iWorld
India’s first masculine positivity show ‘Be A Man, Yaar!’ makes history
Mumbai: GenZ-driven youth media and impact organisation, Yuvaa is proud to announce that its trailblazing talk show, ‘Be A Man, Yaar,’ gained international recognition with a prestigious feature on the iconic Times Square. With a mission to provide men a comfortable space to express themselves, host of the show Nikhil Taneja is now all set to cater to the international audiences.
Redefining the traditional masculinity and promoting positive gender roles, ‘Be A Man, Yaar’ has achieved continued success in two consecutive years with some heartfelt conversations with the trailblazers from the Indian Entertainment Industry like Karan Johar, Vicky Kaushal, Kartik Aaryan, Bhuvan Bam, Zakir Khan, Javed Akhtar, Naseeruddin Shah, and more. The feature on esteemed Times Square marks as a significant milestone in the show’s mission to showcase what it means to be a boy, a man, and a human.
With the feature in International landscape in association with their audio partner Amazon Music, Yuvaa is ready to take the show to global South Asian audiences and spark meaningful conversations that resonate with audiences globally. Starting with the aim to make every Indian man feel less alone by making them feel more heard, more seen, and more represented, the show now aims to represent the vulnerable stories of men across the globe.
Introducing ‘Be A Man, Yaar’ to an international audience, Nikhil Taneja also hosted a screening in New York for the South Asian media and entertainment community, in collaboration with renowned ‘desi’ publication, Brown Girl Magazine. Nikhil showcase the newly launched Season 2 of the series, set the context for the show and giving insights on how its season 1 was #1 podcast on Amazon Music last year and its Times Square feature. In a QnA with Trisha Sakhuja-Walia, founder of Brown Girl Magazine, Nikhil also spoke about his own journey with mental health and masculinity that led him to creating the show.
Hosting notable names like Shivani Bafna, Kaneez Surka, Sudeep Kanwal, Hira Mustafa, Pulkit Datta, Hiba Beg, amongst others, the event focused on playing a few segments from the episodes featuring Karan Johar, Vicky Kaushal, Bhuvan Bam and Javed Akhtar giving a cross-section and diverse flavour of the many facets of the show, and its idea to start a conversation around masculine positivity.
On the Times Square milestone, Nikhil Taneja said, “It was a proud moment, as an Indian, to see our show on a billboard in Times Square, New York, alongside that of talk show icon Jon Stewart. I have the deepest gratitude to the team at Amazon Music, all our guests, partner and of course the incredible audience, that’s turned ‘Be A Man, Yaar!’ from just another chat show into a movement, a call for change, and an invitation to explore the depths of positive, vulnerable and authentic masculinity. The show’s international recognition is a testament to the power of ‘Be A Man, Yaar’ in challenging traditional gender norms and promoting a more inclusive understanding of masculinity.”
The second season of show features guests like Javed Akhtar, Kartik Aaryan, Bhuvan Bam, Manish Malhotra, Rohan Bopanna, Dr Vikas Divyakirti, Gajraj Rao, Boman Irani, Imran Khan, Ankush Bahuguna, Viraj Ghelani, Aryan Pasha and Prateek Kuhad, in an engaging, honest and candid conversation with Nikhil.
New episodes of the thought-provoking talk show #BeAManYaar, presented by The Man Company are now live on Yuvaa’s YouTube channel, and the extended unfiltered versions of the episodes are exclusively available on Amazon Music.
e-commerce
Visa report tracks rise of India’s affluent, experience-led spending
Affluent base doubles to 130 lakh, travel 58 per cent of elite spends.
MUMBAI: In India’s new luxury playbook, it’s less about owning more and more about living better. A new whitepaper by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) maps a decisive shift in India’s affluent economy, where spending is becoming more intentional, experience-led, and closely tied to personal identity rather than pure income growth.
Titled India’s Affluent Economy 2025–2026, the report draws on a Visa-commissioned Yougov study and VisaNet data across travel, dining, retail and lifestyle categories. The headline number is hard to miss: individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh annually have nearly doubled from 69 lakh to 130 lakh, significantly expanding the country’s discretionary spending base.
But it’s not just about scale, it’s about behaviour. As consumers move up the affluence ladder, discretionary categories are taking a larger share of credit card spends, positioning cards as key enablers of premium, lifestyle-driven consumption.
The geography of wealth is shifting too. Affluence is no longer confined to metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur and Lucknow increasingly mirroring metro consumption patterns.
The report highlights a clear pivot from ownership to access. More than 50 per cent of affluent consumers now use cards for elite memberships, while 7 in 10 are drawn to limited-edition drops and curated collections. Increasingly, luxury is defined by seamless access be it concierge-led travel or curated dining where time saved is as valuable as money spent.
Spending patterns reinforce this shift. Among the ultra-elite, travel accounts for 58 per cent of discretionary spends, far outpacing retail and luxury combined at 28 per cent. Cross-border spending penetration stands at 63 per cent, signalling a growing global outlook among India’s affluent.
Closer home, indulgence is becoming routine. Nearly 4 in 5 affluent consumers dine at premium establishments at least three times a year, while 1 in 4 visit luxury venues more than five times annually. Dining spends are also climbing, with Rs 20,000 emerging as a new entry-level benchmark per experience and Rs 50,000 marking premium territory.
Retail, meanwhile, is becoming more selective. Three in four affluent consumers make a high-end purchase at least once a quarter, while one in four shops premium every two weeks. Luxury retail intensity is also rising, with 2 in 5 consumers spending over Rs 5 lakh annually, and a smaller but significant segment exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Technology and wellness are carving out new roles in this ecosystem. High-end gadgets now see average spends of Rs 60,000 or more per purchase, while ultra-elite consumers are eight times more likely to visit spas and show five times higher engagement with cosmetic stores than non-affluent groups.
The broader takeaway is structural. Affluent consumers are no longer buying products, they are buying ecosystems. Integrated experiences across travel, dining, wellness and payments are becoming central to how this segment lives and spends.
As India’s affluent base expands beyond metros and aligns more closely with global consumption patterns, the real opportunity lies not just in size, but in speed. For brands, the message is clear: relevance will be defined by how early and how seamlessly, they plug into this evolving lifestyle economy.
