The cast and characters that dominated our news pages in the year gone by have been more of the usual suspects — Donald Trump, Carlos Alcaraz, Nitish Kumar — and then some new ones rose to prominence, for good or for bad. We spoke not just of people, but entities and outfits that defined the year.
Here, we look at 10 of them that burst onto the scene and shaped narratives across various spheres of life.
Shubhanshu Shukla
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla enjoys a panoramic view of the Earth from the seven-windowed Cupola Module of the International Space Station. Source: X/@ISROSpaceflight
Forty one years after India’s first foray into space, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the face of the nation’s modern celestial ambitions. In June, as the mission pilot for Axiom-4, Shukla became the first ISRO astronaut to board the International Space Station. His 18-day mission included seven scientific experiments on muscle repair, algae growth and neurological responses to spaceflight, laying the groundwork for India’s ambitious Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
Read more | The Hindu editorial on Shubhanshu Shukla, NASA-Axiom-ISRO tie-up
Zohran Mamdani
Democratic candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani waves next to his mother Mira Nair onstage after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
On November 4, New York City elected its youngest and most progressive mayor in generations: Zohran Mamdani. The 39-year-old defied conventional political wisdom to win the largest mayoralty of the U.S. as an unapologetic democratic socialist. Mamdani, a Uganda-born son of Indian-origin parents, built a grassroots movement in New York focused on rent reduction, public transit expansion and transforming the city’s approach to public safety. His rise and victory shook American politics and caught the attention of urbanites around the world longing for change in their big cities.
Read more | America’s Mamdani moment
The Resistance Front
No group cast a darker shadow over South Asia in 2025 than The Resistance Front. The militant organisation, a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, burst from relative obscurity into infamy on April 22 when gunmen attacked tourists near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people in the deadliest assault on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The group initially claimed responsibility for the ghastly attack on a scenic tourist spot, but later denied it. The attack led to India’s Operation Sindoor and a brief military conflict between India and Pakistan in May, the defining moment of this year for the nation’s brave armed forces.
Read more | The Resistance Front: The banned organisation behind Pahalgam terror attack
Gyanesh Kumar
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
| Photo Credit:
Sushil Kumar Verma
Taking the helm of the Election Commission of India in February 2025, Gyanesh Kumar walked straight into a storm. As the first Chief Election Commissioner appointed under the 2023 Act, every move he made was scrutinised for independence. Overseeing the smooth passage of the Bihar Assembly elections was the highlight of his year, as well as the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls first in Bihar and then in other poll-bound States. The Opposition’s allegations of the ECI colluding with the ruling BJP was a recurring theme in an action-packed year for the new CEC.
Read more | Gyanesh Kumar: Chief of polls
Rekha Gupta
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The Aam Aadmi Party lost its hold over Delhi after 10 years at the helm in the National Capital, but the bigger story was the BJP returning to power in the city after 27 years. Rekha Gupta, 50, a three-term municipal councillor from Shalimar Bagh, became the capital’s fourth woman Chief Minister—and the only female CM in the BJP’s roster of 13 State leaders. Her first year has been a whirlwind of a record-breaking ₹1-lakh-crore budget and annual air pollution woes that plague the city.
Read more | Rekha Gupta: From the wings to the centre
Vaibhav Suryavanshi
India’s Vaibhav Suryavanshi in action for India A
| Photo Credit:
Action Images via Reuters
History usually takes decades to write. Vaibhav Suryavanshi is writing it in 38-ball centuries. At just 14, the Bihar-born batsman became the youngest player to debut in the IPL, playing for Rajasthan Royals. He then became the youngest player to score an IPL century, slamming 101 off 38 balls against Gujarat Titans. With astonishing centuries for India A in November and at the U-19 Asia Cup in December, Suryavanshi is forcing the national team selectors to take note of his rising stock.
Read here about Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s meteoric rise
Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican shortly after his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church
| Photo Credit:
AP
Weeks after the death of Pope Francis, the customary white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel on May 8, revealing a surprising choice from the Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born Augustinian friar who spent decades in Peru, became Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in the Church’s 2,000-year history. That he chose Turkey and Lebanon for his first foreign trip brought immediate focus on his pastoral vision of “peace over rivalry” that could define his papacy in an increasingly polarising world.
Also read | Pope Leo XIV: The bridge-building pontiff
Charlie Kirk
Candles and flowers are placed near an image of Charlie Kirk, during a vigil at Orem City Center Park, after U.S. right-wing activist and commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Charlie Kirk was already a voice of the American right, but his death on September 10, 2025, turned him into a martyr for a movement. Assassinated while speaking at a university debate in Utah, the 31-year-old Trump ally became the tragic centrepiece of a conversation on political violence. His death instantly resulted in his body of work — particularly campus debates and provocative commentary — being splashed across social media as the culture war deepened and grabbed the imagination of even Indians half way around the globe.
Also read | Charlie Kirk: Death of a culture crusader
Grok
“@Grok, is this true?” has become the new automated fact-checker on Elon Musk’s X. Amid the race to develop Artificial Intelligence, the release of Grok 3 in February triggered a 436% surge in user traffic, stepping out of the shadow of ChatGPT. With Musk positioning it as “maximally truth-seeking” and free from the “woke” constraints he attributed to competitors, Grok has become the go-to tool for many in the digital generation who have moved on from search engines and distrust “traditional” news sources.
Also read | Grok: Troubling ascent
Ahaan Panday
Ahaan Panday in ‘Saiyaara’.
Bollywood found its 2025 heartthrob in Ahaan Panday. The new nepo kid on the block made a dreamy debut in the blockbuster musical romantic drama Saiyaara, alongside fellow debutant Aneet Padda. Pandey had worked his way up as an assistant director before stepping in front of the camera, where his appeal lay in understatement. His performance—restrained, vulnerable and free of swagger—connected with Gen Z audiences that have grown cynical of Bollywood’s formulaic stardom. He ended the year at the top of IMDb’s Most Popular Indian Stars of 2025.
Published – December 31, 2025 11:46 am IST
