Film Production
Balaji sets the stage for new stories with launch of Balaji Studio
MUMBAI: When Ektaa R Kapoor says she’s rewriting the rules of entertainment, she means it, quite literally. Balaji Telefilms ltd has announced the launch of Balaji Studio, a bold new creative vertical set to become the next-generation content engine for India’s fast-evolving TV and digital ecosystem.
But this isn’t just another production wing. Balaji Studio is imagined as an open, collaborative playground for storytellers, a space where creative freedom meets industry structure, and where emerging voices can transform their wildest ideas into mainstream magic.
As content consumption explodes across platforms and audiences chase new formats and fresher perspectives, Balaji Studio aims to build bridges between the traditional and the experimental, uniting the best of both worlds. It promises to be a future-ready hub that supports creative innovation while ensuring commercial scalability.
“Balaji Studio is more than a new business vertical, it’s our declaration that the future of Indian entertainment is open to all who dare to dream big and disrupt the norm,” said Balaji Telefilms Ltd founder and joint managing director Ektaa R Kapoor. “We’re tearing up the rulebook and building a home for bold creatives, talent and original voices who will shape the next era of storytelling.”
In a landscape where attention spans are shrinking and creativity is the new currency, Balaji Studio aims to give creators the backing they need from state-of-the-art production infrastructure to strategic collaborations with technology platforms, brands, and industry stakeholders. The goal is to help content travel further and faster while keeping audiences emotionally invested.
Adding to this Balaji Telefilms ltd chief revenue officer Nitin Burman said, “Balaji Studio marks a pivotal step in our evolution, it’s where creativity meets commerce. We’re building a space that not only nurtures great ideas but also gives them the scalability and audience reach they deserve.”
Balaji Studio’s mandate is both creative and cultural to empower storytellers at every stage, from industry veterans to first-time creators. It envisions a space where risk-taking is celebrated, where collaborations thrive, and where content reflects the dynamism of an audience that consumes across languages, screens, and genres.
With this move, Balaji Telefilms is not just expanding its portfolio, it’s cementing its position as a cultural incubator in India’s entertainment ecosystem. From daily soaps that defined a generation to digital originals that push boundaries, the company’s next act is clearly about scale, substance, and storytelling that resonates across time and technology.
As Kapoor puts it, Balaji Studio is less about following trends and more about creating them, a modern creative home built for an India that’s hungry for stories, and for storytellers ready to rewrite how they’re told.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
