MAM
Variety debuts in India with cover featuring Bollywood’s big four
MUMBAI: Variety has planted its flag in India, and it has done so with a flourish. The American entertainment bible has launched its Indian edition with a debut cover uniting Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan — a first-of-its-kind assembly of four of Hindi cinema’s most bankable stars on a single magazine front.
The India launch, first announced in the final quarter of 2025, marks Variety’s formal entry into one of the world’s busiest film markets. The inaugural cover is already being talked up in publishing and film circles as a collector’s piece, signalling how seriously the title is taking India’s entertainment economy.
The franchise in India has been acquired by Thursday Tales Pvt. Ltd., which is positioning the magazine as a serious chronicler of the business of show business. The pitch is clear: less gossip, more game theory. Expect reporting on deal-making, market shifts, creative risks and the commercial mechanics behind the arc lights.
The launch issue blends domestic and global voices, tracking emerging trends, profiling rising talent and carrying deep-dive conversations with industry heavyweights and creative disruptors. The idea is to treat Indian entertainment not as spectacle alone but as industry, export and influence.
With the debut, Variety India is betting that the country is ready for sharper, business-first entertainment journalism backed by a global brand. In a market where cinema is religion and streaming is rewiring habits, the magazine wants to be both scorekeeper and storyteller.
The message from its first cover is unmistakable: India is no longer just a film factory for the world — it is a boardroom, a marketplace and a cultural power centre. And Variety intends to have a front-row seat.
Brands
AI becomes key tool for Indian travellers, Agoda report finds
68 per cent plan to use AI for trips as 33 per cent already rely on it.
MUMBAI: Holiday planning is getting a software upgrade less “Where should we go?” and more “What does the algorithm say?” Indian travellers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to map their journeys, with new data from Agoda’s 2026 Travel Outlook Report suggesting that AI is fast becoming central to how trips are imagined, planned and booked.
While 33 per cent of respondents said they already use AI tools for travel planning, a far larger 68 per cent indicated they are likely to rely on it for their next trip pointing to a sharp acceleration in adoption in a market already comfortable with digital-first travel.
What travellers want from AI, however, goes well beyond basic search. The report shows 38 per cent are looking for recommendations on local attractions and activities, while 37 per cent expect personalised itineraries. Destination discovery remains a key use case at 29 per cent, with dining suggestions (23 per cent) and budget management (22 per cent) also emerging as practical applications.
The shift reflects a broader change in expectations AI is no longer a novelty but a planning companion expected to work across every stage of the journey, from inspiration to execution.
Trust levels appear to be keeping pace. Nearly 88 per cent of respondents said they either trust or feel neutral about AI-generated recommendations, including 53 per cent who expressed clear confidence. This builds on earlier trends, with Agoda’s 2025 survey showing nine in ten Indian travellers already using apps to book travel suggesting AI adoption is more evolution than disruption.
The company has been testing this appetite through initiatives such as its 2025 AI-powered Vacation Planner campaign, which generated customised itineraries and visuals based on user inputs, delivered with a layer of celebrity-led engagement.
For platforms like Agoda, which aggregates more than 6 million properties, over 130,000 flight routes and 300,000 travel activities, AI offers a way to navigate scale without overwhelming users turning abundance into relevance.
As AI continues to embed itself into everyday decision-making, India is emerging as a market where travel planning is not just going digital, but decisively intelligent.
