From broken dreams in Kota to Air India's Maharaja, here are our most-read stories of the week

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1) Broken dreams, shattered lives

He was their only son. The son of an IITian father and a doctor mother loved music more than anything else. He learnt the guitar for six years. He was in the school band and was planning to start his own music group. He wanted to study music abroad. But his father had other plans. He pushed his kid to prepare for the IIT entrance exam. Reason? "He had my genes; he was good at maths and computers. I knew he could easily crack IIT." The boy was sent packing to the Kota factory. The story took the wrong but all too familiar turn. One more number was added to the Kota statistics. Now there remains nothing but a broken home and shattered dreams—a Kota story to allow you to contemplate. Read more

2) King and his Blanko

There is no creator economy turmoil when your stage name is King and your song 'Maan Meri Jaan' has been playing on reels non-stop. Arpan Kumar Chandel, a rapper popularly known as King, collaborated with Raj Shamani's House of X to launch his brand, Blanko. Under this 'blanket', the idea is to give every individual access to quality grooming products. Digital entrepreneurs are now leveraging their burgeoning fanbase to reach a newer audience and build an empire. On day one of the launch, the claim is Blanko recorded sales of Rs20 lakh with a footfall of 80,000 visitors. And in just three months since the launch, Blanko hit Rs1 crore per month in revenue and has managed to sell over 20,000 units. The story is a lesson in influencer marketing, and we have Shamani and King explain it to you. Read more

3) Tata UniEVerse

Cinematic universes were the talk of the town until a few months ago. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe was ruling the box office, the Star Wars Universe has established itself on OTT. Closer to home, there is Astraverse. All building worlds, weaving stories to make one epic. Something along those lines is happening at Tata Group, and it all centres around Tata Motors and its EV products. Tata Universe is an ecosystem that will leverage group synergies from companies such as Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Autocomp, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Digital, Tata Elxsi and Tata Motors Finance. With its headstart in the electric vehicle ecosystem, the group aims to provide a one-stop shop for all things EVs. How will this play out against the automaker's global ambitions? Let's find out.

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1) Cricket in the US?

Apart from the usual discussions about NBA, baseball, the ongoing FIFA Women's World Cup, and Lionel Messi's new chapter at Inter Miami, sports talk in the US also includes small conversations about cricket. Reason? The first edition of Major League Cricket (MLC), a six-franchise T20 tournament, is into its last mile, and there have been a few sell-outs already. Tom Dunmore, the vice president of marketing at MLC, believes that a new audience looking beyond traditional favourites is keen to pick this up (having a solid South Asian diaspora that worships cricket like religion also helps). In conversation with Forbes India, Dunmore talks about his plans to finetune the platform, the appeal of the game, and building the audience brick by brick. Read more

2) Leaving before closing

Four years ago, Anil Pushkar (name changed) said, "People don't quit bad companies; they leave bad bosses," and resigned from Kotak Mahindra Bank to take a position at HDFC Bank. The pressures of managing key clients and teams, scaling retail banking, cross-selling and acquiring customers are almost similar across the BFSI. And this is a big challenge for bankers in India. Controlling attrition and retaining skilled workers has become tricky, especially post-pandemic, for two reasons. First is that millennials and Gen Z, young employees, demand flexibility and prioritise better work-life balance over career success. And second, is the allure of the fintech sector, which comes with exciting challenges and hefty pay packages. How are banks dealing with it? Read more

3) Rocky Aur Rani: Box office ki kahaani

Barbenheimer has genuinely revived the summer box office for Hollywood after the painful years of the pandemic. For uninitiated people, Barbenheimer is a social media phenomenon that compares, discusses, and meme-fies every single aspect of director Greta Gerwig's film Barbie and Christopher Nolan's cinema Oppenheimer. At the time of writing this newsletter, Barbie has grossed $495,664,831, and Oppenheimer has collected $230,298,511 at the box office worldwide. And these are not the only two movies that pulled audiences to cinema halls. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Fast X collected decent money. In 2023, a Hindi film that had such an impact was Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan, which grossed $130 million worldwide. And this was seven months ago. Maybe this is why the Hindi film industry is looking at Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani with expectations. Watch here

4) Air India Maharaja: An icon

A handful of brand mascots captivate the audience regardless of their customer status. Mickey Ears, Ronald McDonald, and Amul Girl are such examples. But one of the OGs has to be Air India Maharaja. Initially designed for an inflight memo pad, the mascot is an instantly recognisable non-western global icon with his curling and oversized moustache that offset a striped turban, potbelly, elegant bow, and serene expressions. Reportedly, this figure will be moving on to assume a new position due to the rebranding exercise at Tata Group, which intends to bring all their airlines under one umbrella. Just in case the Maharaja meets the fate of the royal families of India's former princely states, here's a look at some of his cheeky expeditions from the golden shored of Sydney to Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion. Read more