iWorld
Vodafone Idea offers customers exclusive acess to ZEE5 theatre
MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea, India’s leading telecom operator and ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform have come together to make ZEE5 Theatre available to its subscribers on the go. With this exclusive offer, subscribers can now tune in to ZEE5 Theatre, a live channel available on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV app.
The move is in line with the philosophy of Vodafone Idea of offering a range of content choices to the customers. Vodafone Idea customers can now enjoy varied plays across genres such as thriller, supernatural, crime, family drama, comedy and periodic drama ensuring a seamless viewing experience. After discovering the content, customers can access it on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV app. ZEE5 Theatre will offer nine plays this July and further keep adding two new plays every week on Wednesday and Friday at 9:00 PM.
Some of the RENOWNED plays which customers will be able to watch as a part of this partnership include:
Savita Damodar Paranjape, a psychological thriller starring Shilpa Tulaskar and Vinay Jain
Doll’s House based on Norwegian playwright, poet and theatre director Henrik Johan Ibsen's A Doll's House featuring Swastika Mukherjee and Subhrajyoti Barat
Double Game, a suspense drama starring popular theatre and television actor Kiran Karmarkar and renowned actor-singer Rajeshwari Sachdev
Vaastav, based on the blockbuster crime flick of the same name, Vaastav is the quintessential concoction of ambition, struggle and family emotions starring Puru Chibber and Mitalee Jagtap.
Commenting on the partnership Avneesh Khosla, Operations Director – Marketing, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “We are excited to partner with ZEE5 IN ORDER TO make exclusive theatre PRODUCTIONS more accessible .We intend to reach customers who enjoy Theatre and are not being catered to through other platforms..
Speaking about the association, Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India said, “The Vodafone Idea association has been truly remarkable and we are now adding some well renowned plays for audiences in this offering. Theatre is an integral part of entertainment and we hope audiences enjoy watching these live from the comfort of their homes. Our strong repertoire of content backed with Vodafone Idea’s reach is certainly to make waves among viewers.”
Vodafone Idea and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited announced a strategic partnership a few months back for ZEE5 – the fastest growing OTT platform in the country. Under the strategic partnership, aimed at driving the growth of digital ecosystem in India, the content portfolio of ZEE5 is available to Vodafone Idea customers on Vodafone Play as well as Idea Movies & TV app. Customers of Vodafone Idea can enjoy the entire content catalogue of ZEE5 thereby providing a seamless viewing experience via multiple devices.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
