Inside South Asia’s Booming Low-Cost, Language-Specific Streaming Scene

Jordan Moreau When actor Sophia Ali stepped into the shoes of Chloe Frazer, a fearless, badass treasure hunter in “Uncharted,” she felt unstoppable.“I’m surprised I fit into rooms to be honest. I was on such a high,” she told Variety. “I was playing Chloe’s video game [‘Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’] while I was shooting because I wanted it to be special.

Binky Felstead has given a glimpse inside her luxurious ski getaway with her husband Max Darnton and children India and Wolfie. The 31 year old mum of two, who recently met Louise Thompson's baby boy as she praised her 'brave friend', has shared a peek inside her skiing trip to Austria with her four year old daughter India and her eight month old son Wolfie. Binky revealed how the family-of-four had travelled to St Anton Am Arlberg as she shared a snap of the stunning mountains as the sun beamed onto the snow.

In an episode-long interview with The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah last night, singer India Arie addressed the recent Joe Rogan-Spotify controversy, mentioning – among other things – that she believes Rogan is “consciously racist.”

EXCLUSIVE: Honorary Academy Award winner Wes Studi (The Last of The Mohicans, Hostiles) and SAG Award, NAACP Image Award and Golden Globe nominee Adam Beach (Smoke Signals, The Power of the Dog) have signed on to star in the thriller American/Indian from writer-director Peter Curtis Pardini.

HBO Max.Set during the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle, the film stars Zoë Kravitz as the titular Kimi, an agoraphobic tech worker who discovers evidence of a violent crime while reviewing a data stream (i.e. essentially she’s listening in on an Alexa-like device).

Spotify-exclusive podcast The Joe Rogan Experience this week, both on-stage and during an episode of the podcast itself.Rogan’s podcast recently prompted protest from the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and Nils Lofgren, with the musicians pulling their catalogues from the streaming platform.Young sparked the exodus late last month, when he requested his music be taken off Spotify, citing the platform “spreading false information about vaccines” and specifically targeting Rogan.It came after hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on Rogan’s podcast – calling the host’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.In response, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said that, while the platform wouldn’t be severing ties with the controversial figure, they would be adding content advisories to podcast episodes which discussed COVID-19, directing users to their dedicated information hub.Rogan himself addressed the boycott on Instagram, telling fans: “I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”Shortly after, Rogan found himself embroiled in controversy again when songwriter India.Arie shared a video that compiled instances the podcast host had used the N-word on his podcast.

Shooting wrapped last month on the long-awaited Gerard Butler project Kandahar and here are some exclusive behind the scenes photos from the film, which is notably one of the first major U.S. titles to shoot its entirety in Saudi Arabia. The film, which is produced by John Wick outfit Thunder Road Films and Capstone, reunites Butler with his Greenland and Angel Has Fallen director Ric Roman Waugh. While this certainly isn’t the first action thriller the bankable Scottish actor has starred in, Kandahar is one of the first big-budget Hollywood titles to shoot in the country’s northwest AlUla region, which is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra.

Lata Mangeshkar, the singing voice behind many Bollywood actresses, died Sunday at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, India. She was 92 and the cause was complications of Covid-19, said Pratit Samdani, a doctor at the hospital, according to Indian news outlets.

The Dutton family will be back – obviously.

Naman Ramachandran Leading Indian music label and film studio T-Series is diversifying into producing series designed for streaming platforms and has signed up an A-list directorial talent roster.The company’s stated aim is to create content “which shall appeal to all sectors of the audience, with gripping shows across genres,” including action thrillers, biopics, murder mysteries, jailbreak dramas.”Signed up as show runners are Aanand L. Rai (“Atrangi Re”), Anubhav Sinha (“Article 15”), Nikkhil Advani (“Mumbai Diaries 26/11”), Hansal Mehta (“Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”), Sanjay Gupta (“Mumbai Saga”), Bejoy Nambiar (“Solo”), Suparn S.

Elsa Pataky is sharing a sweet photo of her kids!

Naman Ramachandran Leading Indian streamer Disney Plus Hotstar has revealed the first trailer for its upcoming blockbuster series “Rudra: The Edge of Darkness,” starring top Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn (“Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior”). Produced by Applause Entertainment in association with BBC Studios India, “Rudra” is the Indian adaptation of hit BBC series “Luther,” starring Idris Elba.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentLast August, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat managed to escape from Kabul with part of her family as Taliban fighters took over the city while U.S. forces withdrew.Now, her “Weekend With…Shahrbanoo Sadat” event at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, starting on Saturday Jan.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has acquired exclusive South Asia media rights for the 2022 Asian Games taking place later this year at Hangzhou, China. SPN will have the rights to broadcast the games across its sports channels in India and the subcontinent including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives, and on streamer SonyLIV through Sept. 2023.

Megan McKenna has given a glimpse inside her romantic movie date night under the stars in the Maldives with her boyfriend Josh Riley. The 29 year old, who recently gave a glimpse inside her sun-soaked holiday to the idyllic islands in the Indian Ocean, shared a peek inside her private cinema date night with her 28 year old businessman beau Josh. Megan looked every inch the beach beauty in a pair of lemon cotton flared trousers and a matching halter-neck top which she accessorised with gold hoop earrings for the evening at the five-star Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa.

Six months after 9/11, firefighter turned “Jihad Rehab” filmmaker Meg Smaker left her job as a Bay Area firefighter to travel to the Middle East to better understand the world she lived in.After making a pit stop in Afghanistan, Smaker moved to Yemen to study Arabic and Islam, and got a job there running a firefighting academy. “So I was a head fire instructor, teaching Yemeni men to fight fire in Yemen, which is where I was when I first heard about the rehab center, when I was living in Yemen and teaching a firefighting like course,” Smaker tells Sharon Waxman at The Wrap’s Sundance Studio.

Tomris Laffly “Are you a good person or a bad person?” This is the question that documentarian Meg Smaker poses to one of her subjects in a quietly reflective moment of “Jihad Rehab,” her thought-provoking film about Saudi Arabia’s controversial rehabilitation center for radicalized extremists. “I don’t know,” comes the response, from a man with a hefty résumé of terrorist activities.

The Good Karma HospitalRating: 4/5The Caribbean With Andi And MiquitaRating: 2/5Like a rock star's glamorous wife once she's past the first flush of youth, Dr Ruby Walker is in a precarious position. With each new series of The Good Karma Hospital (ITV), she is in danger of being traded in for a younger model. The role of Dr Ruby (Amrita Acharia) is simple.

If you've already made your way through the new dramas which arrived shortly into the new year, look no further.