2024’s biggest Indian pop culture moments: The year of Diljit Dosanjh, Kim Kardashian in an auto, Indian cinema’s global impact

The zeitgeist is an unpredictable behemoth—one can never predict what contributes to it as is evident from the biggest Indian pop culture moments of 2024. From Shalini Passi’s effortless quips on Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives and Khloe Kardashian using A.R. Rahman’s ‘Jashn-E-Bahaaraa’ in an Instagram Story to the internet collectively rooting for and getting Imran Khan back in the game, it feels like this year’s script was written by ChatGPT on steroids. Scroll on to read about the moments that made us sit up, do a double take or simply just scratch our heads in confusion:

1. Diljit Dosanjh’s surprise at the Ed Sheeran Concert… and vice versa

The unstoppable and universally likeable pop star of our times, Diljit Dosanjh stamped his name on 2025. The actor and singer delivered one of the year’s standout films with Amar Singh Chamkila, in which he was refreshingly vocal about his politics, and his ‘Dil-Luminati’ tour across Indian cities inspired a near-pilgrimage-like fervour. A true meeting of worlds occurred when Dosanjh surprised over 50,000 spectators at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse by appearing at Ed Sheeran’s concert, where the duo performed ‘Lover’ together. Six months later, Sheeran returned the favour by making a surprise appearance at Dosanjh’s show in Birmingham, performing a mashup of ‘Naina’ and ‘Shape of You’.

2. An abundance of Shalini Passi

Until last year, Shalini Passi would have flown under your radar unless you were well acquainted with the art world. This year, unless you were yourself living under a rock, there was no way you could have missed her. Passi, a multi-hyphenate, caught everyone off guard in Netflix’s third season of The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, aptly titled Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives. How could one not admire the sheer poetry of: “The only reason I don’t hold grudges against other people is because it affects my skin.”

3. India at the Oscars

We’re all rooting for Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine as Light to also be nominated in the Best Picture and Best Director categories at the Oscar nominations to be announced in a few weeks. But most notably, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, a movie about casteism and its many horrors set in India and based on a true story, made it to the shortlist for Best International Film as the U.K.’s entry. Other films that also made the cut were Smriti Mundhra’s I Am Ready Warden in the Documentary Short category and Anuja, executive produced by Oscar-winner Guneet Monga in the Live Action Short Film category.

4. The return of Imran Khan

We hadn’t seen much of Imran Khan on screen for nearly a decade. Then, suddenly, interest resurged, sparked in no small part by his appearance at his cousin Ira Khan’s wedding and a comment he made on Zeenat Aman’s Instagram post clamouring for his comeback: if his comment garnered over a million likes, he would return to Bollywood. Within a few months, Khan appeared on the digital cover of Vogue India, where he opened up about everything from his mental health to his relationships and more. A new report suggests the actor may be returning to films in a new Netflix rom-com opposite Bhumi Pednekar.

5. Dua Lipa X ‘Woh Ladki Jo’

The pop star returned to India after her Rajasthan trip last year as part of her Radical Optimism tour. Back in 2019, she met Shah Rukh Khan during the OnePlus Music Festival, and her connection with all things Khan continued this time as well. She delighted the crowd with a little bhangra jig—or her version of it—to a viral mashup of her hit ‘Levitating’ and ‘Woh Ladki Jo’ from Khan’s Baadshah (1999). A true crossover event.

6. The Kardashians in Mumbai

Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian were in Mumbai, decked head to toe in Manish Malhotra for the Ambani wedding. But trust the sisters to always go the extra mile. If you know Mumbai and its ways, you very well know that there is no way an autorickshaw could be spotted in South Bombay. But the sisters wanted it that way and thus was born one of the year’s strangest viral moments. At some point during the wedding festivities, Khloe also put up an Instagram story with the song ‘Jashn-E-Bahaaraa’ from Jodhaa Akbar (2008). We’re still figuring out who advised her to do that and how that conversation went down.

7. The sweeping saga of the Ambani wedding

The wedding that never ended and made the world sit up and take notice of just what we mean when we say the ‘big fat Indian wedding’. A friend of mine was hiking up in the mountains of Seoul and he bumped into an elderly couple. When they found out he was Indian, they wanted to know everything about the wedding. So, yes, it was everywhere all at once. Before the wedding in July, the pre-wedding festivities were split across Jamnagar in Gujarat and the Italian coast. The three-day main wedding event went all out too. Everyone from Boris Johnson to Priyanka Chopra and John Cena attended and danced onstage.

8. The mystery of Coldplay tickets

The tickets for Coldplay’s much-awaited concert came and promptly disappeared. Nobody knows anybody who managed to snag a ticket even though we were all in the queue. BookMyShow claimed that approximately 13 million people attempted to purchase 1,50,000 tickets, causing the website to crash. Maybe this whole experience is a reminder of how mismanaged ticketing systems are, not just in India but also globally (*cough cough*, Ticketmaster-Taylor Swift), or a sobering reminder of our population problem.

9. Rohit Bal’s swansong

The OG enfant terrible of Indian fashion, who defined fashion not only on the runway but off it as well, Rohit Bal had a challenging year in terms of his physical health. Being one of the founders of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), the designer returned to the runway to present what would be his final collection, ‘Kaaynaat: A Bloom in the Universe’, at Lakmē Fashion Week in Delhi in October. Ananya Panday closed the show in a black lehenga with red rose prints and the collection featured everything that makes Bal’s work iconic: fine Kashmiri embroidery, topis, sweeping lehengas. When the show ended, it was perhaps the longest-standing ovation in a while and goosebumps galore.

10. Hanumankind’s wall of death

Kerala-based rapper Sooraj Cherukat’s, who goes by the stage name Hanumankind, was catapulted to the top of the rap game with his music video ‘Big Dawgs’, which featured bikers performing in a ‘wall of death’—a carnival attraction in Malappuram, Kerala. One of the reasons the video went viral was because of the way it embraced the rap genre, making it uniquely Indian without resorting to clichés or stereotypes.

11. India at the Olympics and Paralympics

India won six medals at the Paris Olympics, with Manu Bhaker becoming the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal, and another medal shared with Sarabjot Singh. Swapnil Kusale added a third shooting medal to the tally. At the Paralympics, India achieved its best performance to date with 29 medals: seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze. The standout performances included Avani Lekhara clinching a gold medal in the 10m air rifle SH1 event, Mariyappan Thangavelu winning a bronze medal in the men’s high jump T63 category and 17-year-old Sheetal Devi becoming India’s youngest Paralympic medallist for bagging a bronze in the mixed compound archery team event.

12. Celebrity weddings

While the Ambani wedding was the mother of all weddings this year, many Indian actors also tied the knot and gave us moodboard-worthy shots. We had Sobhita Dhulipala-Naga Chaitanya, Sonakshi Sinha-Zaheer Iqbal and Aditi Rao Hydari-Siddharth all in a year. All three weddings generated a wide range of conversations—about inter-faith marriages, fighting for the one you love and the warm feeling of cheering for and marrying your crush.

13. The resurgence and reckoning of Malayalam cinema

Malayalam cinema was at its creative best this year, producing a host of films that touched upon a range of topics. From the festival favourite All We Imagine as Light to survival drama Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life and dark comedy thrillers like Sookshmadarshini, we had every reason to go to the movies. But then came the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed the skewed power dynamics in the Malayalam film industry, and despite major sections of it being redacted, it gave us a damning, if not surprising view of how predators are all around us.

14. Zakir Hussain’s legacy

In February this year, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain made history by winning not one, but three Grammys in a single night. On December 15, at the age of 73, the iconic percussionist passed away in California. In many ways, his legacy is emblematic of all that we love most about our country—its cultural syncretism and music as a bridge between the past and present. His cameo and performance in Dev Patel’s debut directorial feature Monkey Man was nothing short of extraordinary.

15. Indians at the MET Gala

We said ‘represent’ and meant it. Alia Bhatt’s mint green Sabyasachi sari interpreted the ‘Garden of Time’ theme with a 23-ft train featuring real gemstones. Hyderabad-based businesswoman and philanthropist Sudha Reddy appeared on the red carpet in a custom ivory dress by Tarun Tahiliani paired with a 25-solitaire diamond necklace, totaling approximately 180 carats. Entrepreneur Mona Patel debuted in an off-shoulder bodycon gown by Iris van Herpen featuring the designer’s signature sculptural elements in marbled fabric and 3D butterflies on the sleeves.

16. India’s T20 win

The Indian cricket team ended a 13-year drought in a major cricketing tournament by winning their second T20 World Cup title when they defeated South Africa by seven runs—a thriller for the books no doubt. Expectedly, the celebrations continued for a long time, with the team even doing a traffic-stopping roadshow on Marine Drive.

17. Anita Dongre’s Barbie

In 2024, there was a clear pattern of Indian creatives taking traditionally Western concepts and making them their own—from Hanumankind’s refreshing rap to Dev Patel’s reimagining of vengeful action heroes, portrayed as brown instead of the usual white ones in Monkey Man. Anita Dongre took this a step further by collaborating with Mattel to create the first-ever Diwali Barbie doll. The limited-edition doll was dressed in a midnight blue lehenga—one of the brand’s signature colours—and paired with a Rajasthan-inspired koti jacket.

18. The celebration and chaos of Pushpa 2

The much-awaited release of Pushpa 2: The Rule had its share of controversies. While the film made history and broke many records by grossing over ₹1,000 crore globally, its Hyderabad premiere was marred by tragedy. Due to overcrowding and poor crowd management, a woman lost her life in the ensuing stampede and her son is in critical condition. Actor Allu Arjun, who was reportedly on stage as the chaos unfolded, was later arrested (which led to a political slugfest) and then released. The actor as well as the director Sukumar expressed their apology and grief over the incident.

19. Sunidhi Chauhan and Sanya Malhotra in ‘Aankh’

Sunidhi Chauhan has been giving us banger after banger for years now and ‘Aankh’ is proof that she has no intention of stopping anytime soon. A true singer and a powerhouse performer, she collaborated with actor Sanya Malhotra for the music video of her single ‘Aankh’ released early this month. The song fuses Middle Eastern melodies with hook steps that are the very definition of dark feminine energy.

Also read:

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