In 1996, a fax arrived at a Mumbai office. It said: ” Michael Jackson would like to perform his music in India.” The man who received it laughed and then threw it away. Back then, the biggest pop stars in the world simply did not come to India. It just did not happen. But the fax came again and this time, they replied.

What followed changed Indian entertainment forever. And yet, that night in Mumbai was only one part of a much bigger story. The real story, in fact, started long before, in living rooms across the country, with a grainy VHS tape and a dance move nobody in India had ever seen before.

More Than a Pop Star

Who was Michael Jackson, really?

Most people stop at “singer.” But Michael Jackson was so much more than that. He was a dancer, a performer, a filmmaker and a humanitarian. Micheal did not just make music. He changed what music could look like, feel like and mean.

His album Thriller (1982) is still the best-selling album in history. He won 13 Grammy Awards. He had 13 number-one singles in the United States. His music videos were not just videos,  they were short films. “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” helped turn MTV into one of the most powerful channels in the world.

But here is what made people truly love him.

His songs had something to say. “Man in the Mirror” asked people to change themselves before blaming the world. “Heal the World” was a plea for kindness. “Black or White” took on racism directly. He wrote about things that mattered, and he did it in a way that everyone, no matter where they were from, could feel.

“Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever.”  – Michael Jackson

He also gave back in ways most people never even heard about. By 2000, The Guinness Book of World Records named him the most charitable pop star in history. He donated an estimated $300 million to causes like UNICEF, the Red Cross and children’s hospitals around the world. He visited sick children on every tour, usually without any cameras. When he was injured on the set of a Pepsi advertisement and received a settlement of $1.5 million, he donated the entire amount to build a burns centre for children.

He was not just famous. He was truly kind. And people could feel that.

How Did India Even Find Him?

Here is something worth thinking about. In the early 1980s, India had no internet. No YouTube. No satellite television. International music was rare and hard to find.

So how did Michael Jackson become a household name across an entire country?

He travelled by word of mouth. Bootleg VHS cassettes of his music videos were passed from home to home. People who had seen him dance told their friends. Imported audio cassettes were shared in schools and offices. If you were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him on a neighbour’s television, you remembered it for years.

For a generation of Indians who were just beginning to imagine a bigger world, Jackson was something new. Not just entertainment but possibility. A window into a life beyond what they had seen before.

Then the 1990s arrived. India opened its economy. Satellite television came in. MTV India and Channel V launched. Suddenly, Michael Jackson was on television, in colour, in front of everyone.

And still, he crossed every line. Language did not stop him. Class did not stop him. Geography did not stop him. As Nikhil Gangavane, founder of India’s official 13,000-member Michael Jackson fan club, said: “Anybody who dances well is compared with Michael Jackson.” Bollywood star Hard Kaur put it even more simply: “Go to any village, any corner in India and you’ll find everyone is familiar with the name Michael Jackson.”

Think about that for a moment. International music makes up just 5% of music sold in India. And yet, one Western artist became universally known. Not just in Mumbai or Delhi. Everywhere.

He Saw India Before India Saw Him

Here is a detail most people do not know.

Before Michael Jackson ever visited India, he put India in his music.

In 1991, he released the music video for “Black or White.” The song was about racial equality. The video showed Jackson dancing with people from different cultures all over the world. African tribesmen. Thai dancers. Native Americans. Russian performers.

And then, in the middle of a busy Los Angeles street, with cars flying past, an Odissi dancer.

Odissi is one of India’s oldest classical dance forms, with a history going back over a thousand years. The dancer in the video was Yamuna Sangarasivam, a trained Odissi performer who was studying in Los Angeles at the time. She was chosen to dance alongside Jackson in that scene.

For Indian viewers watching that video, on a pirated tape, on early MTV, on a neighbour’s screen, it was a moment that stopped them cold. The biggest pop star in the world had chosen to stand next to their art. He had made space for it on a global stage.

His message was about unity. But for Indians, there was also pride. He had seen them.

The Night Mumbai Stood Still

Now, back to that fax.

After the second message arrived, the team at Wizcraft replied. They said they would not believe it until Jackson himself called. To their shock, he did. His team flew the Wizcraft founders to Los Angeles. They sat across from Michael Jackson. They shook hands. The concert was on.

On October 30, 1996, Michael Jackson landed in Mumbai. Over 5,000 fans were already waiting at the airport. He did not go straight to his hotel. He went to Dharavi, one of the largest urban settlements in Asia, to meet children who had never had access to the kind of world he came from.

That was the man he was.

On the night of November 1, at the Andheri Sports Complex, something historic happened. The venue’s official capacity was 35,000. But the crowd that night was closer to 50,000. Tickets cost between ₹1,500 and ₹5,000, a very large amount for 1996. People had saved for months. Many had come from other cities.

Jackson waived his performance fee. The Indian government made the concert tax-free. Every rupee of profit went to charity.

The 17-song performance that night was unlike anything India had seen. Not just a concert but a turning point. For the first time, India had proved itself as a destination for the world’s biggest artists. Every international tour that came after it walked through a door that Michael Jackson opened.

The Dancers He Inspired

Michael Jackson did not just visit India. He changed how India moved.

The clearest example is Prabhu Deva. If you grew up watching Indian cinema, you know him. Actor, choreographer, director and widely called “India’s Michael Jackson.” Prabhu Deva built his career by taking what Jackson did and making it Indian. The fast footwork. The hip movements. The moonwalk. He did not copy Jackson. He translated him.

His song Mukkala Muqabala from the 1994 Tamil film Kadhalan was a turning point for Indian cinema. Nobody had seen dancing like that on an Indian screen before. It was sharp, fast and completely unlike the Bollywood dance that audiences were used to. The song is still being remixed and referenced today. Prabhu Deva went on to win two National Film Awards for choreography and received the Padma Shri in 2019.

Then there is Ganesh Hegde, a singer, performer and choreographer. He grew up watching Jackson. He credits him as the biggest influence on his career. And in 1996, he choreographed the opening act for Jackson’s Mumbai concert. He performed for the very man who had inspired everything he did. Not many people get a moment like that.

Bollywood choreographers Bosco-Caesar, who have worked on some of Hindi cinema’s biggest dance numbers, also point to Jackson as a key influence. When they choreographed the title track of Bang Bang! (2014) with Hrithik Roshan, the reference point they gave was Michael Jackson. Actors like Shahid Kapoor and Tiger Shroff have performed full-length MJ tributes at award shows, drawing millions of views each time.

The rule in India is simple. If someone dances exceptionally well, there is only one comparison people reach for.

A Legacy That Did Not End

Michael Jackson passed away on June 25, 2009. India mourned.

Radio stations played only his music. Fan groups gathered in cities and small towns. Tributes went up across social media, which was still very new at the time. In a country where English-language pop rarely travels beyond certain circles, the grief was everywhere.

But something interesting happened after the mourning. His presence did not fade. It grew.

Today, his music plays at Indian weddings and festivals. Reality dance shows still use his songs as the ultimate test for contestants. Dance academies teach his techniques. Children who were not even born when he was alive can do the moonwalk.

He reached India before the internet existed. He did it through tapes and word of mouth and sheer magnetism. And he stayed because his work was truly great. Because it made people feel something real. Because it inspired a generation of Indian artists to move differently, to aim higher, to believe that great performance could come from anywhere.

As Prabhu Deva said: “Dance suddenly became a rage in India because of MJ. India was shocked to see a man who could dance like him. He had a unique dance style, it wasn’t break dance. It was just typical Jackson Style.”

What India Will Always Remember

Decades later, say the name Michael Jackson in any part of India. Watch what happens.

People smile when they remember where they were when they first saw him. They remember the cassette tape. The neighbour’s television. The concert tickets they saved up for. The Odissi dancer in the middle of a Los Angeles street. The night Mumbai shook.

To Indians, he was not just a pop star. He was the first Western artist who felt personal. His music did not need translation.

After all, joy, hope, justice and love do not belong to any one language. Naturally then, when Indian classical dance found its place on his global stage, it resonated deeply. An entire generation of dancers, choreographers and film industries across the country carried that spirit forward.

Michael Jackson showed India that greatness has no passport. And India, in return, never forgot him.

A Nutty Beginning: The Origins of Peanut Butter

Peanut butter might seem like a staple of the modern pantry, but it has a history that stretches several centuries. Well before peanut butter ever donned its creamy spread persona on grocery store shelves, ancient South American cultures-the Inca civilization and the Aztec civilization among them-were grinding roasted peanuts into a soft paste, occasionally with cocoa mixed in. These early forms of peanut spreads were the ancestors of what we now call peanut butter.

The first modern patent on peanut paste was much later in 1884, with Canadian chemist Marcellus Gilmore Edson describing the milling of roasted peanuts into a smooth, spreadable consistency. His version sometimes included sugar to firm up the texture. A decade later, in 1895, American doctor John Harvey Kellogg made his nut butter from boiled nuts. Kellogg developed it as a high-protein, easy-to-consume food for patients in his sanitarium, particularly those who had problems chewing.

Many people believe that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, but in reality, his contribution was in researching hundreds of uses for peanuts and promoting its cultivation. For by this time, peanut butter itself already existed.

The popularity of peanut butter as a commercial product took hold when a businessman named George A. Bayle Jr. marketed the nutty spread as a snack in the 1890s. However, after gaining fame at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where visitors were fascinated by this new nutty spread, it reached its big break in the 1920s, when the chemist Joseph L. Rosefield developed a process to prevent separation in peanut butter. This allowed it to become creamy, stable on the shelf, and perfect for mass production. Soon, brands like Peter Pan, Skippy, and later Jif would make peanut butter a household staple.

With its ease, nutrition, affordability, and versatility, the world by mid-twentieth century had learned to love peanut butter. Whether spread on bread, folded into desserts, or used in savory dishes, peanut butter earned its global reputation as a comfort food.

Why Peanut Butter Became So Popular

Despite its ancient roots, peanut butter only really caught on when manufacturers worked out how to stabilize it. When people realized they could store it for months without the oil separating, it became a take-anywhere food. The high protein content made it popular with vegetarians, children, and athletes alike. It’s inexpensive, extremely filling, and adaptable. You can use it in sandwiches, smoothies, curries, baked goods, and sauces. And, of course, the most important thing: it tastes amazing.

India’s Own Nutty Legacy: Groundnut-Based Chutneys and Spreads

In most Western countries, butter or nut butters are everyday staples, their diets being heavy on bread. Spreads naturally become a part of their meals. In India, however, our cuisine is centered around chapatis, rice, bhakris, dosas and an enormous variety of condiments. Instead of butter, we reach for ghee, fresh chutneys, spiced pickles, podis, gravies and dry powders.

Even though peanut butter has become popular here in recent years, India has always had its own delicious tradition of groundnut-based chutneys and spreads.

Shengdana Chi Chutney, Maharashtra

This is a dry version of peanut chutney, made by roasting groundnuts and then blending them with garlic, red chilli, and salt. The texture remains coarse, almost like powder, which makes it perfect for bhakri, rotis, or even as a flavorful sprinkle on meals.

Wet Groundnut Chutney with Dosa, South India

Freshly prepared groundnut chutneys are a breakfast must-have across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. These creamy chutneys are blended together with peanuts, chillies, spices, and sometimes coconut. They go beautifully with dosas, idlis, and vadas.

But the peanut story in India does not end here. Many states have their own local groundnut-based accompaniments. Here are some more regional treasures:

More Regional Indian Groundnut Spreads Worth Celebrating

Palli Pachadi from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

This classic chutney made from roasted peanuts combined with garlic, red chillies, tamarind and salt has a creamy texture and bold, slightly tangy flavour. People enjoy it with dosa, idli, pesarattu and upma.

Dry Chutney of Peanut and Garlic from Maharashtra

This version is made by grinding the peanuts with fried garlic and red chilli powder. Slightly oily, it is intensely aromatic and infuses bhakri or rotis with heat and crunch.

Peanut and Mint Fresh Chutney

A more modern favorite savored all over India, this combination of roasted ground nuts, mint leaves, coriander, green chilies, and lemon forms a refreshing dip for pakoras, parathas, and snacks.

Dry Peanut Podi for Chapatis and Rice

This is a powdered chutney made by mixing roasted peanuts with chilli, cumin, and salt. Many people use it as a quick flavour enhancer for chapatis or hot rice with ghee. Some even prepare it during fasting days when they need high energy accompaniments.

Mirchi ka Salan, Telangana and Hyderabad

The star of the dish, though technically a gravy, is a paste made with peanuts, dry coconut, tamarind and spices. Rich and nutty, this curry accompanies Hyderabadi biryani and festive meals.

Peanut and Yogurt Chutney

A lighter, cooling variant made by blending roasted peanuts with curd, garlic, chillies and a little lemon. Goes great with rice or dosa when you want something tangy and smooth.

Put together, these regional variants reveal how entrenched the peanut is in everyday foods across India. While peanut butter abroad can be sweet or neutral and is predominantly used as a versatile spread, India’s groundnut condiments are savoury, spicy, tangy, full of flavour.

Fun Peanut Butter and Peanut-Based Recipes to Try at Home

Peanut Butter Dosa Dip

Mix peanut butter with warm water or coconut milk. Add salt, jaggery, green chilli and lime. Use as a creamy dosa dip.

Peanut Butter Sandwich with an Indian Twist

Spread peanut butter on whole wheat bread, add sliced mango or banana, and sprinkle chaat masala. Toast for a warm, fusion snack.

Spicy Peanut Spread for Rotis

Blend together peanut butter with coriander, onion, garlic, chillies and salt. Spread on rotis or use as a dip for snack items.

Peanut Butter Paratha Stuffing

Mix peanut butter with chopped coriander, onion, green chilli, and optional cheese. Stuff it into dough and make flavourful parathas.

Sweet Peanut Butter Ladoo

Mix peanut butter with powdered jaggery and a little amount of roasted semolina or crushed gram. Make small ladoos to serve instantly.

Andhra Style Palli Pachadi

Roast the peanuts and then blend them with garlic, red chilies, tamarind, and salt. Season with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Why Peanut Butter Lover Month Matters

 It’s not just a quirky food holiday, but also a celebration of a food that travelled from ancient civilisations, coming to global shelves and finally to Indian kitchens. It gives us a chance to explore the nutty goodness that we already enjoy in so many forms, from chutneys to curries. 

For us  Indians, this is also a reminder that, as delicious as peanut butter may be, our own groundnut chutneys have been adding richness, heat and comfort to our meals for generations. By marrying these traditions and playing with new recipes, we create flavours that are both familiar and exciting. So grab a spoon, a slice of bread, a bhakri or a dosa. Today is the perfect day to celebrate the humble peanut in all its creamy, crunchy, spicy and savory glory.

Just think of what you will get when you lock 20 celebrities in a mansion with lies, deceit and a dash of Karan Johar’s signature drama. The ultimate game of betrayal, The Traitors! Prime Video’s latest reality show is here to blow up your Thursday nights. Here, backstabbing isn’t a twist. It’s the whole plot.

Who are ‘The Traitors’?

This high-stakes game features a glittering mix of entertainers, influencers and powerhouses from across the spectrum. Among them are:

Karan Kundrra, Uorfi Javed, Raftaar, Maheep Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Jasmine Bhasin, Anshula Kapoor, Raj Kundra, Elnaaz Norouzi, Purav Jha, Harsh Gujral, Lakshmi Manchu, Jannat Zubair, Sahil Salathia, Mukesh Chhabra, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sufi Motiwala, Janvi Gaur, Nikita Luther and Apoorva aka Rebel Kid.

Yes, that’s twenty faces you know, some you love and some you love to watch lose their cool.

What is the Game?

Adapted from the globally acclaimed format, The Traitors is a psychological game of trust and treachery. Among the 20 players are three secret “traitors” who will “murder” one contestant each night. The rest must figure out who’s lying through their teeth and they must work together to unmask the traitors before they themselves are eliminated. As the tension rises and paranoia sets in, the players openly betray each other for daily eliminations to compete for a grand prize. They must navigate daily missions, heated discussions and brutal banishments, all under Karan Johar’s watchful eye and perfectly arched eyebrow.

Where, When & How to Watch?

The Traitors premieres June 12 on Prime Video, with new episodes dropping every Thursday at 8 PM. Can you spot the traitors before they strike again? Only one way to find out. Watch here.

They say it’s the calmest people who carry the most chaotic mind. Sometimes it’s the ordinary things that cause the messiest mental chaos. Once you’re in it, it’s really hard to get out. So, imagine feeling stuck in a mental state at a time when people were not even ready to acknowledge it as a problem. Horrifyingly lonely isn’t it? Now imagine you’re always being surrounded by people but in your head, it’s just you, all alone. Just you and your thoughts. How long can you go without screaming for help and ultimately drowning from ignorance? Qala makes you question just that.

Qala: A Tale of Yearning and Envy

Written and directed by Anvita Dutt, Qala is a tale of a cuckoo bird who tries her hardest to live among us humans but fails. Qala is a tale of a mother who could never truly appreciate the bundle of talent that her daughter was, and a daughter who was ready to do everything she can to get the mother’s appreciation. 

Qala which means talent is the name of our protagonist. Throughout her entire life, she tries her hardest to woo her toughest audience who should have been her staunch supporter, her mother. It’s ironic how her name was Qala, and yet it was her Qala that people used to look down upon.

Just like a cuckoo bird who tries her hardest to make a life in the wild forest by stealing or using deceit, similarly, Qala tries her best to survive in the purposefully crafted forest-like hostile life that she and her mother share. Unable to bear the loss of losing her son at the hands of her daughter, Qala’s mother was unable to accept her daughter for who she truly was and instead started a domino effect that carried forth till the very end. 

Qala: Through a Microscope

Initially, starting with optimism, but as time passed, the optimism faded and we are left with a harsh reality to face. A reality filled with envy and yearning that takes a very dark ugly turn. A reality that makes us question ourselves as a society as to how ignorant we truly are towards issues concerning mental health. How quick we are to dismiss it as a common cold when it’s deadlier than cancer. 

Talent is something that everyone possesses. Though it may be in different fields or in similar ones, talent in something or the other is ever-present in humans. But how objective can one be while judging such talents, especially ones that are abstract in nature? The vocal battle between Jagan and Qala brings forth this point to the forefront.   

The scenic background act like a mood ring that reflects the various moods that each scene carries. From feeling distraught and unstable as highlighted by the dark and isolated childhood home of Qala located on a snowy hill of picturesque Himachal Pradesh to finding some stability yet being consumed with envy as depicted by the green-coloured wall of Qala’a new home to the presence of the gargoyles to foreshadow the ominous turn that Qala and Sumant Kumar’s meeting was about to take, the setting plays a very important role in conveying the mood of each scene.   

Afterword

With stunning camerawork that captures the innocent yearning of a mother’s love to the violent jealousy that doesn’t stop until it had burned everything to the ground to the mental turmoil that leads to the end of everything—Qala acts as a true artistic masterpiece. The character of Qala is an anti-hero, a grey character who at one moment makes your heart wrench with sorrow at her plight and in the next moment makes your mind rage at her actions. It’s a movie that evokes all emotions and made you numb at the same time.

In 2015, TVF’s 5 episodes web series, ‘Pitchers’ paved a new direction towards dramas based on realism and honest tussles of daily life, especially if you’re someone taking the courage to establish your own start-up. Four friends, Naveen (Naveen Kathuria), Mandal (Abhay Manjan), Yogi, (Arunabh Kumar) and Jeetu (Jeetendra Kumar) give up their 9-to-5 jobs, to fulfill their college dream of kicking-off an app based start-up. Upon it release, season one proved to hook the viewers.

The technicalities behind a start up, constant fear of failure, new dead ends, personal relationships of the four characters, and the humour filled dialogues and bickering made ‘Pitchers’ a binge worthy series. Of course, it was unlike other regular drama releases, for it stepped into a territory of a very realistic portrayal of young entrepreneurs and the daunting path they’ve to take.

The much awaited, ‘Pitchers’ season 2 was released on December, 23rd 2022. The series continued from where it left off. Did Anurabh Kumar, an entrepreneur himself, the creator and the director of the series, manage to create the same magic in the second season? Here’s what we think.

‘Pitchers’ Season 2: A Glimpse of the Anxious Road of Nascent Startups And Entrepreneurship

The second season of the web-series introduces us to Naveen’s start-up, ‘Pragati’. They’re in the midst of introducing their very anticipated next series of the product, which could only happen with a partnership with another company, KC enterprises, who’s working offline in the same sector. Not spoiling much for those who haven’t watched it yet, but the entire season, like the previous one, is presenting Naveen with dead ends after dead ends. The problem solving venture indeed continues!

What becomes interesting in this season is the grim atmosphere that it is drenched in. Building a start-up isn’t a piece of cake. ‘Pitchers’ season two brutally captures the debt trap, the vicious competitors, employee management, working conditions, team commitments, chasing VCs and making risk-worthy decisions.

The hour long episodes, unlike the previous season, become a little tedious, and the first two episodes couldn’t really deliver the urge for you to stick to the screens, which only gained momentum in the the the third episode. Season two is all about the undulated steps that one has to take for a startup to shoot across the highest stars. For all aspiring young entrepreneurs, this series can provide some significant insights.

Jeetu Was Terribly Missed! Oh, And We Loved Ridhi Dogra!

Season one heavily focused on the personal lives and interpersonal relationships of the group – Naveen, Yogi, Jeetu and Mandal. Maybe the camera’s pan into their lives provided a more realistic touch to the series. In season two, this was lacking. Anurabh Kumar’s central direction has been in and around the development of Pragati. What’s more, Jeetu had apparently left the start-up after some disagreements between the four. His character was crucial in representing the Indian household anxiousness and anti-start up attitude which prevails in many families, and discourages the young entrepreneurs to even take the first step. Jeetu’s character would have been a significant plot in season two to show the developments in his relationship with his father.

Nevertheless, Naveen’s anxiousness, uncertainty, and the stress of the employees working in a baby start-up could be felt through the screens. Maybe this tediousness wasn’t for the majority of the viewers of ‘Pitchers’ who might have returned to the show for an equal screen time for the characters’s domestic and romantic lives.

Needless to say, the star cast, Naveen Kathuria, Abhay Manjan and Anurabh Kumar himself, delivered an honest performance once again! Infact, Naveen Kathuria and Abhay Manjan outdid their characters effortlessly! Maybe one thing that ‘Pitchers’ will always maintain is it’s quality casting with outstanding execution of the scenes and talented actors. One terrific addition to the new season’s cast was Ridhi Dogra, the actress, who is soon going to be making her Bollywood debut! The beautiful Ridhi Dogra added a charismatic element to the scene with her distinct and sharp presence.

To conclude, ‘Pitchers’ season 2 fulfilled the promise of delivering an honest peek into the start-up community, the brutalities of the market world and entrepreneurship, but it couldn’t retain its binge-worthiness. It might have underestimated season one’s holistic screenwriting which allowed a balanced spoonful of personal and the market world.