Saints And Scoundrels: Outlook's Portraits Of Influence

Politicians, industrialists, actors, sportspersons, or celebrities dreaded making it to the Outlook cover. It was mostly infamy, fraud, scam, dereliction of duty, political failure or fall from grace that made people cover-worthy. Of course, we celebrated success and people doing incredible work too, but the majority of them were there on the cover for their notoriety.

All the prime ministers of the country, both past and present like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have probably been the most frequent to grace the magazine’s cover. The present prime minister Narendra Modi would be the most talked about politician in the last 30 years and he has been on Outlook’s cover on many occasions.

We are presenting a few here to trace the crest and trough of the Modi wave. Sports stars like cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, M. S. Dhoni and shooter Abinav Bindra have been featured for their achievements. Bollywood icons like Shah Rukh Khan, A. R. Rahman and Deepika Padukone have all been there.  

Under Siege: The hawala controversy gets mired in mutual recriminations as Narasimha Rao’s detractors seek to turn his pre-election weapon back on him.

When Vajpayee, in defence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, made statements like “if innocent people had not been burnt alive (in Godhra), the tragedy in Gujarat could have been averted” and described Islam (as practised today) as being run with the help of jehadis.

An embattled Manmohan Singh fails to give a convincing defence of his government’s actions

Tea Going Cold Fast: Has PM Narendra Modi become a man caught in his own hype, wooing the world but quite losing the plot at home?

Insulating PM Modi from accusations as election season hots up is top priority for the BJP. The rest can be managed, they say.

He is not a conventional politician, but an ideologue who draws his mandate from the promise of hyper-capitalism

Keeper of our Hopes: Sachin Tendulkar is a pan-Indian love affair. Rather, he is trans-national. He is the only cricketer to get a standing ovation in every cricket-playing country in the world

Super Sportsmen: Virat Kohli’s attitude is part Vicky Donor, part Punter. Are we looking at the future?

Abhinav Bindra displays no emotion. Isn’t that why he could tap into his real mettle and get home a gold?

The World Cup win is as much the story of small-town India’s rise as it is of Dhoni’s XI

Badshah of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan’s persona evokes the kind of Indianness that defies categorisation into singular, exclusive identities. And thrives on making others feel welcome

Par Excellence; AR Rahman: So it is that a shy, diffident man arrives on the world stage with a bang

O Deepika Happily for Deepika, she is placed at the cusp of several staples demanded of Bollywood heroines

Goddess of the Moment: The Booker, an endless limo, lots of champagne... Arundhati Roy, literary wonder, attains her locus standi

The Poets of Enterprise: The twists of history, and a people’s will to defy the odds—the essential story of the Sikhs.

Leaders Apart: Barack Obama has a sensibility which helps him connect to India and its teeming millions, a symbol of hope for those aspiring for a just world order.

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election may very well mean an end to democracy in the near future

Bullets and the Balladeer: In the end, Sidhu Moosewala fell victim to the characters he imagined and extolled through his music

Exit Stage Right: Having won lots, and lost some, Ratan Tata prepares to move on

Goddess Jayalalithaa: Mass adulation is universal. But the hero worship that’s deeply ingrained in Tamil public life is akin to a relationship with divinity

Arvind Kejriwal: “Mother asked me to stroke the dying so that they would feel the warmth of another person”

This article appeared as Saints and Scoundrels in Outlook’s January 01, 2026, issue 30 Years of Irreverence which commemorates the magazine's 30 years of journalism. From its earliest days of irreverence to its present-day transformation, the magazine has weathered controversy, crisis, and change.