<h2>Timeless beauty Aditi Bhatia on Madhubala</h2>
It is a poetic alignment of eras when one screen enchantress sees her reflection in the &lsquo;Venus of Indian Cinema.&rsquo; Aditi Bhatia &mdash; whose own presence carries a delicate blend of contemporary spark and classic refinement &mdash; finds her muse in the legendary Madhubala. This week, The Kerala Story 2 actress pays a soulful homage to the mesmerising Mahal star.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Aditi-Bhatia_e.jpg" alt="Aditi Bhatia" width="1280" height="720" /> Aditi Bhatia
&ldquo;I think Madhubala is the definition of &lsquo;timeless beauty.&rsquo; There was an effortless charm and lightness about her&hellip; she could be playful, graceful, and deeply expressive all at once. It wasn&rsquo;t just how she looked, but the feeling she left behind, that makes her unforgettable even today. There was a rare radiance about her, almost ethereal, and a feeling she evoked on screen that continues to stay with people across generations,&rdquo; says Aditi. A fitting tribute to a grace that remains achingly eternal.
<h2>Healing on a detour</h2>
We&rsquo;ve always known Bhumi Pednekar was made for more &mdash; even her penmanship proves it. Earlier this week, the cerebral star found herself (literally and figuratively) in Rishikesh, and wrote a wonderful self-reflective piece to mark the trip.
The road was supposed to end in Dehradun (where Bhumi had an event to attend), but the soul has a way of hijacking the map when it hears a higher calling. For the actor, as we&rsquo;ve discovered, Rishikesh isn&rsquo;t just a destination, it is a sacred archive of her own life.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Bhumi-Pednekar-aa_e.jpg" alt="Bhumi Pednekar" width="1280" height="720" /> Bhumi Pednekar
&ldquo;My first time at the Ganga was to say goodbye to my father. And then, to shoot for my first film. And maybe that&rsquo;s why this place never feels like just a place. It feels like a conversation I keep returning to,&rdquo; says Bhumi, adding, &ldquo;Healing isn&rsquo;t linear. Sometimes it looks like an unplanned detour at 6 am, to a river that already knows your name.&rdquo;
Between the grief of loss and the glow of a beginning, it seems the Ganga is Bhumi&rsquo;s witness &mdash; her detour not a run, but a rhythmic prayer. And if her experience is anything to go by, life&rsquo;s best journeys aren&rsquo;t the ones we plan, but the ones that lead us back to ourselves.
<h2>The midnight manifesto</h2>
It seems the corridors of power in Mantralaya are fuelled by moonlight and midnight oil rather than morning chai. During a recent candid chat with Aamir Khan, CM Devendra Fadnavis dropped a relatable truth bomb for night owls: he is strictly not a morning person. &ldquo;I sleep late and wake up late,&rdquo; he confessed, effectively resigning from the 5 am club and joining the ranks of those who find their groove only after the sun dips below the Arabian Sea.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Devendra-Fadnavis-ic_e.jpg" alt="Devendra Fadnavis" width="1280" height="720" /> Devendra Fadnavis
While most politicians performatively appear to be early-rising fitness enthusiasts, Fadnavis&rsquo; admission brings to mind another world leader famous for his nocturnal stamina. US President Donald Trump recently went on a digital marathon, firing off 12 posts between 9.49 pm and 4.10 am &mdash; a timeframe most people reserve for REM sleep or questionable late-night snacking. One can almost imagine the two of them crossing paths in the ethereal glow of a smartphone screen while the rest of the world snores.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Donald-Trump-ux_e.jpg" alt="Donald Trump" width="1280" height="720" /> Donald Trump
However, before we start manufacturing &lsquo;Make Maharashtra Great Again&rsquo; caps, let&rsquo;s maintain some perspective. While their biological clocks might tick to the same late-night rhythm, the content of their character remains worlds apart. Thank the good lord for that!
<h2>A time for titans</h2>
Time magazine dropped its 100 Most Influential People of 2026 list on April 15, and my jaw had the same reaction. While the global stage is crowded, the Indian spotlight is effectively an ultra-exclusive club of two. Ranbir Kapoor and Vikas Khanna are our dual pillars this year, representing the very best of our soft power &mdash; from the silver screen to the Michelin-star kitchen.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Ranbir-Vikas_e.jpg" alt="Ranbir Kapoor and Vikas Khanna" width="1280" height="720" /> Ranbir Kapoor and Vikas Khanna
As the only Indian film personality on the 2026 list, Ranbir joins the hallowed ranks of past honourees including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, and wife Alia Bhatt. It&rsquo;s a tight guest list, but let&rsquo;s be real: that&rsquo;s what makes the invite covetable.&nbsp;
Add to that the ultimate &lsquo;game recognising game&rsquo; moment: Ranbir&rsquo;s TIME tribute is penned by Ayushmann Khurrana. Himself a 2020 alum, Ayushmann essentially welcomes the Animal star into this elite global group with a note that bypasses box-office fluff. He lauds Ranbir&rsquo;s &ldquo;quiet restraint&rdquo; and &ldquo;authenticity,&rdquo; calling him a &ldquo;cultural bridge&rdquo; for an India that is finally learning to listen to itself. It&rsquo;s the kind of high-brow professional kinship that makes the usual industry rivalries look positively amateur.
Chef Vikas, on the other hand, finds kind words coming his way from award-winning French chef Eric Ripert. In the piece for TIME, Eric says Vikas is &ldquo;above all a man of extraordinary heart.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a sentiment I echoed in this column only yesterday &mdash; not a premonition, just well-deserved praise.
<h2>Global desi</h2>
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/apr/Zohran-Mamdani_e.jpg" alt="Zohran Mamdani" width="1280" height="720" /> Zohran Mamdani
The diaspora also did some heavy lifting to keep our desi quota respectable. Neal Mohan makes it to the &lsquo;Innovators&rsquo; section, for architecting our digital lives at YouTube, while Zohran Mamdani brings that unmistakable South Asian grit to the New York political hustle on the &lsquo;Leaders&rsquo; list (that also features Donald Trump). Google CEO Sundar Pichai makes his presence felt amongst other &lsquo;Titans,&rsquo; rounding off our claimed-by-association quota. The numbers might be small, but the impact? Absolute.

This week, The Kerala Story 2 actress pays a soulful homage to the mesmerising Mahal star

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