Here's a list of exclusive interviews South First had with these larger than life changemakers from South India.
Published Dec 31, 2025 | 9:23 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2025 | 9:23 PM
South First had a great run in 2025 with some exclusive interviews. Credit: iStock
In 2025, South First interviewed a myriad of personalities from South India who created ripples with their work. From International Booker Prize nominee Deepa Bhasthi and former Kerala FinMin Thomas Isaac, to retired Karnataka bureaucrat LK Atheeq — all sat down with South First for a tête-à-tête and shared glimpses of their journey.
Here’s a list of exclusive interviews South First had with these larger than life changemakers from South India.
South First engaged with Deepa Bhasthi on wide-ranging conversation offering an intimate portrait of her as a writer, translator and cultural interlocutor deeply shaped by language, place and memory. Moving fluidly between childhood recollections from Kodagu and reflections on contemporary literary politics, Bhasthi traces how storytelling — inherited from her grandmother and nurtured by the quiet intensity of the Western Ghats — became the foundation of her literary life. She speaks candidly about the ethical and emotional labour of translation, particularly in carrying Banu Mushtaq’s polyglossic, politically charged Kannada stories into English, and challenges simplistic ideas of what is “lost in translation.” Throughout, Bhasthi resists the need for external validation, arguing for the intrinsic richness of Kannada while acknowledging the power of translation to create new readerships and conversations.
South First’s interview with Minnu Mani, India’s first Malayali and tribal woman cricketer, blends personal tragedy with professional triumph. She recalls the shock of losing her aunt to a tiger attack in Wayanad, highlighting the region’s escalating man-wildlife conflict. While she avoids political affiliations, she stresses the need to speak up on pressing social issues. Minnu reflects on her challenging journey from rural Wayanad to the Indian team, overcoming cultural barriers and family resistance to pursue cricket. She credits her cousins and teachers for support, and values the respect her parents now receive. Inspired by senior players like Smriti Mandhana, she aims to contribute more in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and dreams of lifting the trophy with Delhi Capitals.
Former Kerala finance minister Dr TM Thomas Isaac spoke about the ED’s show-cause notices over alleged FEMA violations in the KIIFB masala bond case. He argues that the ED is misinterpreting land acquisition for public projects as speculative land purchase, stressing that all ₹2,150 crore raised in 2019 was transparently spent on 339 infrastructure projects across sectors like education, energy, and public works. Isaac stressed that the RBI raised no objections, noting that the ED is relying on outdated guidelines. He viewed the timing of notices as politically motivated, pointing to their recurrence during election seasons.
South First interviewed Sabu M Jacob — industrialist, political entrant, and the driving force behind Twenty20 — laid out his critique of Kerala’s political and industrial ecosystem. Speaking from the vantage point of a businessman who shifted major investments to Telangana, Jacob sharply questions Kerala’s claims of “ease of doing business,” arguing that the state remains hostile to manufacturing despite strong PR narratives. His comparisons with Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Gujarat underline a broader frustration with what he sees as policy inconsistency, bureaucratic inertia and political hostility towards industry in Kerala. The conversation also shed light on Twenty20’s political philosophy and organisational model. Jacob projected the party as a professionally run, performance-driven alternative to Kerala’s dominant fronts, emphasising strict accountability, financial transparency and unusually high representation of women in leadership roles.
This interview laid bare the remarkable struggle of VP Zuhra, a 73-year-old activist and founder of NISA, who has emerged as a lone yet resolute voice demanding equal inheritance rights for Muslim women in India. Through her hunger strike at Jantar Mantar and sustained advocacy over decades, Zuhra exposes how Muslim personal laws continue to deny women financial justice, even as inheritance laws for other communities have evolved. Her demands — ranging from equal property rights and codification of Personal Law to the abolition of polygamy and court-mandated divorce — position gender equality as both a constitutional and ethical imperative. Equally powerful is Zuhra’s personal narrative — of child marriage, divorce, forced remarriage, casteism within the Muslim community and her daughter’s boundary-breaking marriage.
Dr Kavish Chouhan, dermatologist and hair transplant surgeon, spoke about the growing concern of early hair loss and the importance of timely medical intervention. He explains that losing up to 50 strands daily is normal, but consistent shedding beyond that requires a dermatologist’s attention. Dr Chouhan stresses that hair transplants are a last resort, preceded by medical treatments, nutritional correction, and regenerative therapies like PRP. He outlines differences in male and female hair loss patterns, noting genetics as the dominant factor in men, while nutrition, hormones, and stress play larger roles in women. He clarified myths — helmets and shampooing don’t cause hair fall, while onion, garlic, or coffee remedies are ineffective and potentially harmful. Oils act only as conditioners, not treatments. Transplants, when necessary, are safe, minimally painful, and permanent for transplanted hair, though existing hair may still thin over time.
South First’s exclusive interview with former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan raised serious concerns about the security of India’s voter management platforms — the Voters’ Services Portal (NVSP) and the Voter Helpline App (VHA). Following allegations of mass voter deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency, Gopinathan conducted a basic security check and found the NVSP portal scored only 15/100 on Mozilla’s Observatory, revealing flaws such as unsecured cookies and lack of strict HTTPS enforcement. He slammed the ECI for relying on shortcuts like WebView-based apps and failing to conduct proper pre-production security reviews. While he clarified that flaws may not directly alter electoral rolls, they could enable mass coordinated deletion or addition attempts, undermining trust in the system.
Congress leader Mansoor Ali Khan’s went all guns blazing against the ECI in the wake of allegations of ‘vote chori’ in Bengaluru Central, particularly in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment. Speaking after his defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Khan laid out the basis of Congress’ claim that abnormal voter additions, duplicate entries and questionable polling patterns decisively tilted the outcome in favour of BJP. He describes a painstaking, months-long investigation involving RTIs and manual verification of voter data, highlighting the difficulties caused by the ECI’s refusal to provide machine-readable electoral rolls.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram spoke on a wide range of issues in an interview with South First. He gave a candid assessment of Tamil Nadu’s political churn and the broader national context. Moving from civic issues to high politics, Chidambaram threw light on his concerns over stray dog attacks, arguing for a humane, nationally coordinated solution, while clarifying that his meeting with PM Modi was strictly issue-based and non-political. On Tamil Nadu politics, he reiterates that BJP’s ideological agenda of Hindutva, Hindi imposition, and centralisation has little resonance in the state, and expressed scepticism about the AIADMK-BJP alliance, calling it a forced and contradictory partnership that may weaken AIADMK’s credibility.
His abrupt exit from CM Siddaramaiah’s office earlier this year raised eyebrows. Now, retired IAS officer LK Atheeq is heading the Bengaluru Business Corridor aimed at reviving the decades-old Peripheral Ring Road project (PRR). With over 30 years in public service, Atheeq has been a senior advisor at the World Bank, has served in the PMO and piloted crucial initiatives in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department in Karnataka. South First caught up with the bureaucrat who has embarked not just on the PRR but also a personal project too — popularising his translation of renowned Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
