iWorld
Disney+ Hotstar launches Dear Ishq trailer
Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar announced the trailer of its latest romantic drama Dear Ishq. Set against the backdrop of an Indian publishing house, the platform tells the story of two completely opposite personalities who walk this simple journey of life, unknowingly falling for each other.
The show, directed by Atif Khan and produced by Yash Patnaik and Mamta Patnaik of Beyond Dreams Entertainment Private Limited, is set to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on 26 January.
The series, which stars Kunal Verma, Vikas Grover, Kishwer Merchant, Jyoti B Banerjee, Puneet Tejwani, Roma Bali, Beena Mukherjee, Buneet Kapoor, Kavereet Ghosh, and others, is set to entertain audiences with a gripping storyline and massive twists and turns.
Talking about Dear Ishq, director Atif Khan added, “Dear Ishq is a classic tale of hate to love romantic love story and I am sure that the masses will enjoy the ego clashes, fights and process of understanding and love that will develop between the Asmita and Abhimanyu. Although a tale of opposites attract, the show is centered around the world of a publishing house, thus bringing unique elements and an engaging plot to the storyline. Moreover, I am elated to associate with a platform like Disney+ Hotstar again that always aims to provide unique and entertaining stories to their audiences.”
Talking about his character, actor Sehban Azim said, “I play Abhimanyu Razdan, A self-made man who’s quite successful at an early age. The blue-eyed boy of Indian publishing. Known for his best-selling romance novels. He’s drunk on his success…not at all a quintessential guy, he’s rather callous and egoistic. He isn’t anything like the emotional and sensitive men he writes about in his novels but quite the opposite and that’s the most interesting part about my character. Just imagine how he’d be if he falls in love. It’s challenging to be the kind of character that I’m always intrigued about. It’s interesting to be someone like Abhimanyu and the way he is. It’s an absolute delight to have Atif Khan as my director. I love the vision and the details he brings-in to Abhimanyu and the story. And I’m glad to have Niyati Fatnani as my co-actor, she’s perfect as Asmita. Also, this is my first association with Disney+ Hotstar and Inspire Films and I am happy to have the opportunity to be a part of the platform and this show. It’s beautiful shooting with this team. Kinda very eager, excited and a bit nervous for the viewers and my wonderful fans to see something new, something I’m loving right now.”
Talking about her character, Niyati Fatnani said, “Asmita Roy is a Bengali girl who is an award- winning literary editor. She is an honest, talented girl and is a fan of classic writers and storytellers like Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore etc. She is a very today woman who is independent and will voice out her opinions and will not tolerate injustice of any kind. This is why she openly disregards the new generation writers and their stories as she finds such stories are very superficial and has no depth or doesn’t give any useful message to readers.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
