iWorld
Journey from being a Pawn to Queen: Huma Qureshi fights misogyny, contempt and corruption in Subhash Kapoor’s Maharani, only on SonyLIV
A famous saying goes ‘The king may rule the kingdom, but it’s the queen who moves the board.’
From four walls of her rural home where her life revolves around being a dutiful wife, raising kids, milking cows, making cow dung cakes, and handling kitchen politics, Rani Bharti is hurled into the turbulent world of politics in a state that constantly grapples with corruption. Huma Qureshi as Rani Bharti makes an unlikely entry into such a world of the ‘kings’, set out to prove her worth as th0e ‘queen’. Created by Subhash Kapoor, SonyLIV’s latest offering “Maharani” is a highly anticipated political drama set to go live on 28th May 2021.
A twist of fate changes the ordinary life of Rani Bharti – she is overnight sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state. She is inexperienced yet tactical, docile yet defiant, shy yet strong, and hesitant but receptive. Sooner than she realises, she finds herself swimming in a sea rife with corrupt, immoral, manipulative, and power-hungry people. ‘Maharani’, at its heart, is much less a story of triumph, and more a searing look into the systemic oppression of women in society despite their indomitable spirit to turn every battle – personal or professional — around.
Will she be able to fight the innate patriarchy and yet be able to rally her troops to bring about change? Will she manage to unveil herself from under the ‘purdah’ of domesticity and draw open the curtains of politics? Watch the story unfold as Rani Bharti rises to show the world that she’s not just the queen of her own house!
‘Maharani’ is produced by Naren Kumar & Dimple Kharbanda, created by Subhash Kapoor with screenplay by Nandan Singh and is directed by Karan Sharma. The show boasts of a stellar cast Huma Qureshi it also stars, Sohum Shah, Amit Sial, Vineet Kumar, Pramod Pathak, Kani Kusruti, Inaamulhaq, Sushil Pandey, Atul Tiwari, Aashiq Hussain, Kannan Arunachalam, and Harish Khanna, in pivotal roles.
iWorld
Spotify spotlights Premium with AI DJ and Lossless Audio push
Five week campaign highlights personalisation and high fidelity listening.
MUMBAI: Your playlist just got a promotion and it now comes with a DJ who never sleeps. Spotify is turning up the volume on its Premium proposition, rolling out a new campaign that places product features not just music centre stage.
At the heart of the push are two upgrades: AI DJ and Lossless Audio. Rather than pitching them as add-ons, Spotify positions these as the engines quietly reshaping how people listen, moving the experience from passive playback to something far more intuitive and immersive.
The campaign unfolds through two feature-led films rooted in everyday listening moments. One spot leans into AI DJ as a hyper-personalised curator, adapting in real time to mood, taste and listening patterns essentially turning algorithms into something that feels almost human. The other film zooms in on Lossless Audio, emphasising richer, high-fidelity sound that captures nuances often lost in compressed streaming.
It’s a strategic shift in storytelling. Instead of selling access to content, Spotify is selling how that content feels smarter, sharper, and more tailored to the individual listener.
The rollout is equally expansive. The five-week campaign spans digital video, connected TV, audio, out-of-home, social media and in-app integrations, ensuring visibility across both digital and physical touchpoints. The idea is clear: meet users wherever they are, and remind them that Premium is designed to follow.
There’s also a strong regional layer baked in. With integrations across Tamil and Telugu music, Spotify is leaning into India’s linguistic diversity, acknowledging that personalisation in this market is as much cultural as it is technological.
The broader play is hard to miss. In an increasingly crowded streaming landscape, differentiation is no longer just about catalogue size or pricing. It’s about experience. By foregrounding AI-led curation and high-quality audio, Spotify is betting that the next phase of competition will be won not by what users listen to, but how they listen to it.
And if this campaign is anything to go by, the platform is keen to ensure that every tap of the play button feels a little more like a performance.
