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OML Entertainment launches comedy festival – The Circuit
MUMBAI: – Comedy’s never been taken this seriously before. OML Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the creators of India’s decade-old and much-loved Happiest Music Festival- Bacardi NH7 Weekender, have announced the first edition of a massive comedy festival called The Circuit. From March 7-15, the festival will travel to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
The lineup for all three cities is out, with all shows for Delhi and Bangalore being live, and part of the Mumbai calendar of shows being out. With a mixture of smaller club shows and auditorium shows, the festival is designed to offer innovative and unique experiences to audiences who enjoy comedy with stand-up comedy in various forms – specially curated lineups, women’s showcases, LGBTQ shows, regional comedy with shows being released for Marathi and Malayalam shows as well as formats such as debates, quizzing, various comedy games and much more. The lineup features over 100 comedians from across the country – for a variety of shows both big and small, with interesting lineups sure to appeal to a wide range of people, including comedians like Aakash Gupta, Rohan Joshi, Radhika Vaz, Tanmay Bhat, Anu Menon, Saikiran, Urjita Wani, Zakir Khan and more.
After kicking off in Delhi and Bangalore on March 7-8, the festival will run in Mumbai from March 11-15. After a packed calendar of shows from March 11-14, the festival will conclude with a grand finale – The Festival Circuit – in Jio Garden on March 15. This event will see a series of different performances by a strong lineup of over 20 comedians, and will be an all day outdoor event with comedy fans getting a taste of various types and formats of comedy. With just one ticket, the audience can see 5 different shows at the grand finale of the festival.
“As OML, we've had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented comedians from around the country and abroad. The Circuit is our celebration of the versatility of the genre and the messages it can hold. It will not only bring together a diverse range of shows from comics to sketch troupes, debates and game formats – but also venues, partners and artists that make the landscape as vibrant as it is. We're proud to be working with curators who have pulled together a great lineup ranging from regional comedy to unique ideas such as roast battles and comedy tag team, making sure there's something for every comedy fan” said OML Entertainment CEO Gunjan Arya.
OML worked with specific comedy curators to program the festival who brought together new formats of comedy to give a varied experience across venues, comedian styles and cities to put together a festival that distinguishes The Circuit from other comedy events in the country. Rohan Desai said, “We are very excited to be curating this festival that will feature a wide variety of concept shows which will be a unique one-time experience. The jokes and performances you see in these shows will never be repeated again.” Shreemayee Das added, “A few of the concept shows will actually be happening in tournament style – like a cricket world cup. So it will be very interesting to follow the progress of different teams and see which comedians will win the finals.” Reuben Kaduskar said, “This was a very exciting opportunity, because I got the chance to collaborate with artists from all over the country, and from an audience perspective, it's perfect because they get to see some of the best talent all at one place. Other than the game shows, what's unique about this festival is that a lot of the comedians are doing their brand new one hour solo shows for the first time ever.”
Four different show types are on the cards to give different sorts of comedy experience to the . The Club Circuit will have intimate venues with curated programming. The Theatre Circuit will have bigger showcases with a diverse lineup of different comedians performing to bigger audiences. Circuit X shows will have exclusive showcases. The Festival Circuit will see an all day outdoor event at Jio Garden on March 15.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
