iWorld
ALTBalaji’s apharan now available for Amazon Alexa users
MUMBAI: “Kehte hain jaane waale laut kar nahin aate. Galat kehte hain!”, this popular dialogue from Apharan on ALTBalaji is just one of the many reasons why, one of the best suspense thrillers in the Indian OTT space enjoys such a high mass appeal. As massification of OTT grips the nation and the globe, ALTBalaji decided to up the ante and take the show to Alexa users to reach out further to internet connected consumers across the country.
Amazon India is working with developers to expand Alexa’s India focused skills, and ALTBalaji is very proud to be one of the early adopters to get on to the platform. Till date 100 million devices with Alexa built in have been sold across the globe. As per an Accenture report, 150 million users will be using voice in India this year in the form of a voice assistant and search. With a huge proliferation of these devices into more and more Indian homes, fans of ALTBalaji web-series can now seamlessly sample their favourite shows right from the Alexa eco-system.
Riding on the back of some stellar acting, cinematography, dialogues and a crisp plot, Apharan became the talk of the town and has garnered an unprecedented IMDb rating of 9.2/10 as well as claimed a host of awards for best actors and best direction. In order to immerse themselves in the gritty, entertaining world of Senior Inspector Rudra Shrivastava, filled with its myriad surprises and suspense, all that a user would have to say is, “Alexa, Enable Apharan”. In addition to the trailer, Alexa users now also get seamless access to Apharan’s title track, dialogues, interesting trivia and jokes that further amplifies the entertainment quotient.
Speaking about the integration, Divya Dixit — Senior VP and Head Marketing, ALTBalaji, said, “With Alexa being a market leader in the smart-connected devices space, this is further going to expand our reach to a larger demographic. We have already carved out a niche in the industry through our originals, and with this one of a kind innovation with Alexa, we are providing another touchpoint to users to interact with one of our most iconic shows and we will expand this association to more shows from us. Apharan… Sabka Katega continues to win accolades and unprecedented adulation amongst the masses.”
Varun Badola – Actor and Dialogue writer said, “Apharan is a very special show for me and I am completely indebted to the audiences for making the dialogues so memorable and viral. I couldn’t have asked for a better platform than Alexa to reach out to and engage with the tech savvy audiences of today, in a fun manner that’s never seen before.
Building on the legacy of creating iconic shows, ALTBalaji’s exclusive content library has built a catalogue of more than 42 Originals like ‘Apharan,’ ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain,’ ‘Home,’ ‘Gandii Baat’, ‘The Test Case’, ‘Bose: Dead or Alive’ among others, which continue to be lauded by viewers across the globe.
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
