Sandeep Goyal believes Amul hoardings are the best mirror to the everyday India. Here are the best 50 of 2017 to track and revisit some of the most happening events of the year gone by.
4. Bullet train project of Rs. 1.10 trillion gets launched by Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and PM Modi in Ahmedabad.
5. Triple Talaq declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. SC says it violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women.
6. Nitish Kumar leaves the the Mahagathbandhan and joins the BJP. Forms new Bihar government in just 14 hours.
7. GST gets rolled out after a long wait, but many still call it hasty. Big businesses complain about a confusing tax structure and small businesses say they’re going bust.
8. ISRO launches new Made In India satellite that will be used by SAARC countries. Big stratospheric achievement for India.
9. Liquor sale gets banned through a Supreme Court ruling. All restaurants in a 500 metre radius from a national highway not to sell alcohol.
10. Assault raises its ugly head in an airplane. Shiv Sena MP loses his cool on an Air India flight and assaults staff, gets blacklisted by all airlines.
11. The Aadhaar card increases in importance. The Government says it plans to make the identification card compulsory almost for anything, and everything…
12. Street-side romeos get rounded up by the UP police. UP CM Yogi Adityanath wants to make the streets safe for women.
13. UP elections reaffirm the supremacy of brand Modi. The BJP gets a landslide win in the state.
Engagements and weddings
14. Virushka - Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma get married finally. It’s a hush hush affair with 40 guests in Tuscany, Italy. I felt very left out!
15. Royal engagement - American actress Meghan Markle gets engaged to Prince Harry. They’re to be married on 19 May next year.
17. Shashi Kapoor passes away. The Deewar and Kabhi-Kabhi actor was sick and in hospital for a long time.
18. Tom Alter passes away. The actor fought a long and tough fight against skin cancer.
19. Roger Moore, James Bond actor, passes away at 89.
20. Reema Lagoo, best known for her role in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Tu Tu Main Main passes away.
21. Chuck Berry, the founding rock-n-roll guitarist who is best known for his song Johnny B. Goode, passes away.
22. Vinod Khanna, India’s Mr. Darcy, who gave us great performances in films like Amar Akbar Anthony and Qurbani, passes away.
23. Kishori Amonkar, leading Indian classical vocalist, also an innovator of the Jaipur Gharana passes away.
24. Om Puri, veteran actor who did both mainstream cinema and art films, passes away.
Sports
25. The Delhi Smog gets Sri Lankan players sick. Virat Kohli declares the innings earlier than he would have liked.
26. Virat Kohli smashes his 50th century, 18th in test cricket. Experts think he’s on track to chase Sachin’s record of a hundred centuries.
27. Hockey is back in the limelight. Indian team wins the Asia Cup after ten years. Many get reminded of India’s national game.
28. Usain Bolt retires from ‘everything’ - fans, races and race tracks. At 30, eight-time Olympic gold medalist says he doesn’t plan to return to running competitively again.
29. Roger Federer wins another Wimbledon title, becomes the first man to win the title eight times.
30. The Indian Women’s cricket team makes it to the World Cup finals, gives women’s sports some hope.
31. Dhoni steps down as captain for T20 and ODIs, paves the way for Virat Kohli’s rise.
Women in the headlines
32. Manushi Chhillar wins Miss World – brings the crown home after 17 years! A dancer and a medical student, she’s really a beauty with brains.
33. Kangana Ranaut doesn’t hold pull any punches while discussing her spat with Hrithik Roshan.
34. PV Sindhu becomes the first Indian badminton player to win the BWF Korean Open Superseries. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu give us much to be proud of.
35. Mithila Raj, Indian women’s cricket team captain creates records. She becomes the first player to score 10 fifty-plus scores in ODIs. From travelling in unreserved train compartments as an uncared-for Indian sports person to leading the women’s cricket team to a World Cup final, she’s done it all.
Brand stories that got people talking
36. Indigo staff man-handles a passenger and gets trolled on Twitter; DGCA takes action.
37. Netflix sacks Kevin Spacey due to sexual harassment allegations. Much like his character in House of Cards he loses the support of all.
38. Star wins IPL rights for over 2.5 billion dollars. Rs. 54.5 crore per match is not insane if you look at it logically.
39. Vishal Sikka exits Infosys. At the heart of it, it’s a clash of values with the humble bosses, not a question of performance.
40. Flipkart acquires eBay’s India business after raising $ 1.4 billion from eBay, Tencent and Microsoft. No privately held Indian venture has raised so much money before.
41. Vodafone and Idea merge. The consolidation that pundits were predicting since 2012, finally happens. It’s good news for the industry but hopefully they don’t rationalize network and trouble consumers too much.
42. Tata Sons gets its first non-Parsi chairman in former TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran. He says the group needs to consolidate its businesses.
Entertainment
43. Newton with Rajkumar Rao in the lead, becomes India’s official entry to the Oscars. It doesn’t make the cut, but Rao gets showered with praise for his performance anyway.
44. Pee Cee’s trench-coat gown at the MET Gala gets a thumbs-up. Looks like this girl can do no wrong. Her show Quantico, her interviews with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, her Instagram photos and her dresses - people just keep falling more in love with her.
45. Bahubali breaks all box office records. Also becomes one of top 10 things people reacted to on Facebook this year.
46. Abhay Deol slams fairness creams ads and actors who endorse them, rakes up a controversy on Twitter.
47. The Padmavati set gets torched. It’s as if the filmmakers are repaying some big karmic debt. There is no consensus on anything - whether or not the character was truly fictional and whether or not the film actually has any objectionable content.
48. The Oscar goof-up. La-La Land was announced best picture instead of Moonlight. PwC made a mistake and now the Academy has banned their accountants from carrying cell phones.
49. Deepika Padukone makes her Hollywood debut in xXx Return of Xander Cage opposite Vin Diesel. The film makes more than $308 million globally! That’s big, even for Hollywood’s standards.
50. Karan Johar adopts surrogate twins, names them Roohi and Yash.
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