iWorld
‘Delhi Crime’ creator, writer & director Richie Mehta to discuss craft of digital storytelling at Vidnet Masterclasses
MUMBAI: Creator, writer and director Richie Mehta, famous for writing and directing Netflix Original Delhi Crime is going to be sharing his expertise in the field of creating content for the web at Indiantelevision.com’s Vidnet Masterclasses, by directors & editors, happening at The Westin, Mumbai on October 4.
Vidnet Masterclasses are an Indiantelevision.com initiative to facilitate the creative process of young and aspiring creators willing to work in the digital domain. The Masterclasses will host directors & editors, and writers who will be talking to the audience directly about the craft of video creation.
He will be discussing with the attendees the craft of creating a compelling narrative and direction techniques to ace in the competitive digital video ecosystem, drawing instances from his personal experiences that he has gathered while working across mediums like films and digital.
Mehta has been a successful and revered creator since the initial days of his career. His first film
Amal (2007) became a recipient of over 30 international awards, was nominated for 6 Genie Awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay, and was named one of the top ten Canadian films of the decade by Playback Magazine.
He then wrote and directed several films and programs including I’ll Follow You Down, Siddharth, India in a Day, and Delhi Crime that revolved around the Delhi Police’s investigation of the infamous gang-rape of a young medical student on a bus in 2012.
Other speakers at the Masterclasses include Patrick Graham, Amit Kulkarni, Bhavani Iyer, Puneet Krishna, and Danish Aslam.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
