High and Mighty: Power Plus

#31 Dilip Shanghvi

62, Industrialist

Pharma king

Because, as managing director of Sun Pharmaceuticals, the world's fourth largest pharma company, he is driving a restructuring process post the acquisition of troubled Ranbaxy in March 2015 that will see pruning plants and staff, re-examining trade and incentive policies, and streamlining quality control processes.

Because, despite a Rs 46,800 crore erosion in his net worth after his company's stocks plunged on FDA warnings at his biggest factories and price slippage in the US market, he is the sixth richest in India and the country's richest in healthcare.

Because he has the prime minister's ear and on February 1 this year, was nominated director to the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India until March 10, 2021.

Value creator

Started pharma trading firm with Rs 10,000 borrowed from his father in 1982. Sun Pharma had a market capitalisation of Rs 1.23 lakh crore as on April 17.

Most embarrassing moment

When Sun Pharma reported its first loss in 12 years in August 2017 amid regulatory headaches and a weakening market for generic drugs.

Business mantra

"A good entrepreneur is able to spot an opportunity before others see it. He is able to risk money for opportunities that don't exist today".

Photo: Bandeep Singh

#32 Shashi Tharoor

62, Congress MP

Word smith

Because in an increasingly hypernationalistic narrative dominated by Hindutva and Hindi, Tharoor has emerged as the voice of dissent, defined by the strength of argument, scholarship and language.

Because the best-selling author, his latest book, Why I am a Hindu, offers a pluralist perspective of Hinduism-also knows how to stay relevant in public discourse with his keen insights.

Because he is India's original social media superstar, now belting out regular vocabulary lessons. In the last one year, he has sent Twitter (he has 6.7 million followers) into a frenzy by introducing words such as 'lalochezia', 'farrago', 'webaqoof' and 'glibido'.

Because despite courting controversy, he remains a favourite of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He now heads the party's professional wing.

Oops!

He was trolled recently when he mistakenly posted a picture of Buddha while wishing his followers on Mahavir Jayanti.

Photo: Yasir Iqbal

#33 Naresh Trehan

71, CMD, Medanta-The Medicity

Surgical strike

Because he is one of the most influential doctors of our time: a leading cardiovascular surgeon and serial hospital entrepreneur who counts the country's who's who as his patients.

Because he is working with the government to roll out one of its most transformative projects: affordable healthcare for nearly 500 million people, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

Because he created Medanta-The Medicity, a multi-superspeciality hospital chain that has attracted global investors and created institutions of excellence in under-served cities: Patna, Indore, Lucknow, Guwahati and Ranchi.

Because Medanta spearheads large-scale community health projects like 'TB-free Haryana', 'Stop Dengue Gurugram' and also has an extensive telemedicine programme

Cool Quotient

Trehan has an honorary professorship at the National Scientific Research Medical Centre, JSC, Kazakhstan.

Photo: Reuters

#34 Priyanka Chopra

35, Actor

Sweet success

Because she is challenging Hollywood's racial stereotypes with her work on TV(Quantico is in its third season), Hollywood (A Kid Like Jake and Isn't it Romantic? are out in 2018) and red carpet appearances.

Because she is the global desi girl. Whether it is hanging out with music legend Quincy Jones at the pre-Grammy gala, meeting PM Narendra Modi in Berlin or bonding with Malala Yousafzai in New York, Chopra is at the right places meeting the most influential people.

Because she is an activist actor. In her role as UN goodwill ambassador, the actress has travelled to Jordan to highlight the plight of Syria's child refugees, and to Zimbabwe to garner support for young victims of sexual violence.

Homecoming

She joins Salman Khan for Bharat, an official remake of the hit Korean film, An Ode to My Father, which will release in 2019.

Cool buddy

Meghan Markle. Chopra is expected to make the select guest list at the actress's wedding to Prince Harry in May.

Photo: Bandeep Singh

#35 Rajeev Chandrasekhar

53, Member of Parliament, BJP

Southern savant

Because the Rajya Sabha MP and enterpreneur-media baron's Suvarna TV and Asianet News straddle his adopted state, Karnataka, and native state Kerala. In his third term in the Upper House, this time as a BJP member, he is crucial to the party's southern strategy.

Because as a dogged litigant in cases like the polluted Bellandur lake to opposing a monstrous steel flyover, he has placed himself as a civic crusader in Bengaluru. The MP could swing urban votes in the city.

Because he has a knack for spotting issues well before they become talking points. He was one of the petitioners in the 2017 Right to Privacy case which led to a landmark Supreme Court judgment declaring privacy to be a fundamental right.

Touch the skies

Bought and refurbished a vintage DC-3 Dakota, the type his air force officer father flew. Renamed 'Parashurama',it is on its way to India from the UK where it is to be presented to the Indian Air Force.

Memorabilia magpie

Is an avid collector of aviation, science and military memorabilia. Owns letters penned by Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, an American flag carried by Neil Armstrong to the moon and back, among others.

#36 Mahendra Mohan Gupta, 76, Sanjay Gupta, 54

Media moguls

Broad sheet

Because they own the largest selling daily in India, Dainik Jagran, with a circulation of around 4 million, and readership of over 70 million, according to the latest IRS survey.

Because the Jagran group publishes eight newspapers with 37 editions and covers 11 states in five different languages, maintaining its dominance over the vernacular press.

Because their company, Jagran Prakashan, registered consolidated operating revenues of Rs 2,282.95 crore in 2017 despite a stagnant market. Their music broadcast arm, under the Radio City brand, has expanded its presence and operations to 39 cities.

Let's ride

Though MMG, as Mahendra Mohan Gupta is popularly known, loves long drives on highways, he lets his son Shailesh choose the car model for him. MMG can be seen in hatchbacks as well as in luxury brands such as Audi.

#37 Sanjiv Bajaj

48, MD, Bajaj Finserv

Money maker

Because the mechanical engineer has successfully steered the finance business of the Bajaj Group with the two firms, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv, having a consolidated market capitalisation of over Rs 1.9 lakh crore as on April 17, 2018,more than twice that of the traditional business, Bajaj Auto.

Because profits for the two businesses have risen at a combined annualised growth rate of 54 and 64.7 per cent, respectively. Bajaj has also got into general and life insurance ventures with Allianz of Germany.

Sports star

He is a sports enthusiast, whose interests range from basketball to tennis.

All ears

Loves listening to audio books.

Photo: Rachit Goswami

#38 RC Bhargava

83, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki Ltd

Top gear

Because the Maruti Suzuki veteran who has spent close to four decades with the firm has seen the company gain over 50 per cent market share in one of the world's fastest growing markets populated by the biggest names in the business.

Because Maruti Suzuki has constantly defied the global law of the automobile industry that large multinationals always dominate markets, with a 2017 product portfolio of 16 models priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 14 lakh and over 2,000 outlets.

Because this cool-headed 1956 batch IAS topper, who was plucked from engineering firm BHEL in 1981 to head marketing at Maruti, is also the latter's ultimate crisis manager, and is an advisor and mentor to both industrialists and bureaucrats on business matters.

Not EV ready

"Before I start pushing EVs (electric vehicles), I have to make sure they give him (the buyer) the value that they should give to him. I can't push him to buy it".

-Bhargava on the government's call to end automobiles using fossil fuel.

Photo: Business Today

#39 Kamal Haasan

63, Actor, Politician

Stage craft

Because the actor revered as ulaganayagan (global star) is foraying into politics, having launched his Makkal Needhi Maiam (Centre for People's Justice) party in February as an alternative to the Dravidian identity-based party politics that has held sway in Tamil Nadu for the past 50 years.

Because his goal is "to challenge the status quo and mediocrity in the polity that is plaguing Tamil Nadu".

Because he believes ardent film fans are the loyalists he can count on to build and develop his party. He was the first Tamil actor to convert fan clubs into welfare organisations under the Kamal Narpani Iyakkam 37 years ago.

Because he is the only Indian actor to have featured in films in six languages-Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Bengali.

The Bill Book

Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino reportedly said that the animation sequence in Kill Bill was inspired by Kamal Haasan's Abhay, the Hindi remake of the Tamil Aalavandhan.

Best buddy

"Charuhaasan, elder brother by 18 years who is no more. I am looking for another."

-with MG Arun, Amarnath K Menon, Shweta Punj, Kaushik Deka, Suhani Singh, Asmita Bakshi, Damayanti Datta, Romita Datta, Uday Mahurkar and Anshuman Tiwari