Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma Merge Foundations, Launch SeVVA Initiative – Global Bulletin (EXCLUSIVE)

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

, Jen's friends, Randi and Myra, finally meet Rishi in person, and Randi confronts him about sending her a flirtatious pic when she catfished him to see if he was being faithful to Jen.Jen uprooted her life in Oklahoma to be with Rishi in India, but her friends don't trust him and even his own friends have doubts that he's been faithful to her while they were living in different countries. Though Rishi insisted to Jen that he was never unfaithful to her and told her he wasn't even speaking to other women online, Randi told her that when she catfished him by pretending to be a model visiting India, he sent her a shirtless picture in nothing but a towel and was trying to meet up with her.

Angelique Jackson CAA has signed filmmaker Megan Park for representation. Park’s feature directorial debut, “The Fallout,” premiered at SXSW in 2021 and took home the festival’s grand jury prize and audience award, as well as the first-ever Brightcove Illumination Award for writing the screenplay. The film was released on HBO Max in Jan. 2022 and stars Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler, following the teenagers as they attempt to rebuild their lives after a school tragedy. Park was named one of Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” for 2022 and also won the Toronto International Film Festival’s Rising Star Award and an Emerging Directors Award from the Cannes Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran The next magnum opus from Amazon Prime Video India is “Jubilee,” a period piece that charts the growing pangs of India and the rise of the country’s Hindi-language film industry that would come to be known by the term Bollywood in later years. Beginning around the months in 1947 when the subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan, the dramatis personae in the series include studio boss Srikant Roy (Prasenjit Chatterjee), his movie star wife Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari), trusted aide with acting ambitions Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana), talented refugee Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) and courtesan Nilofer (Wamiqa Gabbi), whose worlds collide.

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.”

The Issa Brothers, who own Asda, are 'considering an £8bn takeover of sandwich giant Subway', according to reports.

Naman Ramachandran Yash Raj Films’ “Pathaan” is the biggest Indian hit of the year so far grossing $130 million. The studio’s Akshaye Widhani also served as a co-producer on the film. Part of the release strategy around “Pathaan” was keeping Shah Rukh Khan away from the film’s promotions, creating curiosity around the superstar’s comeback film, the first time he’d headlined a project since 2018’s “Zero.” “There was a lot of excitement and hunger to see India’s biggest movie star on screen after four years. We wanted to preserve that. So when we got into a room with him to talk about marketing the film, we all felt what if we went with a different strategy this time, which is less is more. So we hold back Shah Rukh, not have him seen pre-release, not have him interact with anybody pre-release,” Widhani told Variety. “But once the the film is out, then we come out into the media. That was a conscious decision and one that paid off well, because the whole excitement to go watch him on screen became even more, and the hunger increased when you didn’t see him. And it worked well for us.”

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.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian Canadian actor Giacomo Gianniotti, who played Dr. Andrew DeLuca on “Grey’s Anatomy,” is set to star in “Inganno,” Netflix’s Italian adaptation of the U.K. TV series “Gold Digger” that starts shooting this week on the Amalfi coast. The taboo-breaking show – which was dubbed a “toyboy thriller” by the British press – depicts the passionate and turbulent relationship between an older woman and a man who is half her age. In this case the affair disrupts and subverts Italian social and family norms. A “Gold Digger” adaptation for Indian audiences is also reportedly in the works. “Inganno,” which means “deceit” in Italian, is being directed by Neapolitan auteur Pappi Corsicato whose “The Seed of Discord” competed at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. Corsicato’s visual style is often compared to Pedro Almodovar, of whom he has been an assistant.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has revealed a robust 35-strong series slate, including some returning hits, with a further expansion into South Indian languages in addition to its Hindi-language slate. Headquartered in Mumbai, the streamer now has three content offices in South India, in Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai. SonyLIV also now has 24 million paid subscribers, SonyLIV head of content Saugata Mukherjee told Variety. In the Tamil language, after the success of “Tamil Rockerz” in 2022 and “The Story of Things” earlier this year, SonyLIV has saga “Journey,” headlined by R. Sarathkumar with Cheran Pandian (“Autograph”) serving as showrunner; and “The Madras Murder,” set against the backdrop of the Tamil film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, with A.L. Vijay (“Kireedam”) as showrunner.

Naman Ramachandran After “Mulk” (2018), “Article 15” (2019), “Thappad” (2020) and “Anek” (2022), filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is back with “Bheed,” another hard-hitting film that shines a light on the fabric of Indian society. The film is set during the 2020 Indian pandemic lockdown and tells the poignant story of migrant workers stranded without basic necessities while trying to go home to their villages. Shot in black and white, it is deliberately evocative of the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan when people were uprooted from their homes in the largest migration in history. “When the pandemic hit, people were seeking help on Twitter. Everybody had different strengths so we were helping each other and, and I really got sucked into it. And that was the time when I felt that this film had to be made, this period of time has to be recorded, and I didn’t want it to be just a Coronavirus film,” Sinha told Variety. “I’ve put in a Bob Marley quote in the beginning of the film, ‘If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from’.”

EXCLUSIVE: Joaquina Kalukango (Lovecraft Country), Lonnie Chavis (This is Us), Rob Morgan (Mudbound), Ryan O’Nan (Queen of the South), and Justin Hurtt-Dunkley (Mare Of Easttown) have been tapped for key recurring roles opposite David Oyelowo and Dennis Quaid in Bass Reeves, from Yellowstone co-creator/showrunner Taylor Sheridan.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has renewed International Emmy-winning hit Indian series “Delhi Crime” for a third season. The streamer’s India operation has also renewed “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives,” “Kota Factory,” “Mismatched” and “She” for third seasons. Netflix India has also commissioned a documentary on the life of hip hop artist and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh who will deep-dive into the reasons behind his sudden disappearance at the peak of his career. The documentary will be directed by Mozez Singh (Disney+ Hotstar series “Human”) and produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain‘s Sikhya Entertainment, 2023 Oscar winners for “The Elephant Whisperers.”

BreAnna Bell Garrett Hedlund has been cast in a recurring guest role in Taylor Sheridan’s forthcoming “Bass Reeves” series set at Paramount+, Variety has learned exclusively. He’ll portray Garrett Montgomery, a so-called posse man of the era who Bass hires for his riding know-how and expertise of the area. She joins previously announced stars including lead and executive producer David Oyelowo, and series regulars Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck and Barry Pepper. Dennis Quaid and Grantham Coleman will also appear in recurring roles. Hedlund can currently be seen in Paramount+’s “Tulsa King” and will next star in the film “The Tutor,” which is scheduled March 24th theater release. He recently completed production on the films “Desperation Road” opposite Mel Gibson and “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” co-starring Ben Mendelson and Daisy Ridley. His other credits include Lee Daniels’ “Mudbound,” “On the Road,” “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” “Mojave,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Pan,” “Unbroken,” “Tron: Legacy,” and “Country Strong.”

95th Oscars.It won’t be easy. On paper, this year’s Academy Awards seem to have things working in their favor.

Naman Ramachandran Siva Ananth, one of the producers of Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus “Ponniyin Selvan: 1,” is ecstatic about the film’s rich haul of nominations at the Asian Film Awards. The film has received a total of six nominations, including for best picture. It is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s classic Tamil-language novel. The story is set in 10th century India during a tumultuous time in the Chola empire, when the power struggle between different branches of the ruling family caused violent rifts between the potential successors to the reigning emperor and a civil war became imminent. All the political and military turmoil led to the Cholas becoming the most prosperous and powerful empire in the continent and one of the most successful and longest-reigning in history.

Jimmie Allen’s Artists:Ale Aguirre | Chihuahua, Mexico Ale infuses herself into her music and bilingual lyrics with the mariachi, norteño, banda and other sounds she heard growing up in Mexico. At the age of 16 she taught herself how to play the guitar, and is now on the way to establishing herself as an independent singer-songwriter with a loyal following she’s gained from her popular YouTube channel. Dhruv Visvanath | New Delhi, India Dhruv, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter and producer, started his musical journey at the age of seven.