News Broadcasting
Eros acquires distribution rights for Aishwarya Rai’s ‘Provoked’
MUMBAI: Eros International plc has acquired the distribution rights of Provoked starring Aishwarya Rai for the UK and US, besides the Indian terriority.
Provoked is based on the true story of a Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia who moves to England and marries a man who subjects her to violent physical abuse. In a fit of desperation, she resorts to killing him and is subsequently charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The movie follows her pursuit for justice, according to an official statement.
Kiranjit Ahluwalia’s story has succeeded in transforming the British judicial system and the meaning of ‘provocation’ has since been redefined in the case of physically abused women. The story has been so influential that a book was published on her life called ‘Circle of Light’, by Rahila Gupta.
Directed by Jag Mundhra Provoked also stars Miranda Richardson (The Hours, Phantom of the Opera, Get Carter), Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter, Ocean’s 12, Golden Eye, The World is Not Enough), Nandita Das (Sandstorm, Fire, Earth), Rebecca Pidgeon (Heist), Deborah Moore (Die Another Day) and Naveen Andrews (Lost, The English Patient, Bride & Prejudice)
The movie was screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and more recently to Patricia Hewitt, British Culture Minister, informs the statement. Eros will be announcing the release date of the film shortly.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
