Daily Briefing: Vijay and Ajith share the spotlight as India and China seek a new BRICS equation

It is a meeting that Tamil cinema fans could hardly have scripted better. Vijay, now a politician, will wave the flag at Silverstone as Ajith Kumar, the star who has long kept away from politics, races past him on the track. The two men, who have dominated Tamil cinema for nearly three decades and whose fan bases have often been fiercely divided, will find themselves sharing the same stage in London. But the symbolism goes beyond their enduring rivalry: Vijay’s political journey has been built on an organised fan network, while Ajith has repeatedly distanced himself from fan clubs and politics. For once, Thalapathy and Thala will meet not on a film set, but at the starting line.

With that, let’s move on to the top five stories from today’s edition:

🚨 Big Story

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit come at a crucial time for India’s ties with both countries. While the Modi-Putin meeting focused on defence, energy and trade, the talks with Xi are expected to centre on the India-China border situation and economic ties. The meeting with Xi is particularly significant as the two countries have been working to ease tensions along the Line of Actual Control after years of strained relations. For India, the two meetings also underline its effort to maintain close ties with Russia while cautiously rebuilding its relationship with China.

⚡ Only in Express

On Punjab’s border with Pakistan, the threat is no longer confined to what crosses the fence on the ground. Small drones are increasingly being used to drop drugs, weapons and other contraband, turning the skies above border villages into a new front in the fight against smuggling. The challenge is not just detecting these unmanned aircraft but responding quickly when they crash or drop their payloads. As security agencies step up efforts to counter the threat, villagers are also being drawn into the surveillance network, reporting suspicious flights and helping authorities track down fallen drones and consignments. The changing nature of smuggling is forcing Punjab’s border security apparatus to adapt to a threat that can arrive silently, travel fast and leave little trace.

💡 Express Explained

The trajectory of India-China ties could have consequences far beyond the bilateral relationship, with the two countries’ growing rivalry shaping the future of BRICS itself. The recent thaw between New Delhi and Beijing, after years of tensions along the border, comes as the grouping expands and seeks a larger role in global affairs. India and China share an interest in reducing Western dominance of global institutions, but their visions for BRICS are not identical. China and Russia have pushed for a stronger counterweight to the West, while India has sought to keep BRICS a non-Western rather than anti-Western platform. With China accounting for a much larger share of the grouping’s economic weight, Beijing has considerable influence over its direction. For India, the challenge is to manage its strategic rivalry with China while working with it on trade, global governance and other areas of common interest.

✍️ Express Opinion

The debate over the caste census is often framed around reservations, but the deeper discomfort, the article argues, is about visibility. A caste census would put official numbers to inequalities that have long been known but rarely measured in full, including the privileges enjoyed by dominant groups. For those who benefit from existing social and economic hierarchies, being counted can mean having that privilege made visible. The article argues that this is why the resistance to caste enumeration cannot be understood only as a disagreement over reservation quotas. At stake is also who gets represented in official data, whose advantages remain invisible and how India understands the relationship between caste, power and access to resources.

🎥 Movie Review

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Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan reunite on screen in Priyadarshan’s Haiwaan, a remake of the Malayalam thriller Oppam. The film has an intriguing premise, with Saif playing a blind man who protects a young girl and Akshay as a man who turns into a ruthless killer after being wrongly imprisoned. But what begins as a tense thriller gradually loses its grip, veering into an uneven mix of action, drama and comedy. Despite some strong performances and moments of suspense, the film struggles to bring its many characters and subplots together, leaving it more entertaining in flashes than satisfying as a whole.