iWorld
Director Santosh Singh talks about his starcast in ‘Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond
Mumbai: In the landscape of modern entertainment, where heroes often remain unsung, there are rare moments when their valorous tales are etched onto screens, immortalising their sacrifices. Director Santosh Singh, a maestro of storytelling, is on the brink of unravelling one such saga with his upcoming series, “Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond.” Now, the director opens up about his series, sharing insights that transcend mere filmmaking.
Director Santosh Singh, the guiding force behind this monumental project, peels back the layers of his creative process, offering poignant insights that went into the making of this series. “‘Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond’ is a series inspired by true events, namely the Pulwama blast and its aftermath leading up to the Balakot airstrikes and the aerial combat that occurred between India and Pakistan after a hiatus of 50 years. While these events unfolded before our eyes, what remains unknown to many is the behind-the-scenes action in the war rooms—the planning, plotting, and execution. It’s the war of narrative and perception, the drama unfolding behind those closed doors, that fascinated me and inspired me to undertake this series.” says Singh.
Talking about authenticity and the pursuit of truth, Singh confronts the daunting task of navigating conflicting versions of history and said, “When you claim that your film or show draws inspiration from real events, there’s a heightened expectation from the audience regarding its credibility and authenticity, particularly when it involves our armed forces and defence establishment.” Santosh continues, “Entertainment stems from the drama inherent in the events themselves. The reality of this event surpasses any scripted drama, so our focus was simply on capturing it accurately. We aimed to keep the story as close to reality as possible, straightforward, and simple. We took a practical approach by portraying there’s no clear villain in this story. It’s about two countries and their people, each doing what they believe is best for their nation’s safety. Viewing the emotions through this lens allowed us to capture them in a genuine and meaningful way.”
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He further added, “As a director, there’s no margin for error in such a sensitive narrative space. The events surrounding this whole incident are classified, resulting in multiple conflicting versions of what actually happened. Therefore, conducting thorough research and pinpointing the most accurate portrayal was the most difficult task. Our writers faced lots of challenges navigating through many drafts until we achieved the level of accuracy and authenticity required to do justice to this kind of story.”
Reflecting on the profound impact of one pivotal scene, Santosh opens up about the challenges of recreating the Pulwama bus blast. “One moment that deeply impacted me was recreating the Pulwama bus blast and filming the aftermath—the sight of the soldiers’ lifeless bodies. The emotions on set were palpable, and a sombre silence enveloped the entire crew,” he recounts. “It was difficult to comprehend the magnitude of grief.”
Talking about the star cast, the director finds himself blessed with an ensemble cast that breathes life into his vision. “I consider myself fortunate to have such an amazing cast for “Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond.” Jimmy Shergill, Lara Dutta, Ashutosh Rana, Ashish Vidyarthi, Prasanna, Satyajeet Dubey, Akansha Singh, and Elnaz Nourozi were quite an ensemble that me and my creative team were able to put together. They are not only exceptional actors but also individuals with great positive energy and vibe. This dynamic was crucial for the scale of the show we aimed to achieve. Jimmy Shergill was always our first choice for his role, and his portrayal in the show will demonstrate why. When it came to casting Lara Dutta’s character, we came across a few names, but it was her who stood out to us. She’s an extremely strong personality, and that’s what we were looking for. We were relentless in our pursuit to have her on board, and she proved to be an absolute delight to work with.”
On the work front, director Santosh Singh is currently gearing up for his series ‘Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond,’ produced by Sphire Origins, the series is all set to release on Jio Cinemas on 25 April. Apart from that, Santosh has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment with his diverse portfolio of work. From directing acclaimed series like “Broken but Beautiful,” “Fitrat,” and “Apharan 2,” to collaborating with renowned directors such as Ayan Mukerjee, Karan Johar, and Goldie Behl, Singh’s journey in the industry is a testament to his versatility and talent. With notable contributions to blockbuster films like “Wake Up Sid,” “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani,” “Brothers,” “Gippi,” “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,” and the highly anticipated “Brahmastra,” Santosh Singh continues to captivate audiences with his unique storytelling and directorial prowess.
eNews
How short, addictive story videos quietly colonised the Indian smartphone
A landmark Meta-Ormax study of 2,000 viewers reveals a format that is growing fast, paying slowly and consumed almost entirely in secret
CALIFORNIA, MUMBAI: India has a new entertainment habit, and it arrived without anyone really noticing. Micro dramas, those short, cliffhanger-driven episodic stories built for the smartphone screen, have quietly embedded themselves into the daily routines of millions of Indians, discovered not by design but by algorithmic accident, watched not in living rooms but in bedrooms, on commutes and in the five minutes before sleep.
That, in essence, is the finding of a sweeping new audience study released by Meta and media insights firm Ormax Media at Meta’s inaugural Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. Titled “Micro Dramas: The India Story” and based on 2,000 personal interviews and 50 depth interviews conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 across 14 states, it is the most comprehensive study of the category in India to date, and its findings are striking.
Sixty-five per cent of viewers discovered micro dramas within the last year. Of those, 89 per cent stumbled upon the format through social media feeds, primarily Instagram and Facebook, without ever searching for it. The algorithm did the heavy lifting. Discovery, as the report puts it bluntly, is algorithm-led, not intent-led.
The typical viewer journey begins with accidental exposure while scrolling, moves through a cliffhanger-driven incompletion hook that makes stopping feel unfinished, and is reinforced by algorithmic repetition until habitual consumption sets in. Only then, when a platform asks for an app download or a payment, does the viewer pause. Trust, not content quality, determines what happens next, and many simply return to the free feed rather than pay. It is a funnel with a wide mouth and a narrow neck.
The numbers on consumption tell their own story. Viewers spend a median of 3.5 hours per week watching micro dramas, spread across seven to eight sessions of roughly 30 minutes each, peaking sharply between 8pm and midnight. Daytime viewing is snackable and low-commitment, squeezed into morning commutes, work breaks and coffee pauses. Night-time is where the format truly lives: private, uninterrupted and, for many viewers, socially invisible. Ninety per cent watch alone, compared to just 43 per cent for long-form OTT content. Half the audience watches during their commute, well above the 37 per cent figure for streaming platforms, a direct reflection of the format’s low time investment advantage.
The audience itself breaks into three segments. Incidental viewers, comprising 39 per cent of the total, are passive consumers who stumble in and rarely seek content actively. Intent-building viewers, the largest group at 43 per cent, are beginning to form habits and seek out episodes but remain cautious. High-intent viewers, just 18 per cent, are the ones who download apps, tolerate ads and occasionally pay: skewing male, younger and urban.
What audiences want from the content is revealing. The top three genres are romance at 72 per cent, family drama at 64 per cent and comedy at 63 per cent, precisely the same top three as Hindi general entertainment television. The format rewards emotional familiarity over complexity. Romance in particular thrives because it demands low cognitive investment, needs no elaborate world-building and plays naturally into the private, pre-sleep viewing window where inhibitions lower and emotional intimacy feels safe.
The most-recalled shows, led by Kuku TV titles such as The Lady Boss Returns, The Billionaire Husband and Kiss My Luck, share a common narrative DNA: rich-poor conflict, hidden identities, power imbalances, melodrama and cliffhangers that make stopping feel physically uncomfortable. Predictability, the research warns, is fatal. Each episode must re-earn attention from scratch.
The terminology question is telling. Despite the industry’s embrace of the phrase “micro drama,” viewers have not adopted it. They call the content “short story videos,” “short dramas,” “reels with stories” or simply “serials.” One respondent from Chennai said bluntly that “micro sounds like a scientific word.” The category is at the stage that OTT occupied in 2019 and podcasts in the same year: widely consumed, poorly named and not yet crystallised in the public imagination.
Platform awareness remains alarmingly thin. Only three platforms, Kuku TV at 78 per cent, Story TV at 46 per cent and Quick TV at 28 per cent, have crossed the 20 per cent awareness threshold. The rest languish in single digits. This creates a trust deficit that directly throttles monetisation: viewers who cannot remember which app they used are hardly primed to enter their payment details.
Yet the appetite is clearly there. Sixty-five per cent of viewers watch only Indian content, drawn by the TV-serial familiarity of the storytelling, the comfort of Hindi as a shared language and the sight of actors they half-recognise from decades of television. South languages are rising fast: Tamil, Telugu and Kannada together account for 24 per cent of first-choice viewing. And AI-generated content, still a novelty, has landed better than expected: 47 per cent of viewers call it creative and unique, with only 6 per cent actively rejecting it.
Shweta Bajpai, director, media and entertainment (India) at Meta, called micro drama “a category that is rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment,” adding that the discovery engine being social distinguishes this wave from previous content formats. Shailesh Kapoor, founder and chief executive of Ormax Media, was characteristically measured: the format, he said, is showing “the early signs of becoming a distinct content category” and, given how closely it aligns with natural mobile behaviour, “has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The format’s fundamental mechanics are working. It enters lives quietly, through boredom and a scrolling thumb, and burrows in through incompletion and habit. The challenge now is monetisation: converting a category of highly engaged but deeply anonymous viewers into paying customers who trust the platform enough to hand over their UPI credentials. The story, as any micro-drama writer knows, is only as good as the next cliffhanger. India’s platforms had better have one ready.
