iWorld
Moj announces winners of Micro Drama Challenge
Short-video platform awards Rs 50 lakh to top creators and increases annual budget to Rs 24 crore.
MUMBAI: India’s leading homegrown short-video platform from ShareChat has announced the winners of its first Micro Drama Challenge, a unique accelerator programme designed to discover and fund emerging storytellers and production houses. The challenge received more than 100 professional entries from across the country. True Dreams Entertainment took the top prize with its show Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar, winning Rs 25 lakh. Cine ShortPremiere came second with Paisa Pyaar Parivaar (Rs 15 lakh), while Tamasha secured third place with The Dirty Wedding (Rs 10 lakh).
ShareChat, Moj & Quick TV co-founder & CFO Manohar Singh Charan said the overwhelming response has prompted the platform to increase its annual budget for micro-dramas to Rs 24 crore. “Micro-dramas are emerging as a powerful storytelling format resonating strongly with today’s mobile-first audiences,” he noted. “We wanted to create a meaningful pathway for creators to showcase their talent and access real opportunities to scale.”
The initiative aims to support the next wave of vertical micro-drama series tailored for India’s rapidly growing short-video audience. Winning teams gain access to funding and resources to build high-engagement content franchises within Moj’s ecosystem.
As short-form storytelling continues to evolve, Moj is doubling down on creator-led innovation, helping new voices turn fresh ideas into addictive series that keep Indian viewers glued to their screens.
In a format where every second counts, Moj is making sure the best stories don’t just get told, they get properly funded. With Rs 24 crore now earmarked annually, the platform is clearly betting big that India’s next entertainment superstars will emerge from these bite-sized dramas.
iWorld
Talk to your telly: JioHotstar’s new AI voice feature reads your mood to suggest shows
The streaming giant ditches the scroll for a “conversational” AI that understands moods, cricket and Hinglish
MUMBAI: The era of the endless scroll may finally be over. JioHotstar has officially flicked the switch on its “Conversational Voice Discovery” (CVD) feature, a high-tech overhaul designed to turn the hunt for a Friday night film into a natural chat. Developed in a landmark partnership with OpenAI, the tool moves beyond clunky keyword searches, allowing users to find content by describing their mood, context or even the most bizarre viewing scenarios.
The feature is vision of Uday Shankar, vice chairman of JioStar, whose goal is to eliminate “content overload” by replacing the tedious, traditional scroll with natural dialogue. By leveraging ChatGPT’s ability to grasp context and cultural nuance, the new mobile interface allows users to bypass menus entirely, turning search into a seamless conversation.
The launch, which rolled out across India this month, sees a ChatGPT-powered interface integrated directly into the heart of the app. Instead of typing “action movie” into a sterile search bar, viewers can now speak to their devices as if they were asking a well-read friend for a tip. For now, the feature is exclusive to the mobile app, with a rollout for Connected TV (CTV) expected in later phases.
Beyond the keyword
The CVD feature is built on what JioStar calls “Multilingual Cognitive Search.” It is designed to interpret nuance rather than just matching text. If you tell the app, “I’ve had a long day, give me something mindless and funny,” it won’t just look for those words in a title; it will sift through 300,000 hours of library content to find a light-hearted sitcom or a stand-up special that fits the vibe.
The tech is natively multilingual, catering to India’s diverse linguistic landscape. Users can switch effortlessly between languages—asking for “Koi light-hearted comedy dikhao” (show me some light-hearted comedy) or requesting a “Thriller hai but zyada dark nahi chahiye” (a thriller that isn’t too dark).
Real-time curiosity and live sports
Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the rollout is its integration with live sports. During a high-stakes cricket match, the AI acts as a digital companion. Fans can ask, “Who is the top scorer right now?” or “Show me that last wicket again,” and the system will pull the relevant data or clips instantly. It even attempts to explain the “why” behind the crowd’s energy, responding to prompts like, “Why is everyone reacting like that?” by contextualizing on-field events.
A shift in streaming strategy
The move is part of a broader reimagining of the entertainment experience following the massive merger between JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. Uday Shankar noted that the goal is to make premium entertainment “truly accessible” by embedding AI at the core of the user journey. By anticipating culture and context, the platform hopes to kill off “decision fatigue.”
For OpenAI, the partnership represents a major play in the Indian market. Fidji Simo, the head of applications at OpenAI, said the goal was to turn a “one-way” passive consumption experience into a “deeply personal conversation.”
As the feature goes live for millions of subscribers, the message from Bombay House is clear: the remote control is becoming obsolete. Whether you’re looking for a show that “feels like a rainy Sunday afternoon” or a crime series with a “strong female lead but not too violent,” all you have to do is ask.
