BK

perennial outsider doing insider work

[BK @drinkcircle]

Without scalable breakthroughs, this could become a structural challenge. The deep-tech/defence/energy potential will take off only if the government opens up projects in a significant way.

[Madhav Chanchani @madhavchanchani]

New tech startup formation in India fell by nearly 74% between 2023 and 2025.

The decline appears to have accelerated sharply in 2025.

Source: RTP Global–Tracxn Report

[BK @drinkcircle]

You are missing the point somewhat I think. There are enough Defense tech opportunities like in Israel, which requires thinking outside the bureaucratic box.

Unrelated to IPO conversations. Even there, one sided discussions aren’t helpful. Incremental GDP growth and jobs (though shrinking) will be there.

[BK @drinkcircle]

For all the #Liverpool fans!

[V D Satheesan @vdsatheesan]

As Keralam catches the ultimate football fever ahead of the grand Argentina-Spain finale. To ensure our young fans can enjoy the midnight thriller without worrying about school, College the next morning, the Government has declared a holiday for all educational institutions tomorrow. Stay up, cheer out loud, and enjoy the game.

#CMOKeralam #FIFAWorldCup #ArgentinaVsSpain #KeralamCelebrate

[BK @drinkcircle]

One of the best contests ever!

[Praveen Chakravarty @pravchak]

Misses a penalty, match almost lost
In the final 15 min, turns it all around to win
Oh Messi, you beauty

As much awe for Messi’s Argentina as sympathies for Mo Salah’s Egypt

Lucky to watch one of the most exciting matches in world cup football history between two greats

[True Ventures @trueventures]

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of Om Malik’s passing.

It’s difficult to state the impact that @om had on all of our lives at True.

Om was the first Founder we funded when we started True. In our Presidio office, Om discussed his idea for a new type of media company. That idea would later become GigaOm.

Om was a brilliant Founder, an amazing teammate and Partner at True, a prolific writer, a gifted photographer, and a sage and valuable advisor to so many in the technology ecosystem.

Om was brilliant, thoughtful, humorous, profoundly kind, and deeply curious. He was also relentless when he had an idea or story. Om was brave - he never shied away from sharing his views or pushing for the truth.

We were very, very lucky to call Om our Partner and friend at True for these last many years.

For today, we simply encourage you to take a moment to remember this beautiful soul and great thinker who was in our midst. He would ask us to slow down a bit. Om would want us to think deeper, express our love for one another a lot more.

Above all else, Om wanted us all to retain our humanity and care for each other in our brilliant quest to rebuild the world.

We love you Om.

Team True

https://t.co/0fHDlkwcx6

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

Just heartbroken to hear of the passing of the incredible Om Malik. @Om was always a pioneer, a deep thinker, and a truly original voice who shaped the soul of Silicon Valley. Om’s curiosity and integrity challenged us all to be better. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones. May the One who brings Peace bring Peace to all.

[BK @drinkcircle]

“Like Mann Vasanai, Bharathiraja’s films evoked the smell of the soil. His films remind us of a man, hailing from the leeward side of the Western Ghats, moving to Madras, while his affectionate gaze remained locked on the villages he left behind.” https://t.co/iLGQ1SdJm6

[BK @drinkcircle]

The release of a Bharathiraja movie was almost a festival for serious mainstream movie buffs. He stood his ground and built a unique craft in an industry where superstardoms held sway.

[Chandra R. Srikanth @chandrarsrikant]

Bharathiraja, whose realistic portrayal of rural Tamil Nadu reshaped filmmaking in the industry
https://t.co/EkzOSNOMG3

[BK @drinkcircle]

We have enough brain power and chutzpah to navigate a generational economic shift. The question: are we, as a nation, interested in it? #India

[Malay Krishna @Malay4Product]

You probably have no idea who Salim Kumar is, but every Indian should read all about him today.

Salim Kumar was a Malayalam actor who passed away on Saturday night in Kochi at the age of 56. If you don't watch Malayalam cinema, strap in because his story is one of the most remarkable careers Indian cinema has produced, and it deserves to travel beyond Kerala.

He came from nothing. Born in North Paravur, a small town in Ernakulam, into a family that struggled with money. Government school. Graduated from Maharajas College.

So, no film connections, no family wealth, no shortcuts.

He started as a mimicry artist with Kalabhavan, a performance troupe in Kochi that has been the launchpad for dozens of Malayalam actors. Stage shows, comedy routines, television spots.

He was funny in a way that was impossible to ignore, the kind of performer who could make a room laugh in an instant.

His first film was Ishtamanu Nooru Vattam in 1997, a small role nobody remembers. For years he played supporting parts & background comedy.

Then the 2000s happened. His role as Mattancherry Mammathu in Satyameva Jayathe gave him his first real recognition, and after that the comedy roles started coming fast.

Pulival Kalyanam. Thuruppugulan. Kunjikkoonan. Marykkundoru Kunjaadu. If you grew up in Kerala in the 2000s, his face was in half the films you watched. He became the comedian audiences showed up for, the one whose scenes people replayed and quoted at family gatherings.

What separated him from most comedians was precision. He did not rely on volume or slapstick. He used his face, his body, his pauses.

He could get a laugh from the way he blinked. Directors started writing characters specifically for him, because they knew he would take whatever was on the page and make it three times funnier than they imagined.

For over a decade, he was the biggest comic face in Malayalam cinema.

Then came 2010 and a film called Adaminte Makan Abu.

A quiet, small-budget film directed by Salim Ahamed. The story follows an aging Muslim couple in a Kerala village whose only dream in life is to go on Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

They save every rupee. Things keep falling apart. The film is about their dignity, their patience, and their faith through one disappointment after another.

Salim Kumar played Abu. The man who owns nothing except his wife and his belief, and holds onto both with everything he has.

There is no comedy in the role. No punchlines, no funny faces, no playing to the gallery. It is the complete opposite of everything audiences had ever seen him do.

The entire performance is built on stillness, restraint, and pain carried quietly behind the eyes.

He won the National Film Award for Best Actor for it. That is the highest acting honour in Indian cinema. The film was also selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards (Oscars) that year.

In one role, Salim Kumar went from "the funny guy from Malayalam films" to one of the most respected actors in Indian cinema.

He simply disappeared so completely into a character that you forgot you were watching a comedian at all.

He followed it with more serious work. Achanurangatha Veedu, which won him the Kerala State Award. Traffic, still considered one of the finest ensemble films in Malayalam cinema. Perumazhakkalam.

Each time, he proved the National Award was not a fluke. The man had range that most actors who only do drama cannot match.

Unfortunately, Salim Kumar suffered from liver cirrhosis, a condition he said was hereditary in his family and not related to alcohol. His brother had the same illness. He underwent a liver transplant a few years ago. He tried naturopathy. He talked about all of it openly, without shame, without self-pity.

He kept working between treatments. He kept being funny. He kept showing up, even when his body was failing him.

He was also fearlessly outspoken about politics and social issues, which in any film industry can cost you work. He did not care. He said what he believed and lived with the consequences.

He passed away Saturday night at a hospital in Kochi. He was 56. The Kerala government bore the funeral expenses and gave him police honours.

The Chief Minister paid homage personally. Mammootty, one of the biggest names in Indian cinema, mourned him publicly. Thousands of people lined up at the North Paravur Town Hall on Sunday to say goodbye.

350 films in three decades. A National Award for Best Actor. An Oscar entry. A career that started from mimicry stages and ended at the very top of Indian cinema.

The reason most of India does not know his name is because Malayalam cinema, despite being one of the best film industries in the country, still does not get the national attention it deserves.

Actors like Salim Kumar live and work in a language bubble, and their stories rarely cross over the way a Bollywood career would.

This is a loss for everyone who never got to watch him. A man who came from poverty, made millions laugh, then proved he could make them cry just as hard, and fought his own hardest battle with utmost dignity.

If you watch one film after reading this, make it Adaminte Makan Abu. It is a masterpiece.

[Vivek Ranjit @vivekranjit]

Our daily lingo, thesaurus, and expression bank for sharing all sorts of emotions in life with every other Malayali came from his rich reservoir of legendary lines and expressions, giving the people at both ends so much joy just by seeing his face and expressions on those stickers and GIFs. While surrounded by equally talented peers, he carved out a distinctly unique path, delivering his lines and expressions in a way that was uniquely his own, and became a true legend soon enough!

Farewell, Salimetta! You are and will always be an irrefutable part of our lives! Thank you for making our lives so much more bearable with your unforgettable performances.

#Salimkumar

[Josey Puliyenthuruthel John @JoseyJohn]

I have spoken with Ram Charan four-five times. You know what stays with me: his soothing drawl and intonation besides, of course, the clarity of his thought. He could be a modern-day Ameen Sayani just like that. :) Thank you, sir.

[BK @drinkcircle]

@airindia AI2849. Weather isn’t reason. Flight scanner shows multiple other flights landing in the last one hour…

[BK @drinkcircle]

@airindia is citing rains and bad weather for delaying all flights to Bengaluru this evening. @ChristinMP_ @chandrarsrikant

[BK @drinkcircle]

Via @FT

[BK @drinkcircle]

Peak Musk-ism?

[Chandra R. Srikanth @chandrarsrikant]

OPINION | India's balance sheet is a policy choice, not fate

"India's macroeconomic managers are competent. The bureaucracy is not without capability. What this moment demands, however, is something the system is structurally reluctant to supply: urgency without a crisis to justify it"

Sharp column by Sanjay Nayar

https://t.co/Nr5n9LItxe