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Debunking plagiarism Rajkumar Gupta: “Gunchakkar script is co-written by Parvez Sheikh”
BENGALURU: Denying plagiarism, the soon to be released Hindi film Gunchakkar director Rajkumar Gupta said that the story belonged to a writer named Parvez Sheikh who had co-written the script. Gupta said that Sheikh had narrated the script to him way back in 2008.
According to reports, Dhirender Kumar who hails from Nepal, alleged that the story ofGhunchakkar was similar to the one for which he had penned a script in 2010-11. Kumar, who claims to have registered the script, filed a complaint with the Film Writers Association on May 20, has sent a legal notice to the production house UTV Motion Pictures, and requested a High Court stay for its slated release date of 28 June 2013.
Reacting strongly to queries, Gupta questioned Kumar’s silence for such a long time – the trailer of the film was released more than three months ago. He said “It’s strange that people always get up and claim that the story is theirs and file cases in the week before which a film is to be released. Collectively, as an industry we should be going against such people to court. This claim is absolutely false.”
Refusing to comment further on the counteraction measures, he said that the UTV team was looking into it. Gupta was at the Reliance Digital Store in Bengaluru for promoting the film along with the lead actors of Ghanchakkar – Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
