The Top Ten Most Overrated Public Figures

10. Narayan Murthy: If I hear one more story about the integrity or simplicity or inherent genius of this omnipresent figurehead, I swear I'm going to throw up all over myself, and also over the news media that can't seem to get enough of blowing this guy.
9. Barkha Dutt: This is a woman I'm totally lost about. Why she's consider a great reporter and touted as one of India's best is beyond me. She seems ordinary in every way. She's good some of the time, bad some of the time. Sometimes she's just plain atrocious (as in when she was covering the attack on the Taj at Bombay). But she's never great. So why all the fuss?
8. Sanjay Leela Bhansali: An atrocious filmmaker who people in his own industry call a master to his face, but I suspect the snicker behind his back. And as if the pseudo artistic sensibilities he vomited onto unsuspecting humanity in his previous attempts at film making were not enough, he went and made Sawariya.
7. Arundhati Roy: As if this one wasn't overrated enough as an author, now she's masquerading as an intellectual and getting overrated at that too.
6. Chetan Bhagat: Overrated in an understatement for this guy and the people following him on this list. Have you read his pathetic books? He's hit on a great model to sell some volumes, but so did Mills and Boon.
5. Lalu: So the railways turned around. Great job. But I seriously doubt that Lalu had anything to do with it other than a curious mixture of serendipity and idle tampering. I wonder if all the people flocking to hear him lecture on management at the various unsuspecting business schools would appoint him manager/CEO of their business.
4. P. Shitambaram: I seriously doubt that he is the learned scholar that his thick spectacles and the media make him out to be. Most enlightening policies came either from Manmonia or from (surprise) VP Singh. This dude just shows up in a lungi and claims brilliance. Bah. Humbug.
3. Karan Johar: SLB is overrated by the critics, and K-Jo is overrated by the public. All his films have made kaboodles of money, and have contributed to the painful longevity of our next member on this list, but all his films are uniformly uninteresting.
2. Shah Rukh Khan: As a businessman and marketing pro this dude is THE shit. And what he has achieved on his own is no mean feat. But when he acts, I always get the feeling that he's playing the same guy in every movie. This dude can't act.
1. Sunil Gavaskar: Sure he was run hungry, and sure he averaged over 50 in tests over his career, but he was so unfailingly defensive and focused on averting defeat that even attempting a run at victory seems alien to his soul. All time great? Whatever. And I'm sick and tired of listening to stories about his defiance in the Windies. His 1971 or whatever series was not against the pace quartet that made the Windies the feared team that they were. So there. And not to mention his stellar performance in the world cup that we won in spite - and not because of - his plodding presence