Prasoon Joshi, 47, Poet & Advertising Guru

One of those rare intellects who bridge many divides—high and low culture, Hindi and English, commercial cinema and urbane poetry, advertising jingles and political slogans—Prasoon Joshi is the unofficial poet laureate of India. Chairman of the Central Board for Film Certification; CEO and CCO, McCann Worldgroup India, with additional responsibility as chairman, McCann Asia Pacific; writer of Manikarnika’s stirring patriotic songs; and gentle interrogator of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in London in 2018, Joshi has done as much to make Hindi cool as he has to make BJP-style nationalism saleable. A man with his stethoscope firmly on the heart of middle India, he is the most evocative and affable chronicler of our times.

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