed meal is just a minor inconvenience. At most it makes us irritable, but generally, like nature’s call, hunger can be kept at bay for an hour or two: we can starve through unending meetings without harm to ourselves, and can even extend joyful moments well past mealtime. But did you know that being able to dodge food—for just half an hour more without an ounce of anxiety—could be a real superpower?Over 100 million Indians live with diabetes, and many use medication, including insulin shots.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.There was once a time when software did as it was told. You used the keyboard to type in input, and the computer complied with an expected output—unless it was in the mood to crash. We’ve been used to this equation for decades.But AI systems are beginning to work differently.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As Donald Trump and Xi Jinping engage in high-stakes talks in Beijing, the underlying context is that global imbalances are widening again, with the US and China at the centre. But the central economic problem between the world’s two big economies is being misdiagnosed.The US–China imbalance is not fundamentally a trade policy problem. It is a structural macroeconomic imbalance rooted in savings, investment, fiscal choices and the architecture of the international monetary system.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 ignited the artificial-intelligence boom—and elicited a chorus of warnings from AI bosses of an impending jobs apocalypse. Never mind that they have reason to talk up the disruptiveness of their products, or that rich-world employment is near all-time highs—the dark message has landed. Seven in ten Americans think AI will make it harder for people to find work; nearly a third fear for their own jobs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.AS AN UNEASY truce holds between America and Iran, experts are struggling to predict what new phase the conflict may enter next. Might an artificial-intelligence model know any better? To find out, The Economist asked RAND, a think-tank, to see if its new AI forecasting system thought a popular uprising was in the offing in Iran. Integrated Strategic Forecasting (ISF), as the system is known, put the chance of regime collapse or replacement by the end of 2026 at 20%—higher than many experts would hazard.There are caveats.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.STOCKHOLM, Sweden—This paragon of collectivism is pivoting toward rugged individualism.For decades, Sweden was shorthand for the brand of high-tax, high-spend government that managed people’s lives from cradle to grave through state-run hospitals, schools and care homes.No longer. With little fanfare, this Nordic country of 11 million has embraced capitalism.Today, nearly half of primary healthcare clinics are privately owned, many by private-equity firms.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s relationship with gold is entering a new phase. For decades, gold was viewed largely as a macroeconomic problem, a major import that widened the current account deficit and increased dependence on volatile foreign capital. But the global environment has changed sharply.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Manav Jain can no longer ignore how screens are rewriting his sense of faces. The 25-year-old product manager from Bengaluru recently returned to his hometown, Mumbai, after staying in touch with family through video calls that convinced him he had kept up with what's going on. That illusion shattered the moment he saw his mother in person.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As artificial intelligence (AI) makes resumes increasingly polished and tailored for automated hiring systems, recruiters are rethinking how much a traditional curriculum vitae (CV) really reveals about a candidate. Hiring teams are now leaning more on assessments, video introductions and digital footprints to judge skills, communication and workplace fit, reflecting a wider shift in hiring.The discussion is being shaped by a simple concern: If AI tools can make every resume look polished and application tracking system (ATS) friendly, do they still tell recruiters anything meaningful about the candidate? For many hiring teams, the answer is now no.“AI is making CVs look almost identical, which puts more pressure on hiring managers and reduces the value of the resume as a standalone hiring tool,” said Kamal Karanth, cofounder of specialist staffing firm Xpheno.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Several government committees, apart from the Niti Aayog, have asked for regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to be institutionalized in India. The statutory backing of a legislative framework can ensure its meaningful use as a tool for assessing the costs and benefits of current and prospective regulatory measures. The inclusion of provisions related to RIAs in India’s recently concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) highlights the urgency to enact a central law on such study-based reports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Healthcare jobs are keeping the U.S. labor market humming.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.More than a decade into Xi Jinping’s rule, China’s military has grown more formidable, its factories dominate global manufacturing and its technology pioneers are closing the gap with Silicon Valley.Yet big parts of its economy are a mess. A colossal property bust has destroyed trillions of dollars in wealth, consumer confidence has been gutted and the job market has grown bleak.The disconnect shows how Xi has made China’s security a priority over its economy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The Centre is preparing to crack down on the illegal sale, distribution and misuse of sexual enhancement medicines, with the drug regulator warning that it has become a threat to both public safety and social dignity, according to two government officials and a document reviewed by Mint.This regulatory action against unauthorized products sold without valid prescriptions has been ordered by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories."Our first kartavya (duty) is to accelerate and sustain economic growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness.” This statement by India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s budget speech set a clear imperative: that productivity and competitiveness are not incidental to India’s growth story, but necessary conditions for its long-term economic development. Its significance has grown clearer since.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.About a decade ago, when I told one of my aunts about my first job at a news agency, she said, “You will become jhola-chappal wali now”. Jhola meant cloth bag, and chappal, Kolhapuris, the clichéd Indian journalist’s uniform. I did become that person, quite proudly.