ITV

Tag: Vaibhav Vishal

  • Applause Entertainment’s & Hansal Mehta’s Gandhi to world premiere at TIFF 2025

    Applause Entertainment’s & Hansal Mehta’s Gandhi to world premiere at TIFF 2025

    MUMBAI: In a landmark moment for Indian storytelling, Gandhi, the sweeping international series by Applause Entertainment and filmmaker Hansal Mehta, is set to make its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Selected as part of TIFF’s prestigious primetime programme, it is the first Indian series ever to feature in the festival’s showcase of auteur-driven episodic storytelling.

    Starring Pratik Gandhi in the titular role, Gandhi is adapted from historian Ramachandra Guha’s definitive biographies and charts the early, lesser-known years of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The first season, titled An Untold Story of Becoming (1888–1915), traces his formative years from a curious teen in colonial India to a struggling law student in London and a young barrister in South Africa—long before the Mahatma was born.

    Sameer Nair“To have Gandhi selected for TIFF’s Primetime showcase is both an honour and a moment of immense pride; not just for Applause, but for Indian storytelling. Taking you up close and personal to the young Mohan way before he became the man history knows, this series is the culmination of deep research, creative development, and unwavering belief in the human story we wanted to tell,” said Applause Entertainment managing director Sameer Nair.  “TIFF will be the first time our Gandhi will be seen by audiences. To begin that journey on a global platform of such import, is the perfect start and we can’t wait for the world to discover him.”

    For Hansal Mehta, the director and showrunner, TIFF holds special significance. “Gandhi has been the most creatively challenging and soul-stirring journey of my career. It’s not just a story from our past—it’s a meditation on conscience, a portrait of a man in constant conflict with himself and his times,” explained Mehta. ”TIFF has previously been home to some of my most precious pieces of work, and to have perhaps the most ambitious story of my career premiering there is doubly special—particularly in TIFF’s 50th year. To share this journey at a festival that has embraced me over the years is both humbling and surreal. I hope it opens the door for more Indian series to find their place on the world stage.”

    Hansal MehtaThe Gandhi premiere will see key cast and crew in attendance, including Sameer Nair, Hansal Mehta, Pratik Gandhi, Tom Felton, Kabir Bedi and Siddharth Khaitan. The series boasts a powerhouse creative team with music by A.R. Rahman and writing by Vaibhav Vishal, Karan Vyas, Felix von Stumm, Hema Gopinathan, Sehaj Kaur Maini and Yashna Malhotra. Script development was supported by Siddhartha Basu and Ramachandra Guha, with casting by Mukesh Chhabra (India) and Shakyra Dowling (International).

    TIFF’s primetime section has previously hosted series by the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Shawn Levy and Steven Knight. With Gandhi entering this rarefied space, Indian long-form storytelling may have finally arrived on the world stage.

  • Rana Naidu 2 team opens up on backlash, bold themes and big wins

    Rana Naidu 2 team opens up on backlash, bold themes and big wins

    MUMBAI: When your lead actor jokes, “I’ve mastered dying on screen,” you know a show isn’t playing it safe. At the 9th edition of The Content Hub Summit 2025, the spotlight fell on Netflix’s Rana Naidu’s second season, an audacious blend of blood, baggage, and brutal family dynamics that’s got everyone talking (and watching).

    Director Suparn Verma, screenwriter Vaibhav Vishal, and actor Sushant Singh were joined by session chair and RJ Stutee Ghosh for a frank, no-holds-barred conversation on the show’s gritty new season where the emotions run as high as the body count.

    “Reaching the heart is the real win,” said Verma. “The kind of emotional and thematic depth we’ve explored this season, I genuinely believe it hasn’t been done before in Indian storytelling.”

    Indeed, the father-son conflict, explored with near-mythological gravitas, was framed by Verma in classic archetypes: “There’s a Shakti, a Vishnu… and now, with Angam, we’ve created a force that’s just as primal and layered.”

    But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The team faced backlash after Season 1 for its raw language and depiction of abuse. Vaibhav Vishal admitted that it did prompt some introspection and even self-censorship but only to widen the show’s reach without diluting its essence.

    “There was a lot of criticism, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me,” he said. “But then came the numbers. That’s when we knew we weren’t off-track Rana Naidu shot up to become the number one show.”

    Sushant Singh, whose character meets a dramatic end in the new season, brought humour to the session. “He told me during the loop test, ‘You’re going to die.’ I just smiled and said, ‘I’ve mastered dying on screen by now.’”

    The team also addressed representation especially of women with intention. Vishal noted that Arya’s character this season wasn’t written as a love interest or sidekick. “In her mind and ours, she’s the main character.”

    This season also marked a shift in tonal choices. While the violence has intensified, the language has been consciously restrained. “We created narrative solutions,” said Vishal. “Like Venkatesh’s character doing Angoom Gilo to avoid abusing, it was all thought through.”

    The makers are clear-eyed about the creative trade-offs involved in storytelling for a broad OTT audience. “You adapt, learn, evolve,” said Vishal. “Once Season 1 was out and we saw how the family dynamic resonated, we layered it back in for Season 2.”

    OTT, for actors like Sushant Singh, has also offered meatier roles than cinema ever did. “It’s given me hope,” he said. “The kind of characters I’ve gotten on streaming platforms are far richer than most I got in films.”

    The Netflix show creators didn’t shy away from controversy, but they also didn’t pander. Their belief? Let the characters be flawed, the dialogue be daring, and the women be unapologetic.

    And if a few heads roll in the process well, that’s just part of the Naidu family tradition.

    (If you are an Anime fan and love Anime like Demon Slayer, Spy X Family, Hunter X Hunter, Tokyo Revengers, Dan Da Dan and Slime, Buy your favourite Anime merchandise on AnimeOriginals.com.)

  • Ad Guru Turns Reel Hero with Mythical Thriller for the Masses

    Ad Guru Turns Reel Hero with Mythical Thriller for the Masses

    MUMBAI: From 30-second ad epics to full-length cinematic spectacle Prasoon Pandey is finally making the leap, and it’s nothing short of mythic. Prasoon Pandey, one of the most celebrated names in Indian advertising, is stepping behind the camera for his feature film debut, a massy, contemporary mythological thriller backed by Movieverse Studios and Ellipsis Entertainment. Known globally for his award-winning commercials, Pandey now swaps storyboards for the silver screen, bringing with him decades of visual flair and narrative punch.

    Written by Vaibhav Vishal, the yet-untitled film blends cultural depth with modern storytelling, and promises to push genre boundaries with its unique tone and scale.

    “This isn’t just a directorial debut, it’s a long-overdue cinematic event,” said Movieverse owner IN10 Media Network MD Aditya Pittie. “We’ve waited for a story that matched Prasoon’s legendary vision. This one had him hooked and us too.”

    Pandey, who has 17 Cannes Lions, Clio, and D&AD awards to his credit, is the first Asian to feature on Campaign Magazine’s 100 most influential advertising filmmakers list. “I wasn’t going to do a film just for the sake of it. This script hit differently,” he said. “It stayed with me, long after I’d read it. That’s when I knew this is the one.”

    Movieverse Studios CEO Vivek Krishnani echoed the excitement: “We’re committed to cinematic storytelling that stirs the soul and stuns the eye. With Prasoon and Ellipsis on board, this film promises both.”

    The film also marks another milestone for Ellipsis Entertainment, whose partners Tanuj Garg and Atul Kasbekar have a knack for scouting offbeat-yet-relatable stories. “Prasoon’s been a friend and a creative icon. It took us years and many scripts but we’re thrilled this is the one that finally got a yes,” said Kasbekar.

    Comparisons with ad-filmmaker-turned-directors like Ram Madhvani and Suresh Triveni are inevitable, but Pandey’s visual grammar and storytelling signature remain in a league of their own.

    Casting is currently underway, and the makers promise a stellar ensemble to match the story’s ambitious canvas.

    For now, one thing is certain: when an ad legend like Prasoon Pandey steps into the world of cinema, the lines between art, mass appeal, and mythology are about to blur in the best possible way.

  • From stock market to screen: SonyLIV’s Scam 1992 is a cautionary tale

    From stock market to screen: SonyLIV’s Scam 1992 is a cautionary tale

    KOLKATA: In April 1992, mayhem hit the Indian financial sector as the nation woke up to the biggest stock market scam. So huge was its impact on Dalal Street that it led to structural changes in the financial security system of India with new reforms in stock trades. However, what remains untold is the story of the mastermind behind it. Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story, SonyLIV’s latest tentpole show, is about the charismatic stockbroker who orchestrated a previously unheard-of Rs 5,000-crore securities scandal.

    Unravelling the man from the myth over the course of 10 nail-biting episodes, the show will drop on the OTT platform on 9 October. With it, SonyLIV is hoping to boost its subscriber base while fulfilling its promise to deliver more original content.

    Produced by Applause Entertainment in association with Studio Next, this series is a financial crime thriller based on the bestseller book The Scam written by notable journalists Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal.

    Read more news on SonyLIV

    The series is a gripping tale of the meteoric rise and fall of the flamboyant big bull of the stock market – Harshad Mehta. Directed by national award-winning filmmaker Hansal Mehta, the series is led by Pratik Gandhi and Shreya Dhanwanthary along with an ensemble cast of Satish Kaushik, Sharib Hashmi, Anant Mahadevan, Nikhil Dwivedi, KK Raina and Lalit Parimoo, among others. The creative team comprises dialogue writers Sumit Purohit, Saurav Dey, Vaibhav Vishal and Karan Vyas.

    Director Hansal Mehta said the story, or cautionary tale, is more relevant than ever in these troubled times where a new multi-billion dollar scam is uncovered every other day and the conmen responsible fly the coop with uncanny ease.

    “This show gives you an intimate peek into the middle-class aspirations of a common man who rose from rags to riches while managing to subvert and deceive the banking system. It talks about what the system, if not mended, might make people do. The system doesn’t seem to have mended. There is scam on scam,” Mehta averred.

    Having helmed films about complex socio-political issues, like Shahid starring Rajkummar Rao, and Manoj Bajpayee-led Aligarh, Mehta found the enormity of Scam 1992 to be a quite a unique challenge.

    "I've told many true stories but to put this kind of long-form writing on screen was a huge challenge. It was perhaps the biggest, single largest challenge that I've had after making almost 15 feature films," he said.

    Read more news on Applause Entertainment

    The makers spent over three years on the show to ensure absolute accuracy, from the script, to choice of actors, and the overall treatment. 

    “Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story reflects on a landmark event in the Indian stock market. The incident was integral in shaping India’s financial security systems and hence was a story waiting to be told,” Studio Next head Indranil Chakraborty said.

    Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair said that with Scam 1992, the company hopes to raise the bar of premium series in India in terms of creativity and production while staying true to the original source material.

  • ErosNow unveils first look of digital graphic series ‘Blazing Bajirao’

    ErosNow unveils first look of digital graphic series ‘Blazing Bajirao’

    MUMBAI: In a unique marketing initiative, Eros International’s OTT platform Eros Now unveiled the first look of India’s first animated digital series, Blazing Bajirao for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus, Bajirao Mastani.

     

    Blazing Bajirao is dedicated to the adventures and victories of Bajirao Ballal Bhat, Peshwa to the fourth Maratha emperor, Chhatrapati Shahu Raje Bhonsle.

     

    Speaking on the origin and creation of Blazing Bajirao, ErosNow chief creative officer Vaibhav Vishal said, “The approach behind the series has been two-pronged. First, educate the audiences about Bajirao, the legend of Bajirao Mastani and the socio-political-cultural history of the era. Second and more importantly, make Bajirao the hero that he must be for our young audiences. We want them to know how cool he was, discover and associate with the charisma of Bajirao. And, in the process, get ready for the film when it releases.”

     

    “Had Bajirao been on Twitter, he would have been one of the biggest influencers around. So come to think of it, he always was a superhero. To showcase the magnificence of Bajirao’s character, we have got the best people in the business to do the series; the graphic style is unlike anything that has been seen before in any Indian series,” he adds.

     

    A first for the Indian film industry, Blazing Bajirao is a full-fledged digital graphic series, created for the audiences to familiarize themselves with the lives and histories of the lead characters – Bajirao and Mastani – ahead of the release of film Bajirao Mastani.

     

    Produced by Eros International and Bhansali Productions, written and directed by Bhansali, Bajirao Mastani tells the story of one of the least known parts of Indian history – that of the Maratha and Peshwa princes and the love story of Bajirao and his second wife Mastani.

     

    The movie is slated to release worldwide on 18 December, 2015.

  • FoodFood appoints Vaibhav Vishal as creative head

    FoodFood appoints Vaibhav Vishal as creative head

    MUMBAI: FoodFood, the food lifestyle channel which has recently announced several senior level appointments, launched international shows and most recently, a renewed positioning for the channel, has brought in Vaibhav Vishal as its creative head to sizzle up the channel.

     

    “We are extremely happy to have attracted a talent like Vaibhav who brings with him a rich background in creative, marketing and media. Vaibhav spearheaded the new repositioning campaign for the channel and we are confident that through the new shows he has clearly articulated the brand vision and desired positioning to lead the network into the next level. With him on board we are sure he will give new impetus to his experience in programming and related areas,” said SK Barua. 

     

    With over 15 years of experience spanning creative leadership, programming, marketing and new media specialisation, Vaibhav has been a driving force for notable brands like MTV India, RedFM, YFilms, MTunes HD, FTV India, Helios Media and now FoodFood. Starting out with advertising, he has been an AVP – creative and content at MTV, the national creative head at Red FM, taking care of its entire national network and a brand strategist for several independent consulting projects.

     

    Sharing his vision as the creative head of FoodFood, Vaibhav said, “The agenda we’ve set for the channel is best described by the tagline – ‘It’s sizzling!’ and I am here to make sure that it surely does in every way.”

     

    Popularly known as V2 in the industry and @ofnosurnamefame in the world of social media, Vaibhav loves to immerse himself in popular culture, keeping abreast with the latest on the internet. And, of course, he loves his food!