Prasenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Aparshakti Khurana, Vikramaditya Motwane on Prime Video’s Period Bollywood Series ‘Jubilee’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The trailer (below) for “Draw for Change!” – which was named best documentary series at Canneseries this week – has debuted. The feature film version of the first of its six episodes, “Behind the Lines,” will world premiere at Visions du Réel Film Festival on April 28. The series, from creators Guillaume Vandenberghe and Vincent Coen, profiles six female cartoonists working in six geographic areas of the world, in six individual films and broadcast episodes. Female directors with close connections to each of the societies represented were chosen to tell the stories. Autlook Film Sales is handling international sales.

Naman Ramachandran BAFTA-winning “The Last King of Scotland” writer Jeremy Brock will adapt independent studio Wiip and India’s Roy Kapur Films’ series based on the book “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company” by author and historian William Dalrymple. “The Anarchy” will be mounted as an international co-production between Wiip and Roy Kapur Films to be produced across the U.S., U.K. and India. The book tells the story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires, the Mughal empire, disintegrated and came to be replaced by the British East India Company – a dangerously unregulated private company based thousands of miles away in a small London office just five windows wide.

Indian actor Saif Ali Khan has joined N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (aka NTR Jr) in the cast of the RRR star’s next film, known under the working title NTR 30. 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Lena Khan (“Flora and Ulysses”) is set to direct the Bollywood comedy “Best of the Best.” The project, formerly titled “For the Culture,” chronicles the highly competitive world of collegiate Bollywood dance competitions. Comedian Hasan Minhaj, best known for his Peabody Award-winning Netflix series “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” wrote the project with Prashanth Venkataramanujam to launch their production company, 186K Films. Minhaj will also play a role in the film.  Dan Lin’s Rideback is also producing. Additionally, Khan is attached to direct an adaptation of the classic children’s book “The Cricket in Times Square” — about a cricket from New Jersey named Chester who lands in Manhattan after accidentally getting trapped in a picnic basket — for Spyglass. That project remains in development.

Citadel doesn’t premiere on Amazon Prime Video until April 28, but the spy thriller starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden is set for a second season, and it’s coming to California.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A growing range of Thai, Japanese and Chinese-language films and TV shows are reaching global audiences – joining the by-now well-established international viewership for South Korean shows.Netflix’s Global Top 10 for the week April 3-10, sees made-for-streaming Korean title “Kill Boksoon” on top of the non-English-language films list, with 27.5 million hours watched in its second week of release. It is immediately followed by Thai film “Hunger,” about a young woman apprentice in an upmarket restaurant working under a tough boss. The film is directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and stars “Bad Genius” breakout Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying.

A+E Networks Boosts Co-Pro Offering With Double UK Hire

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ Hotstar has set Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo as its latest original series.

Priyanka Chopra is getting ready for the launch of her Prime Video series Citadel and she has already lined up another project with Amazon!

Priyanka Chopra is opening up about the truth behind the acting industry.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to launch a new taskforce to tackle grooming gangs during visits to Greater Manchester and Leeds today. The PM has pledged 'political correctness' will not get in the way of a crackdown, as ministers promised tougher sentences and new support for local forces to protect children from abuse.

Naman Ramachandran Ajay Devgn headlines “Maidaan,” a soccer themed film that is based on a true story. Set between 1952-1962, the golden era of Indian soccer, the film follows the story of an unknown hero who created history and records for India that have not been surpassed even 60 years later. “‘Maidaan’ is my personal favorite. I rarely say this, its one of the best films I’ve done. It has shaped up very well. Every department of the film, the storytelling, the direction, the performances, everything looks outstanding,” Devgn told Variety. Devgn plays the role of a sports coach. “It’s a sports coach, but sports is the backdrop. Basically, it’s a very human story of a man and his struggle and his dreams and his family. So that’s lovely,” Devgn said.

Naman Ramachandran Leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ streaming production arm YRF Entertainment has revealed its second show. Titled “Mandala Murders,” the multi-season series is billed as a gritty crime thriller. It is created and will be directed by Gopi Puthran (“Mardaani 2”). Manan Rawat, who has worked on several films as an associate director for the studio, will serve as co-director. Vaani Kapoor, who won critical acclaim playing a transgender character in film “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui,” will lead the series, her debut in the streaming space, alongside Vaibhav Raj Gupta (SonyLIV series “Gullak”). Surveen Chawla (Netflix series “Decoupled”) and Jameel Khan (“Gullak”) have also been cast in prominent roles in “Mandala Murders.”

Spotify after a licensing dispute with a top label.As The Independent report, fans have been sharing their anger after hundreds of songs from the Indian label Zee Music Company have been disappearing from playlists.The label, which purports to be India’s second most popular, claims it is home to more than 50 per cent of new Bollywood music.Now, hugely popular soundtracks to films including Bajirao Mastani, Ram-Leela and Gully Boy have all been removed from the service, while the song ‘Apna Bana Le’, from new film Bhediya, has also been removed despite being the most-streamed song in India on Spotify in recent weeks.In a statement toBillboard, Spotify said: “Spotify and Zee Music have been unable to reach a licensing agreement.“Throughout these negotiations, Spotify has tried to find creative ways to strike a deal with Zee Music and will continue our good faith negotiations in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable solution soon.”Elsewhere, it was recently revealed that Spotify executives have only spent 10 per cent of their $100million (£81.75million) budget on a new fund to promote music and audio content by members of “historically marginalised groups”.The Creator Equity Fund was launched last year in the wake of controversy surrounding Joe Rogan’s Spotify-exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, due to uses of the N-word and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.Just over a year on, however, Bloomberg has found that the initiative has got off to a slow start.

Priyanka Chopra got her start in Bollywood movies in her native India before heading to Hollywood when she was cast as the lead in ABC drama “Quantico”.

Naman Ramachandran Hollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas has revealed for the first time why she quit her native Bollywood industry in India and started fresh in the U.S. Speaking on the “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard” podcast, Chopra Jonas, who was a huge star in Bollywood before she moved to the U.S., said: “I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. I had people not casting me for reasons… I had beef with people. I was tired of the politics. I was just like, ‘I need a break.'” The break came in the shape of a music career in the U.S. In 2011, Universal Music Group signed Chopra Jonas to a worldwide recording agreement with DesiHits, and part of the deal was that her first studio album would be released by Interscope Records in North America and by Island Records in the rest of the world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief In cricket-mad India the upcoming Indian Premier League tournament could be a watershed for the country’s jostling media empires, according to Singapore-based consultancy and analysis firm, Media Partners Asia. Video rights for the tournament were split between incumbent pay-TV player Disney Star India, which paid close to $3.1 billion for broadcast rights to the five 2023-2027 editions, and Viacom18, which is backed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Paramount (as a minority stakeholder), in partnership with financier Bodhi Tree Systems. It paid a similar sum for the separate digital rights. Media Partners Asia estimates that advertising revenues spawned by the two-month 2023 competition will end up around $550 million – representing a clear loss on the annualized cost of $1.2 billion, or roughly $600 million per conglomerate, for the tournament rights. (The analysis firm forecasts that RIL will earn $300-350 million in ad sales, while Star’s best-case scenario is $220 million.)

Naman Ramachandran Top Bollywood star Rani Mukerji is basking in the box office success of “Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway,” which flies in the face of “cynicism” from “naysayers” as the actor describes it. The film, directed by Ashima Chibber and written by Rahul Handa, Sameer Satija and Chibber, is based on the true story of an Indian couple whose children were taken away from them by Norwegian welfare services in 2011. Mukerji plays the titular Mrs. Chatterjee who battles with the Norwegian government to reunite with her children. The modestly budgeted film released on March 17 and has grossed some $3.2 million worldwide so far.

Amazon Prime Video is exploring more global franchise opportunities following the success of the Russo Brothers’ Citadel.

first look between Young Queen Charlotte and Young King George as well as the overwhelming weight societal pressure that awaits her in the “Bridgerton” prequel series’ teaser, the trailer spotlights Queen Charlotte’s rise to the throne amid a loving yet tumultuous marriage.As Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) arrives to the famed palace lamenting “Why me?” her brother attempts to knock some sense into his stubborn sister, saying “there are worse fates than marrying the king of England.”While her brother might be right, Charlotte quickly starts to feel the weight of the nation on her shoulders as her union with the king is expected to bring about societal unity and “as many babies as possible.” While Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) offers Charlotte support as she prepares for her impending marriage and royal debut, there’s just one problem: Charlotte has not yet met her soon-to-be husband.Then comes the highly anticipated introduction as Young King George (Corey Mylchreest) discovers Charlotte trying to climb over the castle wall from what she expects will be a disaster of a life — which is intercepted when George provides the reassurance Charlotte had been craving.“I realize you have no reason to like me,” George tells Charlotte. “But if you will give me one evening of your time, then I might make you hate me a little bit less.” While their whirlwind romance satisfies the desires of both the pair and their closest advisors, their relationship is quickly shrouded in secrecy as George’s whereabouts and condition is hidden from Charlotte, leading to a tense confrontation between the couple.“I do not want to fight,” George insists, while Charlotte declares “I want to fight with you.