eNews
Actors Apply associates with Vijayta & Lakhia for projects
MUMBAI: ActorsApply.com is helping cast key characters for Apoorva Lakhia’s next, a romantic-thriller web series to be shot partially in India and London. The online system is also on the lookout for a debutante to star in Vijayta Films’ next, a much-anticipated venture starring Sunny Deol’s son, Karan Deol.
From helping to find for actors for Ajay Devgn’s ‘Shivaay’ in New York, to helping discover actors for casting director Bharat Jha for ‘Housefull 3’ to further assisting Parag Mehta find talented actors for his biopic venture ‘Sarabjit’ and upcoming Bollywood film. The company has also helped search for talented actors for Dev Patel starrer ‘Hotel Mumbai’, an American-Australian thriller film.
ActorsApply.com guarantees a seamless and secure screening process for actors as well as casting directors and filmmakers. While the latter have the option to release castings to actors and receive preferential submissions directly from them, actors can use the platform to gain industry insights on casting, auditioning techniques, tutorials and other useful information that can help them kick-start their careers.
The ActorsApply app is further made available on IOS and Android.
ActorsApply.com director Kartikaye Jhalani said, “It is an honor to work for the prestigious Vijayta Films as well as to associate with Apoorva Lakhia for his web series venture.”
About his experience, Ajay Devgn said, “We were searching for a child actor for the character of Gaura for Shivaay and I was amazed at how quickly they turned our enquiry into auditions.”
Lakhia said, “I cast supporting characters for my upcoming feature with their help and now I am hunting for over 100 characters for my web series ‘Kab Ke Bichde’.”
eNews
Meta invests Rs 256.6 crore for 30 per cent stake in REIL
Ambani pledges Rs 10 lakh crore for AI over seven years
MUMBAI: Six months after incorporating its artificial intelligence arm, Reliance Enterprise Intelligence Limited (REIL), Reliance Industries Ltd has infused a cumulative Rs 853.2 crore into the venture, tightening its embrace of enterprise AI.
Of the total, Reliance Intelligence Ltd has invested Rs 596.6 crore for a 70 per cent stake. The remaining Rs 256.6 crore came from Facebook Overseas, a unit of Meta, which holds 30 per cent. With the capital in place, REIL formally becomes a subsidiary of RIL.
The investment mirrors the Rs 855 crore commitment the two groups flagged in August 2025, when they unveiled the joint venture to build and scale enterprise AI solutions across India and select overseas markets.
The plan is straightforward but ambitious. REIL will tap Meta’s open-source Llama large language models to develop agentic enterprise AI tools. RIL, for its part, will provide digital infrastructure and access to its sprawling enterprise network, turning the conglomerate into a live testing ground for deployment at scale.
“Partnering with Meta brings our vision of providing AI to every Indian and enterprise to life,” said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, at the time of the announcement. By pairing Llama models with Reliance’s cross-industry footprint, he argued, the venture can iterate quickly and refine products in real-world conditions.
The move deepens a partnership forged in 2020, when Meta invested $5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, becoming its largest minority shareholder. The AI venture adds another strategic layer to that alliance.
The funding announcement follows the recently concluded India AI Impact Summit, which drew more than 500 global AI leaders, over 20 heads of state and upwards of 100 chief executives and founders. The mood was bullish, with billions of dollars discussed for domestic AI and data-centre infrastructure.
At the summit, Ambani pledged to invest Rs 10 lakh crore in AI over seven years starting 2026, calling it “patient, disciplined, nation-building capital” aimed at durable economic value rather than speculative gains.
The broader policy winds are favourable. In the Union Budget 2026-27, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earmarked Rs 1,000 Cr for the IndiaAI Mission, alongside measures to strengthen data-centre capacity.
The prize is large. The global AI market is projected to surpass $4 trillion by 2033. India’s own AI economy could reach $126 billion by 2030 and add as much as $1.7 trillion to GDP by 2035, according to the Inc42 Bharat AI Startups Report 2026.
