Cover: Heroes, Villains and Zeroes of '98: Daler Mehndi

The non-stop man of Punjabi music swirled his way out of balle balles to the more sophisticated world of satellite television.

FACT FILE

A record Rs 2.75 crore deal with Magnasound for two years.
Channel [V]'s best male artiste and best album award for Ho Jayegi Balle Balle.

What's the point making money singing rubbish?
--Daler Mehndi
Punjabi pop singer

In a difficult year for music, Daler Mehndi catapulted himself into iconic stratosphere. This marathon man of music who stops not even to inhale while belting out his Punjabi pop numbers cut the biggest single deal ever when Magnasound signed him on for Rs 2.75 crore for two years.

The podgy country bumpkin swirled his way out of Balle Balles to the more sophisticated worlds of the Rich Diasporic Indian and satellite TV. His popular album Ho Jayegi Balle Balle landed him with the best Indian male artiste and the best album awards at the recent Channel V function. Once people mistook Mehndi for designer J.J. Vallaya. Today they ask JJ who? Dalerious rise? Quite.

HEROES
Amartya Sen: The Nobel Indian
Nuclear Tests: What a Blast
Digvijay Singh: Winner Takes it All
Gallantry: Knight Service
Neemuch eye donors: A People with Vision
N Chandrababu Naidu: Hard Drive
Tata Indica: Swadeshi on Wheels
Development: Independent Action
NRI Bonds: Unlikely Harvest
Avelin Mary: Mission Possible
Asian Games: Runaway Winners
Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai: Picture Perfect
Sachin Tendulkar: Stroke of Genius

VILLAINS
Bal Thackeray: No.1 Yet Again
Jayalalitha: Tantrum Amma
Romesh Sharma: Fixer's Fixer
Yashwant Sinha: Rolling Back
Romesh Bhandari: Teed Off
Onion: Pungent Reminder
Sports: Politics at Play
UTI: Unfaithfully Yours
Dropsy: Death by Default
Salman Khan: Misplaced Machismo

ZEROES
Jain Commission: Who Done It?
L K Advani: Me Two
Kushabhau Thakre: Who?
Sitaram Kesri: Creature the World Forgot
Talbott-Jaswant Talks: It's the Weather, Stupid
P V Narasimha Rao's The Insider: Pen-ful Debut
Indo-Pak Dialogue: Dumb Charade
Amitabh Bachchan's Major Saab: Sunshine Boulevard
Sushma Swaraj: Calamity Behen
Laloo-Mulayam Entente: Thud Front
Sharad Pawar: Zero Power
I K Gujral: Bus to Pakistan

SIGNPOSTS
Ajit (1922-1998)
Protima Bedi (1948-1998)
Om Prakash (1919-1998)
Pradeep (1915-1998)
P N Haksar (1913-1998)
E M S Namboodiripad (1909-1998)
Lalita Pawar (1916-1998)
Vinod Mishra (1947-1998)
Raman Lamba (1960-1998)
Gulzarilal Nanda (1898-1998)
Persis Khambatta (1948-1998)
Laxmikant Kudalkar (1937-1998)