Vikas Chandra

Director. Writer. Showrunner. Script Consultant. Enquiries 👉🏼[email protected]. Find my latest as Showrunner, DAHAAD on Amazon Prime. Coming up- BAWANDAR

[S. Gopalakrishnan @gopalears]

My tribute in Frontline to Lalith J. Rao, the distinguished Agra Gharana doyenne who passed away on 3 June 2026.The article reflects on her life, music, teaching, and her extraordinary contribution to preserving and transmitting the Agra tradition.
https://t.co/XA8SxSmwZh

[Nidhi @nidhi_sharma]

The students who did our job.
I would.genuinely want to confer Ramnath Goenka award for excellence in journalism to these kids

[African Film Press @africafilmpress]

Twelve-year-old Fatima is dropped off in a market wearing an explosive belt, ten minutes on the clock, programmed to kill the enemies of Allah. For nine of those minutes, the film becomes an inner journey.

Amina Abdoulaye Mamani's 23-minute short — a Niger–Burkina Faso–Rwanda co-production, shot in Hausa — screened in Locarno's Open Doors Screenings.

It is now free to stream until July 4.

→ Watch it on the Locarno website: https://t.co/yHJwaLRbeL

[Dhanya Rajendran @dhanyarajendran]

Ask the next five people you meet if they can say ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming’ in their mother tongue.

Marisha Thakur writes on World Environment Day: Why we need local Indian languages to navigate climate change

https://t.co/Ktkr0tVpdZ

[devanshi @journodevanshi]

read this excellent story by my colleague @khushi_bhuta, she captures how for hours two friends held onto each other under the rubble during the building collapse in south delhi that claimed 6 lives.

[María A. @zarandillo]

"If I were the minister of culture for the world, I would make every student wiser by requiring them to travel to five continents before the age of 18."

Marjane Satrapi.

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

How very very sad.

Marjane was a true artist and advocate for Iranian women and freedom.

She disrupted literature with her wildly successful autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis.

AFP reports she died of sadness a year after losing her husband, the love of her life.

RIP

[Vikas Chandra @vikSchandra]

Such a loss 💔

[Vincent Alexander @NonsenseIsland]

RIP Marjane Satrapi, the great cartoonist and film director, best known for PERSEPOLIS. She was only 56. A great talent. She will be missed.

[Mumbai Heritage @mumbaiheritage]

Spotted at Dana Bunder, Mumbai.

This elderly gentleman spends his day sorting used playing cards by hand, matching suits and numbers before repacking them into complete decks for resale.

A glimpse into Mumbai’s hidden recycling economy, where even a deck of cards gets a second life.

Have you ever seen this trade elsewhere in the city?
#MumbaiHeritage #MumbaiStories

[Vikas Chandra @vikSchandra]

@Sharmajitalks @rahuldholakia That ship has sailed bro, sadly.

[The Hollywood Reporter India @THRIndia_]

In an industry that boxed her into familiar roles, #SheebaChadha found nuance, disruption and a fresh lease — the actor talks to @pruhthyush about the broad sweep of her career, and why she might cringe if she watched 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' today.

https://t.co/ZL535sYk8E

[Nilanjana Roy 📚🦊 @nilanjanaroy]

Spare a little time in your fine-grained liberal debates for this too. Because without a fair vote, these leadership discussions are pretty pointless.

"The govt will now get the freedom to prepare voter lists according to its own wishes. A curated voter list,” he said.

[Manisha Pande @MnshaP]

'Getting panic attacks': College deadlines loom with students trapped in CBSE chaos.

Trapped between a crashing portal & fast-approaching college deadlines, teenagers say they are watching their university dreams slip away due to a botched tech rollout https://t.co/ob7gEan0n1

[Vikas Chandra @vikSchandra]

“AI doesn’t take toilet breaks, but it doesn’t consume either. And societies are ultimately built on consumption -- or what you and I spend on buying goods and services.”

Couldn’t have framed it better. As always, @kaul_vivek 🙏🏽

[शिक्षित बेरोज़गार @kaul_vivek]

AI Doesn't Take Toilet Breaks, It Doesn't Spend Money Either

My column @91basispoints (Not behind a paywall. One time registration required)

If you are a parent to a teenager or a child in their early 20s, this is a must must read for you.

This piece started from two newsreports talking about large Indian companies going slow on recruiting youngsters because of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

And then I found this gem buried in a CII-EY report on AI: "No complaints, no payroll concerns: Digital workers can operate without the need for a raise and can perform routine tasks without resistance."

In my nearly 23 years of writing in the public domain I have never heard a business lobby and a consultant be so honest about anything.

So, that took my mind back to something I have said many times before: "Robots don't take toilet breaks." Replace the word robot with artificial intelligence, and the argument stays the same.

What makes the situation worse is the fallacy of composition – the idea that what is good at an individual level is not necessarily good for society as a whole.

In fact, this point is made in a March 2026 research paper titled The AI Layoff Trap authored by Brett Hemenway Falk and Gerry Tsoukalas.

At the level of an individual firm, it may make perfect sense to cut jobs, slow hiring, or recruit fewer people than in the past, while using AI to do more work and boost productivity in the process.

Nonetheless, as Falk and Tsoukalas write: “A problem arises along the way: displaced workers are also consumers, and when their lost income is not replaced, each round of layoffs erodes the purchasing power all firms depend on.”

So, yes, AI doesn’t take toilet breaks, but it doesn’t consume either. And societies are ultimately built on consumption -- or what you and I spend on buying goods and services. This is a question that very few experts and public intellectuals are asking.

https://t.co/olgtNwM5Ja

PS: Before you decide to abuse me please do read the full piece 😀😀

[शिक्षित बेरोज़गार @kaul_vivek]

AI Doesn't Take Toilet Breaks, It Doesn't Spend Money Either

My column @91basispoints (Not behind a paywall. One time registration required)

If you are a parent to a teenager or a child in their early 20s, this is a must must read for you.

This piece started from two newsreports talking about large Indian companies going slow on recruiting youngsters because of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

And then I found this gem buried in a CII-EY report on AI: "No complaints, no payroll concerns: Digital workers can operate without the need for a raise and can perform routine tasks without resistance."

In my nearly 23 years of writing in the public domain I have never heard a business lobby and a consultant be so honest about anything.

So, that took my mind back to something I have said many times before: "Robots don't take toilet breaks." Replace the word robot with artificial intelligence, and the argument stays the same.

What makes the situation worse is the fallacy of composition – the idea that what is good at an individual level is not necessarily good for society as a whole.

In fact, this point is made in a March 2026 research paper titled The AI Layoff Trap authored by Brett Hemenway Falk and Gerry Tsoukalas.

At the level of an individual firm, it may make perfect sense to cut jobs, slow hiring, or recruit fewer people than in the past, while using AI to do more work and boost productivity in the process.

Nonetheless, as Falk and Tsoukalas write: “A problem arises along the way: displaced workers are also consumers, and when their lost income is not replaced, each round of layoffs erodes the purchasing power all firms depend on.”

So, yes, AI doesn’t take toilet breaks, but it doesn’t consume either. And societies are ultimately built on consumption -- or what you and I spend on buying goods and services. This is a question that very few experts and public intellectuals are asking.

https://t.co/olgtNwM5Ja

PS: Before you decide to abuse me please do read the full piece 😀😀

[ravish kumar @ravish_journo]

प्लीज़ सपोर्ट करें। जनता के टैक्स के पैसे से गोदी मीडिया चलता है, वो जनता का पूरा पैसा डुबो देता है। सरकार को अब आगे कर वैकल्पिक मीडिया को भी विज्ञापन देना चाहिए। कॉरपोरेट में अगर डर ख़त्म हो रहा है तो उन्हें भी आगे आना चाहिए। आप जनता को तो आगे आना ही चाहिए।

[Sarthak Sidhant @sidhant_sarthak]

This is a request to my friends in the media and to the many journalists who have reached out to me.

Please understand that my schedule is currently quite packed, and I am unfortunately not available for interviews or video calls today or tomorrow.

I genuinely appreciate the interest this issue has received, and I would love to continue helping media organizations bring attention to it. That has been my goal from the beginning.

However, it is becoming difficult for me to accommodate the volume of interview requests and calls I am receiving. I would greatly appreciate it if you could refrain from calling multiple times in a day. If you'd like to get in touch, please send me a text message instead. It becomes quite exhausting to manage hundreds of phone calls while also trying to keep up with my regular responsibilities.

For anyone looking to understand the issue in detail, I encourage you to read the blog linked below. I have documented the matter as comprehensively as possible, including all relevant sources and references at the end. Most questions I receive are already addressed there.

https://t.co/ZdlvecXe9C

I am always happy to help journalists over text whenever possible, and many journalists who have interacted with me can attest to that. If there are specific questions that remain unanswered after reading the blog, feel free to reach out.

(however, tomorrow text might also be difficult)

Thank you for your understanding and for your interest in covering this issue responsibly.

@aajtak @IndiaToday @BBC @TV9Bharatvarsh

[Article 14 @Article14live]

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[Saurav Das @SauravDassss]

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