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Sahara’s Geon Studios CEO Madhusudhanan quits
MUMBAI: Sahara-owned Geon Studios CEO and VFX supervisor N Madhusudhanan has quit the organisation.
Madhusudhanan said, “Yes, I have moved on from Geon.” He, however, refused to divulge where he would be joining.
Madhusudanan is the last among the four founders who have quit the Studio. It may be noted that producers Barrie Osborne and Michael Peyser and former chief technology officer at Weta Digital Jon Labrie were the co-founders along with Mudhusudhanan.
Sahara had acquired the company in 2010, following which the three co-founders exited. Madhusudanan took some time before deciding to quit.
The VFX stalwart, one of the pioneers of the Indian Visual effects and computer animation industry, has supervised and produced visual effects of more than 60 Indian and nine Hollywood films like Lord of The Rings – The Return of The King, Click, Stormbreaker, Spiderman 3, The Warrior‘s Way and the recent Gulliver‘s Travels. In all the films, he was instrumental in highlighting India‘s artistic skills by producing few very effective shots.
Madhusudhanan is one of the early Indian visual effects experts who got elected as an active member of Visual Effects Society (VES) in Los Angeles. He is currently the VES Ambassador to India.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
