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The biggest focus area for Hotstar is big scale-big idea-high concept series: Gaurav Banerjee

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MUMBAI: Streamers in India are now bombarded with ‘original’ content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms. With so many shows, the only way to make a mark is by telling stories that matter and offering narratives in their comfort language. Hotstar gets both of it right. The late entrant in the game of originals does want to win the crown with ‘x’ number of shows but with quality stories. Hotstar is also ready to tap the regional market this year.

It has launched its first masterstroke of the year, Special Ops. The eight-episode series marks the digital debut of filmmaker Neeraj Pandey. The seventh series under Hotstar Specials is not targetted at any particular audience segment but the makers hope everyone watches it, as Star India Hindi Entertainment head Gaurav Banerjee said.

Banerjee noted the importance of the full-length trailer as it would draw more viewers if it receives a good response. Given Pandey's stature and calibre, the OTT platform is depending on those aspects to pull viewers this time.

Banerjee said that they would leverage the reach of the Star network and Hotstar to make this widely known to fans and to let them know that something “exciting and interesting” is now available. He is also hopeful of IPL giving a further boost to its attraction.

In a candid chat, Banerjee also spoke on Hotstar’s strategy going forward.

Edited excerpts:

Thriller seems to be a common genre in the OTT ecosystem. How is Special Ops different from other shows?

We can’t know what other people are doing. Therefore, we have stuck to the simple task of believing in our showrunner, his story and the knowledge of his craft. We've been talking to Neeraj and developing the show for the last 18 months. We have to believe that the story that we are telling has relevance, so viewers should see it and want to watch it. And you must believe that the storyteller has a lot of conviction. They're really motivated and inspired to tell that story.

How many shows do you have in the pipeline for the rest of the year? What are the new formats you are looking at?

We have several shows in the pipeline. But we are not defining our success by quantity, only by quality. So we don't want to build a big library. We don't want to drop a show every week. What we really want to do is to have some shows which viewers deeply care about or that hugely excites them. I think for us, that is success. So we have a deep pipeline of ideas that excites us but we want those to be really extraordinary. We don't want to build this business on the strength of library or frequency of launches.

How are you looking at digital original movies?

We have done a couple. But the biggest focus area for us is big scale-big idea-high concept TV series. I think that's something that that in India is pretty new. We have been at it for the last 13 months. That's what we will truly stay committed to. We want to learn how to make those well, market them, write them differently and cast them properly.  

What is your plan in the regional market? Will you come out with regional shows this year?

We will this year. So I'm happy to confirm that Hindi will not be the only language in which we will be running productions. We want to run productions and make original content on Hotstar in other Indian languages as well. There are already two Tamil shows which we are in very advanced production right now.

Are you only focusing on South Indian languages?

Tamil is a huge market for us. In the Hotstar India Watch Report which we reported a while ago, we said that Big Boss Tamil was the most-watched piece of content. I think the Telugu market is important as well. We have big creative teams across many Indian languages.  We have a very strong presence in Bengal with Star Jalsha, great presence in Marathi with Star Pravah, we have the best Malayalam channel Asianet. So I think all those are very powerful content engines and people everywhere are looking for ideas and talking to us and hopefully, we will see a lot of that come through.

What viewership trends have you noticed?

I think viewers are looking for variety. And what has worked very well for us is that we have offered a wide range of content. I think people have liked that. The second thing is something that really connects, that people watch a lot. So, I think engagement is fabulous. They can watch a long complex drama when they find the content is engaging and they haven't seen earlier. 

iWorld

Netflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film

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MUMBAI: Netflix is celebrating ten years in India with a slick anniversary film voiced by Shah Rukh Khan, a nostalgic sprint through a decade that rewired how the country watches stories. The campaign doubles as both tribute and reminder: streaming did not just enter Indian homes, it quietly rearranged them.

Roll back to 2016 and television still dictated schedules. Viewers waited weeks, sometimes months, for favourite films to appear on prime time. Family-friendly filters narrowed options further, and piracy often filled the gaps. Then Netflix arrived, softly but decisively, carrying a catalogue of international titles rarely seen in Indian theatres and placing them a click away. Old blockbusters and new releases suddenly coexisted on the same digital shelf.

The platform’s real inflection point came in 2018 with Sacred Games, a breakout series that refused to dilute India’s grit for global comfort. Audiences embraced its unvarnished tone, signalling readiness for stories that did not need box-office validation or censorship compromises. What followed was a steady procession of relatable narratives. Competitive-exam anxiety fuelled Kota Factory. College relationships unfolded in Mismatched. Everyday pressures, not grand spectacle, proved bankable.

Language barriers thinned as foreign series arrived with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing, expanding viewership beyond urban English-speaking pockets. Marketing mirrored the shift. For global releases such as Squid Game, Netflix leaned on regional creators and influencers to localise buzz and make international content feel native.

The library widened beyond fiction. Documentaries stepped out of festival circuits into living rooms. Stand-up comedians found scale. Established filmmakers, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Heeramandi, embraced the platform’s long-form canvas. Subscriber numbers swelled to 12.37 million in India, according to Demandsage, and behaviour followed suit. Late-night binges became routine. Friday release rituals loosened. Watch parties turned solitary screens into social events.

Economics demanded adjustment. Early subscription pricing carried a premium aura that deterred many households. Over time, Netflix recalibrated plans to align with Indian spending sensibilities, conceding that accessibility is as critical as content. To extend momentum around marquee titles, the platform also experimented with split-season releases, stretching anticipation and watch time.

The anniversary film, narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, captures the linguistic shift that mirrors the cultural one: from “Netflix pe kya dekha?” to “Netflix pe kya dekhein?” The question moved from recounting the past to planning the next binge. In ten years, Netflix morphed from foreign entrant to familiar fixture, exporting Indian stories abroad while importing global ones home. The remote no longer waits; it chooses, clicks and moves on. In the streaming age, patience is out, playlists are in, and the next episode is always one tap away.

 

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e-commerce

Tulasi Mohan Padavala elevated to Associate Director at Blinkit

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Gurugram: Blinkit has elevated Tulasi Mohan Padavala to associate director, capping a three-year climb inside the quick-commerce firm and signalling confidence in an executive steeped in ecommerce, category management and on-ground sales execution.

Padavala shared the update publicly, saying he was “happy to share” the promotion, a succinct announcement that nevertheless marks a notable step up within one of India’s fastest-moving delivery platforms. The new role follows nearly three years at Blinkit, where he most recently served as senior category manager from February 2023 to January 2026, focusing on strategic sourcing and assortment planning.

The promotion places Padavala in Blinkit’s mid-to-senior leadership tier at a time when the company continues to expand its rapid-delivery footprint and sharpen category economics. His brief tenure as associate director began in January 2026, with responsibilities expected to span category growth, supplier strategy and cross-functional execution.

Before Blinkit, Padavala spent a short but intensive stint as global ecommerce manager at Wholsum Foods, the parent of Slurrp Farm and Millé, between November 2022 and February 2023. There he worked on digital marketplace expansion and online retail operations, adding a direct-to-consumer and international ecommerce layer to his résumé.

A longer stretch at Amazon shaped much of his cross-border commerce experience. As business development manager for Amazon’s India Global Selling programme from February 2021 to October 2022, Padavala helped Indian D2C brands enter the North American market. His remit ranged from seller recruitment and category revenue management to coordination with industry bodies, regulators and logistics partners. Key outcomes included launching more than 50 D2C consumable brands in the United States, driving a cumulative gross merchandise sales figure of $1m in FY21-22, tripling sales for participating brands during Prime Day through marketing and visibility levers, growing the monthly recurring revenue of more than 10 newly launched sellers from zero to an average $20,000 each, and negotiating ecommerce partnerships that reduced initial launch costs by 20 per cent.

Padavala’s earlier career was forged in the field rather than the dashboard. At Coffee Day Group, he spent close to five years across multiple sales leadership roles. As sales manager in the Greater Delhi Area from July 2019 to January 2021, he led vending-machine and consumables sales for small and medium enterprises with a team of more than 15 assistant and territory sales managers, managed over 2,000 clients, drove upselling and cross-selling, maintained channel partnerships and ensured timely collections. Prior to that, he served as area sales manager in Delhi between May 2018 and June 2019, handling south and east Delhi markets, and earlier in Hyderabad from April 2016 to May 2018, where he led Andhra Pradesh sales for the vending division, supervised service and logistics functions and managed a base of more than 600 machines with a four-member team.

His professional arc began with internships that combined analytics and process improvement. At Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015, Padavala analysed the impact of brand extension on the drug Pradaxa, identified key performance indicators through market research and assessed sales forecasts, recommendations that drew positive responses in pilot studies. Earlier, at Genpact in 2014, he automated manual sales-order backlog reporting using VBA and Excel, increasing efficiency by 800 per cent, and worked on benchmarking metrics within supply-chain planning processes.

From automating spreadsheets to scaling cross-border ecommerce and now steering quick-commerce categories, Padavala’s trajectory tracks the evolution of India’s retail economy itself. Blinkit’s bet is clear: blend data, discipline and delivery speed. The promotion formalises what his career already suggests. In the race for instant commerce, experience that moves from warehouse floors to global dashboards is no longer optional. It is the engine.

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e-commerce

Bharatpe plays a super over as Rohit Sharma fronts T20 push

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MUMBAI: When the stakes rise and seconds matter, even payments need a match-winning finish. That’s the cue for Bharatpe, which has rolled out Super Over, a nationwide campaign led by Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, timed neatly ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The campaign draws a straight line between the pulse of cricket and the pace of everyday digital payments. A new brand film taps into India’s emotional bond with the game, while positioning UPI as the quiet hero that keeps daily transactions ticking along at match speed.

As part of Super Over, users making payments via Bharatpe UPI can bag daily rewards ranging from match tickets and signed merchandise to a chance to watch a T20 World Cup fixture alongside Rohit Sharma himself. Both consumers and merchants are also assured Zillion Coins on every eligible transaction, adding a little extra sparkle to routine payments.

Behind the scenes, Bharatpe is also batting for safety. The platform is backed by Bharatpe Shield, a fraud-protection layer designed to offer enhanced security, comprehensive coverage and dedicated support aimed at helping users transact with greater confidence as digital payments scale up.

Announcing the campaign, Bharatpe head of marketing Shilpi Kapoor said Super Over mirrors the aspirations of everyday Indians, combining speed, security and instant rewards to make UPI transactions feel both reliable and rewarding.

The campaign will play out across digital platforms, social media and on-ground activations nationwide, staying live through the T20 World Cup season proof that in cricket, as in payments, timing is everything.

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