iWorld
ALTBalaji to conduct Writers’ Lab, a YouTube online masterclass series to inspire & educate aspiring students of cinema!
To bridge the gap between the prolific writers of the entertainment industry and aspiring students of cinema, ALTBalaji – one of the country’s leading OTT platforms has come up with a thoughtful and unique initiative – ‘The Writers' Lab’. Proposed to be an online masterclass where renowned writers and directors from the entertainment world will provide information focusing on nuances in scriptwriting and direction directly to the students.
The idea behind ‘The Writers' Lab’ is to create a platform on ALTBalaji's YouTube channel which imparts tips and tricks of writing for the web (films and digital shows), wherein the industry professionals would be interviewed directly by the aspiring students.
For the same, the team of ALTBalaji has collaborated with the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC) to conduct weekly online masterclass starting from the second week of October. This intends to provide post graduating film making students with a platform to voice out their questions and get a better perspective from the writers’ point of view.
One of the biggest and most successful content creators on the web, ALTBalaji has been able to create multi-genre Indian original content, including drama, crime, comedy, adult, thriller, love stories, etc. The masterclass will include scriptwriting tools and apps that one can use, structuring the script, ways to develop an idea, writing the script for episodic series and multiple seasons, understanding of scenes and sequences, developing character arcs and dialogues, research involved in scriptwriting, etc.
The renowned names from the digital world comprising the masterclass activity include the likes of Harsh Dedhia (Director – Broken But Beautiful), Nandita Mehra (Director – Baarish), Abhijit Das (Director – Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain), Ritu Bhatia (Writer – Mentalhood), among others.
Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO ALTBalaji, and Group COO Balaji Telefilms said, “The Writers’ Lab initiative is our way of giving back to our community. It is specifically curated to support new writers and directors who want to learn and enhance their craft in their respective areas of expertise. The YouTube specials series would be led by real students asking the right questions to the working professionals having successful scriptwriting and direction background. It is a great platform to discover and develop your skills and prepare the next-gen of filmmakers for a better tomorrow”.
Dr. Ruchi Kher Jaggi, Professor & Director, SIMC, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, adds, “Besides the didactic nature of the project, it is an opportunity for the students and the stakeholders in the project to draw on to the online mediums’ potential of reaching a spectrum of audiences. The aim is to have industry experts educate the generation on the nuances of using the medium for diverse storytelling.”
Catch the first episode featuring Abhijit Das talking about stories inspired from life:
iWorld
WhatsApp tests ‘WhatsApp Plus’ paid subscription tier
€2.49 plan adds customisation tools, messaging and calls remain free.
MUMBAI: Your chats may soon get a glow-up at a small monthly price. WhatsApp is testing a new paid subscription tier called ‘WhatsApp Plus’, signalling a shift towards premium personalisation features while keeping its core services free. The feature is currently being rolled out to a limited set of Android beta users, with early reports from WABetaInfo indicating a price of €2.49 per month (approximately Rs 274). Meta has confirmed the test, stating that it is designed for users who want more control over how they customise and organise their app experience.
Importantly, the subscription remains optional. Core functionalities including messaging, voice calls and community features will continue to be available free of charge, ensuring that the platform’s primary use case remains unchanged.
Instead, WhatsApp Plus focuses on aesthetic and organisational upgrades. These include exclusive sticker packs, new themes, custom app icons and personalised notification tones. On the functional side, subscribers may be able to pin up to 20 chats significantly higher than the current limit of three along with access to custom chat lists and enhanced categorisation tools.
Industry observers suggest the offering is largely cosmetic. Social media consultant Matt Navarra noted that the features lean more towards visual and usability enhancements rather than altering the app’s core functionality.
While global pricing has not been finalised, the subscription is expected to remain a low-cost monthly plan, with reports indicating a possible one-month free trial for eligible users. The feature is still in beta, meaning the final set of offerings could evolve before a broader rollout. Support for iOS users is also anticipated in the coming weeks.
The move mirrors a broader trend in the social and messaging ecosystem, where platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram have introduced similar subscription layers adding premium features without placing core services behind a paywall.
For WhatsApp, the strategy appears clear, keep the conversation free, but charge for a little extra flair around it.
