Disney+ Hotstar India Chief Sunil Rayan on Subscription Offering: ‘We’re Leading the Pack’

Naman Ramachandran Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) has revealed his next directorial venture after “Le Musk,” his debut which premiered at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The project will be another film in the VR space, titled “Confessions.” “Now this [“Le Musk”] is finished and we’re happy about it, we just want to do something which is much more simpler, but more deeper in emotion,” Rahman told Variety.

Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux took part in a ‘meet the press’ session with journalists in Cannes yesterday afternoon.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter nearly six years at Snap, head of originals Vanessa Guthrie is leaving the company.Guthrie will depart Snap at the end of June 2022. At that point, Anjuli Millan, head of production for Snap Originals for the past three years, will step into the role as head of original content.“During her time with us, Vanessa has been a trailblazer for women in tech and has played an integral role in launching content for the mobile-first generation,” Snap said in a statement.

Paramount Global has handed Marco Nobili and Olivier Jollet key new roles as its seeks to turbo-charge expansion of its international streaming services.

Naman Ramachandran “Le Musk,” the directorial debut of Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”), will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The 36-minute film is billed as a cinematic sensory experience incorporating virtual reality, with motion, music and scent integrated into the narrative. It follows heiress and musician Juliet Merdinian, who, 20 years since she was orphaned, seeks out the men who changed her destiny with one powerful memory — that of their scent.Rahman developed the story from an original idea by his wife Saira.

Netflix’s upcoming Indian musical drama The Archies from director Zoya Akhtar has set its cast. The ensemble, who play characters from the iconic Archie Comics franchise, includes emerging talent such as Mihir Ahuja (Bard of Blood), Khushi Kapoor (The Garhwal Rifles) and Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan in a but role.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Knight Riders Group has acquired the rights to own and operate Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, a franchise in the United Arab Emirates’ new T20 cricket league.The investment is led by Khan, along with Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta. It is the fourth Knight Riders-owned T20 franchise, after previous team launches in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket in the U.S.T20 is a quick-play, made-for-TV version of cricket, a sport that is wildly popular in the Indian subcontinent and parts of the Middle East.

Naman Ramachandran Indian origin, U.S.-born Belgian actor Rumana Molla (“Irada”) will make her directorial debut with Belgium-set Indian immigrant drama “Minimum,” which will commence principal photography in June.The film will follow newly-wed immigrant Fauzia, whose mother-in-law Ruxana keeps her captive. She finds out that everything she had been told about her husband Ali was a lie and loses hope until a French tutor, Laurie, is hired to teach her the basics.

After crossing the $200M domestic mark on Monday, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on Tuesday zoomed past $500M global. It is also nearing $300M at the international box office, certain to reach that milestone today.

South Asian streaming service ZEE5 Global is adapting BBC drama Press as local series The Broken News, as part of a wider deal with BBC Studios.

Naman Ramachandran Nayla Al Khaja, the first female filmmaker in the United Arab Emirates, is teaming with Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) on her upcoming feature film “Baab.”Written by Al Khaja and Masoud Amralla Al Ali, the film follows Wahida, who is unable to make sense of her twin sister’s mysterious death and is plagued by a haunting rhythm in her ears.

It’s Friday again, readers. Jesse Whittock here (for the first time, be gentle), taking you through the week’s top headlines.

A pudding maker from Perthshire was knocked out of a new Apprentice-style television game show fronted by Michelin star chef Gordon Ramsay last week.

Shampa Banerjee, a seasoned streaming exec who held senior posts at Eros International and Pluto, has been named chief product and technology officer at Canela Media.

His career has taken him from northern India, to Shanghai and then to Manchester. During more than 25 years as a professional chef, Manish Mahipal has worked in five star hotels and now runs a stylish restaurant in King Street West.

Adam Thomas has spoken about the moment he tried to save his dad's life. Dougie James, a much-loved Manchester music promoter and lead singer of the 1970s band Dougie James and the Soul Train, died in November 2020, aged 72.

Russell Peters is back to smiling with his audience.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video pulled out the heavy international artillery to launch a massive Indian slate on Thursday. They are bullish about the market.Kelly Day, VP of international, Amazon Prime Video, said at a round table during the event: “The future of global streaming services is really about global expansion, and moving much more ambitiously, to serving customers in our international markets all over the world.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“The Inventor,” the animated family feature by “Ratatouille” scribe Jim Capobianco whose all-star voice cast is led by Marion Cotillard, Daisy Ridley, Stephen Fry and Matt Berry, has been sold by MK2 Films to a flurry of territories. The stop-motion film, which charts the life of Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci, has pre-sold to a large part of the world, with deals in France (KMBO), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Hong Kong & Taiwan (Muse), the Philippines (Falcon), Former Yougoslavia (Karantanija).