‘Wedding.Con’: Prime Video India Unveils True Crime Series About Women Deceived In Pursuit Of Love

Naman Ramachandran The first footage from “Devara,” headlined by “RRR” star NTR Jr., has been unveiled. “Devara” reunites NTR Jr. with his “Janatha Garage” director Koratala Siva, whose last film was “Acharya,” starring megastar Chiranjeevi and “RRR” star Ram Charan.

Love Island fans can barely wait for the highly-anticipated All Stars series to air this month but it's now been reported that the show will begin with a huge format change. Fans of the popular ITV2 dating show will get their next winter fix when the All Stars spin-off launches on Monday 15 January but speculation is rife as fans speculate which Islanders will return. But according to The Sun, the series is set to begin with a rather big format change right from the beginning of the iconic launch show.The publication reported that the show will host it's "biggest launch show yet" with 12 Islanders instead of the usual 10 moving into the sun-soaked South African villa.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Renowned French auteur Arnaud Desplechin, whose latest film “Brother and Sister” competed at Cannes Film Festival in 2022, is currently wrapping his next directorial effort, “Spectateurs!” Les Films du Losange, which handles French distribution and international sales rights to the title, has unveiled a first still (above) in the run-up to the Unifrance Rendez-Vous With French Cinema market, where it will introduce the film to buyers. The hybrid project weaves documentary and fiction with a cast including Milo Machado Graner, the young breakthrough actor of Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” and well-known French actors Mathieu Amalric (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) and Françoise Lebrun (“The Book of Solutions”).

Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor will screen as the opening film of Macau’s Asia-Europe Young Cinema Film Festival, which is holding its inaugural edition from January 5-11. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail, recently a hit in India, will screen as the closing film. 

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asia’s video industry is set to grow by an annual 2.6% over the next five years to reach $165 billion by 2028, says a new study from research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. That follows 5.5% growth in 2023. The firm’s “Asia Pacific Video & Broadband Industry 2024” report spans a widely-defined cluster of free TV, pay-TV, SVOD, premium AVOD and user-generated content and social video in 14 Asia-Pacific countries and territories.

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.

Lawmen Bass Reeves trailer has just arrived. The series is the new one from Yellowstone and Tulsa King creator Taylor Sheridan and will be released onto the Paramount+ streaming service very soon.

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.

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.

Love Island's upcoming spin-off show Love Island All Stars is said to have been thrown into chaos after one of its stars 'pulled out last minute'.The new series - the first of its kind - will see some of the most iconic stars from across the previous seasons come together for a second shot at love. It will be filmed in South Africa, and fans don't have long to wait, as ITV recently confirmed that it will air in January 2024. But, according to The Sun, Anna Vakili, who appeared on the show in 2015, has had a change of heart and has decided to no longer take part in the new series.

EXCLUSIVE: Streamers are slowly coming around in supplying viewing results, especially when the news is good. Apple has some good news.  

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.

The doors of the Love Island villa will be reopening as past contestants return for a second shot at finding the one. As the anticipated date of Love Island All Stars 2024 edges closer there's already been a rumoured lineup, welcoming back some of our favourite stars. In a teaser clip for Love Island: All-Stars, it was confirmed that Maya Jama, 29, who presented the winter and summer 2023 series of the hit ITV2 show, will return to host the new series.

International Film Festival Rotterdam has revealed its lineup for the Tiger, Big Screen and Tiger Short competitions. The festival runs from January 25-February 4. Scroll down for the full lists.

Naman Ramachandran Raveena Tandon stars in “Karmma Calling,” the Indian adaptation of ABC series “Revenge.” Tandon plays Indrani Kothari, the reigning queen of society in Alibaug, a rich world of glitz, glamor, deceit and betrayal. “Revenge,” which aired from 2011-2015, was produced by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios, and earned star Madeleine Stowe a best actress nomination at the Golden Globes.