iWorld
Madhuri Dixit launches Planet Marathi OTT platform
Mumbai: Vistas Media Capital-powered exclusive Marathi OTT platform Planet Marathi was launched on Tuesday by Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit. The actress officially became the first subscriber to the app at the launch event.
Marathi content will no longer have to compete against Hollywood and Hindi content for attention on OTT platforms where Marathi is a secondary language, said the platform in a statement. “This app is truly defining its tagline ‘Ma Maanacha Ma Marathicha’ with the offerings,” it added.
“Planet Marathi thrives to bring meaningful entertainment for every segment of the Marathi audience. With the launch of this app, our offerings will now reach across the world to every user who loves watching Marathi content,” said Planet Marathi, founder and CMD, Akshay Bardapurkar. “Our Original shows are specifically curated for web series binge-viewers who love fast-paced, meaningful, and thrilling content. We have backed our content with the best filmmakers, talented artists and our easily accessible app. The entertainment experience is going to be exciting because Marathi fans have never witnessed such diversity and engagement in Marathi content before. I am delighted to have Madhuri launch our app as she has been the epitome of Marathi talent in both Hindi and Marathi entertainment industry.”
Planet Marathi currently has a content library of over 1000 hours including films, web shows, plays, and music. Additionally, the launch was accompanied by the greenlighting of five originals namely, “Sopa Nasata Kaahi” – a romantic comedy, “Hing Pustak Talwar” – a light comedy about a group of friends, “Bap Beep Bap” – an emotional family drama revolving around father-son relationships, “Jobless” – a crime thriller about an accused fraudster struggling to prove his innocence and a fantasy thriller “Parees” that is centred around superstitions and supernatural incidents, the platform shared in a statement.
“Launching an app exclusively for Marathi entertainment is a great step taken by Akshay and his team. This has taken our industry ahead of the curve,” said Madhuri Dixit. “There is so much potential in Marathi feature films and content that the world is yet to experience. This platform has made it easier for filmmakers to find and connect with their audience. I am amazed at the range that Planet Marathi OTT has to offer the audience.”
“I am a Marathi entertainment enthusiast who binge-watches Marathi films and web series even from the other side of the world. In my opinion, Planet Marathi OTT is exactly what global citizens of Maharashtrian origin were waiting for,” she added.
Attending the inaugural event were numerous Marathi stalwarts including Amruta Khanvilkar, Sonalee Kulkarni, Prasad Oak, Siddharth Jadhav, Sanjay Jadhav, Tejaswwini Pandit, among many others.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
