Raveena Tandon Headlines Disney+ Hotstar ‘Revenge’ India Adaptation ‘Karmma Calling’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran India’s Yoodlee Films has unveiled a star-studded 2024 release slate across languages. Malayalam-language cinema superstar Mammootty, who had a phenomenal 2023 with critical and commercial hits “Kannur Squad” and “Kaathal – The Core,” headlines “Bazooka.” Directed by debutant Deeno Dennis, the film is a game thriller, a category not often explored in Indian cinema. The cast also includes actor-directors Gautham Vasudev Menon and V.K.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled a slate of more than 20 new and returning shows for 2024 and is expanding its content focus. 2023 saw several hits bow on the service including “Scam 2003,” “Chamak,” Agatha Christie adaptation “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley” and “Fauda” remake “Tanaav,” which has been renewed for a second season, besides Season 2 of Emmy-nominated series “Rocket Boys.” 2024 will see shows in the Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi languages, in addition to Hindi.

This year is shaping up to be yet another frenetic one in the international media landscape, with change incoming on numerous fronts. Here, our overseas team breaks down some of the issues we think will define the entertainment and news terrain in 2024.

Siddhant Adlakha The rare documentary that opens not just with a content warning, but with a request not to share identifying images of its child subject, To Kill a Tiger is a heavy but necessary work about the legalese and cultural attitudes surrounding sexual violence in rural India. The Oscar-shortlisted doc from New Delhi-born director Nisha Pahuja is a powerful and risky example of the vitality of modern nonfiction filmed in South Asia.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list actor Ayushmann Khurrana scored another major hit in 2023 with comedy sequel “Dream Girl 2.” But he is still happy to have achieved what he describes as “validation.” The film was one of several medium budget Hindi-language films that became box office successes, including “OMG 2,” “Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway,” “Zara Hatke Zara Bachke,” “Satyaprem Ki Katha” and “12th Fail.” These effectively debunked the notion that only big budget spectacles like “Pathaan” or “Jawan” would work at the post-pandemic Bollywood box office, which had a poor 2022. “There was a conspiracy theory, maybe a year back, that Indian audiences [were] only looking for spectacles or larger-than-life films, but this year, a lot of films, which not really big budget but mid budget, did really well,” Khurrana told Variety.

Naman Ramachandran The teams behind upcoming sci-fi epic “Kalki 2898 AD,” hit Disney+ Hotstar series “Aarya” and prolific producer Siddharth Roy Kapur spoke with Variety on what has been an eventful 2023 for the Indian entertainment landscape. 2023, the first full year of business since the pandemic, saw Indian audiences return in droves to cinemas.

Disney has taken another big step toward realigning its India strategy. The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with Reliance Industries that would see the two merge their Indian operations, the completion of which would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires. The news was first reported by The Economic Times.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India‘s streaming service has had a record 2023 with 22 series and three feature films commissioned, the most since it launched in 2016, and a high level of consumer engagement. India continues to top the charts when it comes to Prime member engagement with Prime Video, the service informs Variety. No other Prime territory has a higher percentage of Prime members watching Prime Video each month than India and Indian content trended in the top 10 on Prime Video worldwide for 47 of the last 52 weeks, securing 15% of the total top 10 slots.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Comedy Central’s “Adam Devine’s House Party,” has reportedly died. He was 32. Several performers and fans mourned Nanda on social media Saturday as the circumstances surrounding his death remained unclear.“It is with a very heavy heart we say goodbye to comedy great, Neel Nanda,” reps for The Port Comedy Club in Baltimore posted Saturday on Instagram.

Prime Video India has unveiled Wedding.con, a true-crime docu-series about women who are deceived and betrayed in pursuit of love. Scroll down for a trailer for the show that launches next week.

Naman Ramachandran Leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films (YRF) has had a phenomenal 2023 with successes across theatrical films and streaming and is looking to build on it going forward. After an indifferent 2022 where the Hindi-language Bollywood film industry was shaded by the mighty south Indian business, the box office roared back in January 2023 with YRF’s “Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Khan. The success of “Pathaan” began a stellar box office year for Bollywood and the film was surpassed only by “Jawan,” also starring Khan and distributed internationally by YRF.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ Hotstar is going behind the curtains of Bollywood.

Naman Ramachandran Four BBC India staff members have quit and formed a new entity, Collective Newsroom, in order to comply with India’s strict foreign direct investment (FDI) in media rules. The Indian government’s cap on FDI investment in digital news outfits is 26%. BBC World Service India is 99% owned by the BBC.

Naman Ramachandran Indo-British sports drama “A Game of Two Halves,” which tackles themes of identity crisis and racial dissonance, is set for a global bow in 2024. Directed by British Asian filmmaker Khayam Khan (“Bus Ride”), the film is set across the U.K. and India.

EXCLUSIVE: South Indian stars Adivi Sesh and Shruti Haasan will head the cast of an as-yet-untitled pan-Indian action drama that is being produced by leading Telugu production house Annapurna Studios. 

Naman Ramachandran Top Indian celebrity management firms Matrix IEC and Bling Entertainment are merging, bringing their roster of A-list talents under one roof. Matrix was founded by Reshma Shetty and Vivek Kamath. It represents popular actors including Abhishek Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Dulquer Salmaan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ram Charan, Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Vicky Kaushal among others.

2018 Everyone Is a Hero writer-director Jude Anthany Joseph was a victim of the 2018 Kerala floods in southern India, a catastrophic natural disaster that was the worst flood to hit the region in more than a century.

Naman Ramachandran Celebrity chef Asma Khan will host food documentary series “Tiffin Stories,” it was revealed at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum & Market. In the six-part “Tiffin Stories,” Asma Khan will be seen interacting with iconic Indians and the Indian diaspora, unearthing their nostalgia associated with food, while bringing to fore their life journeys. The series will be filmed in India and the U.K.

When Zoya Akhtar was approached some years ago by Graphic India to see if she was interested in adapting American comic The Phantom, her first question was whether the Archies comics were available for adaptation. 

Naman Ramachandran The first image that the word ‘Bollywood’ conjures up is one of song and dance. And Netflix’s “The Archies” promises to be a prime example of that. “The Archies” is a 1960s-set feature film adaptation of the Archie comics, which are hugely popular on the Indian subcontinent.