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Monday, December 22, 2025

Brandma

Calcium Sandoz — For 90s kids, the happy-puppy bottle scored over health benefits of the pills

Calcium Sandoz's launch coincided with the rise of a new upwardly mobile middle class. With rising incomes, there was a growing emphasis on health and nutrition for the aspirational middle-class.

‘Meri khubsurti ka raaz…’: The Shah Rukh bath-tub ad that made Lux soap bold & beautiful

The 2005 ad flipped the game of advertising women's beauty products by focusing gaze on a man instead of sexualising women. Some argue it didn't really work, others applaud the bold move.

Amrita Bazar Patrika — fiery newspaper took on British but then came a tame turn, and tragedy

Amrita Bazar Patrika was first published on 20 February 1868 by two brothers in undivided Bengal's Jessore district. It shut down in 1991.

The Zee Horror Show — how the Ramsays created a cult TV series with jugaad, corpses & ghouls

'The Zee Horror Show' was among India's first weekly horror TV series which ran from 1993 to 2001. It was created by the 7 Ramsay brothers who relied on suspenseful music and jump scares for effect.

RimZim, popular desi jeera drink bought and relaunched by Coca-Cola before it lost all fizz

Launched by Parle, RimZim's unique jeera flavoured soda was popular in the 1980s. It was acquired by Coca-Cola in 1994 and relaunched in 2018, but the revamped drink failed to catch on.

Filmistan, studio that released many top grossing-films in 1940s-50s & then fell off the map

The production company was set up by Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar in 1943 and produced its last film in 1968. Today it functions only as a location for film shoots.

Nostalgia and a secret recipe — What makes Old Monk India’s favourite alcohol 

For nearly seven decades now, Old Monk, India’s iconic and popular alcoholic beverage, has been savoured by the young and the old, rich and the badly off.

This 36-episode anthology was a launchpad for directors like Hansal Mehta, Anurag Kashyap

Star Bestsellers blended genres like drama, thriller, comedy and romance and aired from 1999-2000.

Cello — the plastics to steelware company that made owning a houseware business ‘fashionable’

Different people associate Cello with different products — plastic furniture, Opalware cookware, pens. The company has overtime tried to position itself as a 'go-to brand for everyone'.

‘Dill Mill Gayye’ — India’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ that overdid the enemies-turned-lovers cliché

The show was really popular among the youth of the country, especially the central romance between Dr Armaan Malik played by Karan Singh Grover and Dr Riddhima Gupta portrayed by Oshanna Shivanand.

On Camera

Bengaluru & Hyderabad share many of Dubai’s characteristics. Why they don’t function the same

Luxury is visible everywhere in Dubai, but what impressed me more was order. Parks, pathways and crossings seemed designed for actual use, not symbolic display.

China is taking India to WTO over subsidies, again. Here’s what it’s arguing before trade body

Dispute will now move to consultative process, which allows the two sides to come to an amicable agreement within 60 days.

Turkiye delivers second MILGEM-class corvette Khaibar to Pakistan Navy, two others in making

Contract for construction of four MILGEM-class ships was signed in 2018. PNS Bedir is to be delivered by June 2026, while PNS Tariq is due for delivery in first quarter of 2027.

Dhurandhar shows hard cinema is soft power and Pakistan is unapologetically the target

If Pathaan gave both conservatives and liberals room to hide, Dhurandhar extends no such courtesy. Aditya Dhar ripped open that tent of hypocrisy and turned the knife.