iWorld
Amazon miniTV is all set to bring a quirky romantic comedy in Gul Khan’s latest: Badi Heroine Banti Hai
Mumbai: Amazon miniTV – Amazon’s free video streaming service has been making waves with its path-breaking content library. Packed with romance, drama and glamour the streaming service unveiled a power packed trailer for their upcoming romantic comedy series, Badi Heroine Banti Hai today. The narrative of this romantic drama is all set to blow the audience’s mind with a glitzy backdrop of the high-profile fashion world and a mysterious twist in a classic storyline of how opposites attract. Created by Gul Khan, the series features Prerna Lisa, Rajeev Siddhartha, Nehal Chudasama, and Utkarsh Kohli in pivotal roles.
The trailer takes the viewers through the life of Kajal who is drawn into the glamorous world of fashion, with her life taking an opposite turn as she gets fired on the first day of her job. Here Kajal clashes with the charismatic CEO of the fashion house, Advait Singhania. The riveting trailer gives a glimpse of their crazy love story, which has all the colours of nok-jhok, passion, drama and suspense. With an engaging plotline, it is set to be a battle between these two opposite personalities, a series of comedy of errors and audiences will be taken on an emotional rollercoaster to witness if they find love or not?
Amazon miniTV, head of content Amogh Dusad said, “With Badi Heroine Banti Hai we bring yet another saga set in the world of fashion business! With its captivating narrative, strong on-screen characters, and powerful storyline, the show will strike a chord with young audiences.”
Talking about the series, director, Gul Khan, shared, “Our collaboration with Amazon miniTV for Badi Heroine Banti Hai is another step towards creating an entertaining drama with a gripping narrative. With the increase in popularity of rom-coms among viewers and their high demand for captivating love stories, the series will be a delightful watch with an unforeseen twist. Bringing two opposite personalities together under the glamour of the fashion world, the narrative will unfurl their fates as they get tangled in love, fame, and blame.”
Adding to this, Rajeev Siddhartha who played an integral role in this series shared his thoughts. He said, “I feel elated to be a part of such an amazing and well-written show. Being part of the show has been an overwhelming experience for all of us owing to all the hard work everyone has put in. Badi Heroine Banti Hai is like a full package with a blend of romance, drama, laughter, thrill, and suspense. I will be seen playing the character of Advait, the owner of a leading fashion house who is known to be tough but also has a soft side. Keeping the thrill and romance alive, I really hope that the audience love this show that we have made with so much love.”
Directed by Gul Khan along with Lalit Mohan, season 1 of Badi Heroine Banti Hai will be available for streaming exclusively for free on Amazon miniTV from January 19. You can watch it on the Amazon shopping app, Fire TV, or download the Amazon miniTV app on Playstore.
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
