iWorld
Hotstar and Applause partner for the first slate of Hotstar Specials
MUMBAI: India's leading OTT, Hotstar recently announced its foray into digital content for a billion screens with Hotstar Specials. For its initial slate of soon to be launched Specials, it has partnered with Applause Entertainment, the content studio from the Aditya Birla Group. The four shows in the initial slate are – Criminal Justice, The Office, Hostages and City Of Dreams.
With over 15 crore monthly active users and growing, Hotstar is the country's biggest OTT by a distance. Earlier this year, it announced its next big leap in content with Hotstar Specials helmed by India's leading creative talent. The four shows that will be rolled out as Hotstar Specials mark the coming together of some of India’s most talented entertainment professionals.
Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Furia’s Criminal Justice, the Indian adaptation of the hit British series, will feature Vikrant Massey, Pankaj Tripathi, Mita Vashisht, Anupriya Goenka and Jackie Shroff in leading roles. Rohan Sippy & Debbie Rao and Vivek Bhushan have helmed the Indian adaptation of the international cult comedy The Office, which features an exciting ensemble cast. City Of Dreams has Nagesh Kukunoor directing Atul Kulkarni, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Eijaz Khan, Priya Bapat and Siddharth Chandekar in a political drama, set in Mumbai. The widely acclaimed international thriller, Hostages is directed by Sudhir Mishra with Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra and Parvin Dabas playing pivotal parts.
Hotstar Specials will be available in 7 major Indian languages leveraging the platform's unmatched reach across the country and will also be accessible to Hotstar's global audiences.
Speaking about the partnership Sanjay Gupta, MD Star India said "With Hotstar Specials we hope to create the biggest Indian stories delivered to a billion screens. To bring this vision alive we are proud to partner with Applause Entertainment on our first set of Specials."
Added Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment, “Hotstar is the leader of the streaming services in India and a perfect partner for us. We hope to entertain their audiences, to contribute in a small way to help achieve their business objectives and to ink a deeper, longer-term creative relationship with them.”
Over the past year, Applause Entertainment has developed a robust and varied pipeline of shows, and is constantly improving on processes and systems to be able to deliver high quality creative output at scale.
Hotstar Specials are slated to launch starting March 2019, on the back of VIVO IPL which will stream exclusively on Hotstar.
iWorld
OpenAI hits back at Elon Musk’s lawsuit ahead of trial
Company calls claims “baseless” and accuses Musk of trying to disrupt a rival.
MUMBAI: When the stakes are measured in billions and egos are involved, even Silicon Valley titans can turn a courtroom into a battlefield. OpenAI has issued a sharp public response to Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit, accusing the billionaire of filing the case to harass a competitor rather than address genuine concerns. In a strongly worded statement shared on its official X account, OpenAI described Musk’s allegations as “baseless” and suggested the lawsuit is an attempt to disrupt the company as the case heads toward trial later this month in Oakland, California.
The response comes after Musk’s legal team recently amended the complaint, proposing that any damages potentially exceeding $150 billion should go to OpenAI’s nonprofit entity rather than to Musk personally. OpenAI questioned the timing and motive behind this change, calling it a late-stage attempt to “pretend to change his tune” on the nonprofit structure.
The company further labelled the lawsuit a “harassment campaign”, arguing that Musk’s actions are driven by personal rivalry, ego, and a desire for greater control and financial upside.
At the heart of the dispute is Musk’s claim that OpenAI has abandoned its original nonprofit mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. A co-founder who left in 2018, Musk is seeking governance changes, including the removal of CEO Sam Altman from the nonprofit board, and the return of certain financial gains linked to Altman and President Greg Brockman.
OpenAI has firmly rejected these allegations, maintaining that its current hybrid structure, a public-benefit corporation overseen by a nonprofit parent remains true to its long-term goals. The company has also previously accused Musk of anti-competitive behaviour aimed at weakening its leadership.
As the case prepares for a jury trial, this public exchange highlights the deepening rift between two of the most influential figures in the AI revolution and raises broader questions about governance, mission, and power in the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence.
In the high-stakes game of AI, it seems the real drama isn’t just inside the models, it’s playing out in courtrooms too.
