Amazon’s India Originals Chief Aparna Purohit Exiting; Set For Key Role At Aamir Khan’s Production Company

Naman Ramachandran UPDATE: Sahara India Pariwar, the company founded by the late Subrata Roy, has hit back after SonyLIV and Applause Entertainment announced a series on him. “An abusive and grossly condemnable act has been demonstrated by the makers of ‘Scam’ to achieve cheap and wide publicity, by announcing to unveil, “Scam 2010: The Subrata Roy Saga”. Sahara India Pariwar condemns such acts of all the individuals and parties involved and shall resist to their offending behavior.

Naman Ramachandran Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov‘s Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection “The Shameless” has taken 14 years to come to fruition. Bojanov previously directed the documentary “Invisible” (2005), followed by his Cannes-debuting fiction feature debut “Avé” (2011).

The first iteration of the Cannes Film Festival, planned for 1939, was scuppered when Germany invaded Poland to trigger the start of World War II. But when the festival finally got off the ground in 1946, Indian cinema came out swinging. Mounted shortly after the conclusion of the war, the first “real” Cannes Film Festival featured competition entries from Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend), Roberto Rossellini (Open City), and David Lean (Brief Encounter). In the spirit of post-war peace and reconciliation, the competition jury, headed by French historian Georges Huisman, handed the top prize — then the Grand Prix — to films from 11 of the 18 countries represented that year.

Naman Ramachandran Los Angeles-based Flourishing Films has boarded Singapore- and India-based Mumba Devi Motion Pictures‘ “Grand Sugar Daddy” and “Not Today” at the Cannes Film Festival‘s market. Flourishing is focused on expanding access to Black, diverse and female-driven filmed content originating from the U.S., Africa, the U.K. and worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ Hotstar isn’t done with the Criminal Justice franchise just yet — in fact, it might only just be getting started.

Naman Ramachandran India is making a concerted push to become a global production hub with enhanced incentives, diverse locations and a strong presence at Cannes. It is a record year for India at Cannes, with its first title in competition in 30 years, Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” and seven more Indian or Indian-themed films across the festival’s various strands. In addition, the country has a strong Cannes Film Market presence, while the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, on behalf of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), has organized a range of events aimed at global content co-producers, sales agents and distributors at the India Pavilion on the Croisette.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Dr. Bijukumar Damodaran‘s next film “Papa Buka” will commence principal photography in Papua New Guinea in July. The film will follow Indian historians Romila and Anand who go to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to write a book about the Indian soldiers who fought with the British and Australian armies against the Japanese during WWII in the country.

Major Indian distribution platform Tata Play will collaborate with Amazon Prime to offer Tata Play Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Tata Play Binge customers access to Prime Video’s content.

EXCLUSIVE: RJ Malishka, Rajesh Kumar and KC Shankar are the latest Indian stars to board SonyLIV‘s political drama series Freedom at Midnight.

Naman Ramachandran Billionaire Mukesh Ambani‘s streamer JioCinema is launching Anime Hub, with a slate of popular Japanese titles in the genre. Starting May 12, the hub will be headlined by the global simulcast of Season 4 of “Demon Slayer.” Highlights of the slate include: action-comedy “Spy x Family”; school chaos in “Assassination Classroom”; supernatural action-comedy “Mob Psycho 100”; time-traveling drama “Tokyo Revengers”; fantasy adventure “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun”; psychological thriller “Welcome to the Elite”; fantasy “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”; and mystery “The Junji Ito Maniac.” With a view to growing the Otaku (anime fan) community in India, the hub will also offer a curated selection of hits and hidden gems, including “Bofuri: I Hate Getting Hurt,” “So I Put All My Skill Points Into Defense,” “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!,” “The Familiar of Zero,” “Goblin Slayer” and “In/Spectre.” The anime content is licensed from Taiwan-based anime distribution and licensing company Muse Communication, Variety understands.

Siddhant Adlakha Nishtha Jain‘s “Farming the Revolution” — winner of the best international feature documentary prize at Hot Docs — captures the vast emotional scope of revolutionary movements. Chronicling the lengthy stand-off between Indian farmers and the Modi government, during which tens of thousands of Sikh and Punjabi farm workers occupied highways and state borders, the film is remarkable in its audio-visual inquiry into protest as a cultural movement, and in its excavation of the emotional highs and lows involved in making lasting change.

Camping is a lot of fun. It offers a chance for families to have an adventure in the woods.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Concert documentary, “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, will open in mainland Chinese cinemas on May 31. The film had its world premiere in official selection at the Venice festival last year. That was followed by an acclaimed run at the New York, London and Camerimage festivals. Japanese composer Sakamoto, who was awarded an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy and two Golden Globes, had a four-decade career that stretched from techno-pop to Oscar winning scores on films including “Merry Christmas, Mr.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate India is teaming with Vikram Malhotra’s Abundantia Entertainment and Kavita Sharma Gandhi’s EFAR Films for a pair of streaming movies.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films making noise in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list actor Kareena Kapoor Khan has been appointed national ambassador for India by humanitarian organization UNICEF. UNICEF has been operating in India for 75 years and Kapoor Khan has been serving as the org’s celebrity advocate since 2014.

Naman Ramachandran Indian actor Prosenjit Chatterjee is a veteran of more than 250 films, but his most recent endeavor “Shesh Pata” is one of the special ones. Chatterjee is a superstar in the eastern Indian Bengali-language film industry and a sought-after actor in the Hindi-language Bollywood industry as well. He scored global hits in 2023 with his pivotal roles in Prime Video series “Jubilee” and Netflix series “Scoop.” The same year, he starred in Bengali blockbuster “Dasham Avatar.” For “Shesh Pata,” Chatterjee reunited with director Atanu Ghosh, with whom he’d done successful films “Mayurakshi” (2017) and “Robibaar” (2019).

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Taking over a family business can be overwhelming, but for Karan Johar, it’s been anything but. It’s been more than 25 years since Johar took over Dharma Prods. founded by his father, Yash.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled the cast and a first look for its magnum opus series “Freedom at Midnight.” Based on the 1975 non-fiction book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, the political drama delves into India’s independence movement, weaving together untold tales and critical moments from the era when the country’s then British colonial rulers partitioned the country into India and Pakistan. Sidhant Gupta (Prime Video series “Jubilee”) plays Jawaharlal Nehru, who became the first Prime Minister of independent India, Chirag Vohra (SonyLIV series “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”) Mahatma Gandhi and Rajendra Chawla (Netflix film “Looop Lapeta”) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who became the first deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India.

Naman Ramachandran “Joyguru,” a fictionalized account of the life of Indian mystic artist and music icon Parvathy Baul, will launch sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Parvathy Baul is a leading exponent of the syncretic Baul minstrel music tradition that is hugely popular and culturally influential across eastern India and Bangladesh. Written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Soumyajit Majumdar (“#Homecoming”), the film will follow folk music icon Radhika Das Baul and popular Bollywood film music director Ritwik during their unlikely collaboration for a pioneering music album of Baul songs transcreated in Hindi, where they form a unique bond, a few days before her sudden and mysterious disappearance from her ashram near Shantiniketan, India.