iWorld
Hotstar’s Tamil original starts today
MUMBAI: India’s leading digital streaming platform, Hotstar, has announced its new original series in Tamil, in association with celebrated film director, Balaji Mohan, titled “As I’m Suffering from Kadhal.” It will stream on Hotstar on 16 June, with all 10 episodes releasing simultaneously. Apart from Tamil, the series will also be available in Telugu, with English subtitles available for both languages.
The 10-part series revolves around the lives of three young couples, a young divorced man and his 8-year old daughter. Through its various characters, the show charts the entire arc of optimism one experiences in love, and its transitions from giddy excitement to utter frustration, with large doses of insight and humour.
This is a familiar theme for director Balaji Mohan, whose past work also explores different facets of the theme of love. His last project, Maari, featuring Dhanush and Kaajal Aggarwal was one of the biggest hits of 2015, with fans eagerly awaiting its sequel, Maari 2.
‘Falling in love is the easy part. It’s staying in love that’s tougher. And the endless optimism of human beings to try it over and over again, despite mixed results, is quite fascinating for me. It’s a subject I’ve explored in different ways, and this time, with a series. Urban audiences across the country would resonate with a theme like this, and I wanted this show to be able to reach all of them. Hotstar, with its massive reach, is the ideal medium to do so,’ shares Balaji Mohan.
‘Throughout our conversations with our viewers from the state, especially the younger users, one thing that comes out is that there is huge appetite for stories that are authentic and contemporary. This show is an effort to address that appetite. We believe that we have a unique proposition for our audiences in Tamil Nadu: with shows like this, with a large roster of Tamil movies, with TV shows and with sports coverage in Tamil, we now have a very distinctive offering for our millions of loyal users in the state’, shares Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan.
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
