Author: Anant Chetan

  • Why Space Gen: Chandrayaan Gets ISRO Wrong — The Problem with Hero Worship in Indian Sci-Fi

    Why Space Gen: Chandrayaan Gets ISRO Wrong — The Problem with Hero Worship in Indian Sci-Fi

    The recently released TVF series Space Gen: Chandrayaan should have been a landmark moment for Indian prestige television.It had the budget.It had the backing of JioHotstar.And it had one of the most compelling true stories of the decade: India’s resurrection from the heartbreak of 2019 to the precision landing of 2023. Yet, five episodes in,…

  • Propaganda vs Reality: PL-15E, Rafale, and How China–Pakistan’s Airpower Narrative Collapsed

    Propaganda vs Reality: PL-15E, Rafale, and How China–Pakistan’s Airpower Narrative Collapsed

    When Missiles Miss—and Narratives Explode Modern wars are not decided only by bombs and runways. They are decided by perception, credibility, and evidence. The India–Pakistan aerial engagements during Operation Sindoor proved this decisively. The Chinese-made PL-15E beyond-visual-range (BVR) missile, fired by the Pakistan Air Force, was meant to challenge India’s Rafale–Meteor combination and project China’s…

  • History’s Deadliest Déjà Vu: When Pakistan’s Military Turns the Battlefield on Itself

    History’s Deadliest Déjà Vu: When Pakistan’s Military Turns the Battlefield on Itself

    After Operation Sindoor in May 2025, a striking claim began circulating across social media: Pakistan may have accidentally shot down one of its own aircraft amid the chaos. Was it confirmed? No.Was it denied convincingly? Also no. And that uncertainty is precisely the point. Because even the plausibility of such a blunder felt eerily familiar.…

  • India’s Biggest Risk Isn’t Pakistan — It’s Strategic Complacency

    India’s Biggest Risk Isn’t Pakistan — It’s Strategic Complacency

    India is rising. Few serious observers dispute that. Economic growth has accelerated, infrastructure has expanded, internal security has improved, and India’s global posture is more confident than at any point since Independence. India today speaks with greater assurance in global forums, absorbs external pressure with less anxiety, and acts with a clearer sense of national…

  • Facts vs Myths: Why Balochistan’s Struggle Is Not Bangladesh 1971

    Facts vs Myths: Why Balochistan’s Struggle Is Not Bangladesh 1971

    Every time violence spikes in Balochistan, the same slogan reappears: “1971 is repeating.”“Pakistan will lose another wing.”“Bangladesh 2.0.” It spreads like wildfire — emotionally satisfying, historically lazy, strategically hollow. Let’s be blunt. If you think Balochistan today is East Pakistan in 1971, you are not analyzing geopolitics. You are romanticizing collapse. And collapse does not…

  • AI Isn’t a Bubble. I Watched It Do the Work of Four Engineers in My Living Room

    AI Isn’t a Bubble. I Watched It Do the Work of Four Engineers in My Living Room

    Every few weeks, a new headline lands in the same inbox. “AI will cause mass layoffs.” “AI is the next dot-com bubble.” “AI is overhyped.” “AI is the end of white-collar work.” Pick one, and there’s a hot take to match it. I want to offer a different perspective — one that I think gets…

  • The “Reel” Economy: Why Shark Tank India is the New Influencer Circus

    The “Reel” Economy: Why Shark Tank India is the New Influencer Circus

    In the heart of Mumbai and Bangalore, a strange and quiet surrender is taking place. While the headlines scream about “New India” and our “Digital Revolution,” the reality is far more cynical. We are witnessing the birth of the Reel-Preneur—a hybrid creature that is 10% businessman and 90% performance artist. If you open Instagram, you…

  • UGC Equity Controversy: Reservation, OBC Inclusion, and the Supreme Court’s Intervention

    UGC Equity Controversy: Reservation, OBC Inclusion, and the Supreme Court’s Intervention

    India doesn’t have a reservation problem anymore.It has a cowardice problem. The recent UGC “Equity” regulations controversy exposes something far uglier than bureaucratic incompetence. It shows how every political party, including the BJP, now treats caste as a permanent operating system, not a temporary corrective. And when the Supreme Court forces action, the response is…