iWorld
Hunter becomes the heartthrob as Suniel Shetty flips the script on action
MUMBAI: Who says action heroes can’t make you cry between chase scenes? At Goa Fest 2025, Hunter star Suniel Shetty proved that sometimes the most explosive moves are emotional. In a candid fireside chat with Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani Shetty opened up about reinventing action storytelling, ageing on screen with grace, and why advertisers need to drop the “brand unsafe” tag when it comes to meaningful action.
“There’s no point in high-octane fights without high-voltage emotion,” said Shetty, speaking of Hunter, where he plays ACP Vikram Sinha, a bruised but burning father determined to reunite with his daughter. He revealed that the show’s soul, family, music, emotion is what made it a pan-generational success.
“Season 1 was brash,” he said, “but Season 2 is about transformation.”
The new arc?
Vikram, believing his daughter is dead, suddenly receives a call: “Papa, get me out of here.” The series then follows his redemption quest across borders and boundaries, less fists, more feelings.
Shetty’s own return to screen mirrored his character’s struggles. “When I signed Hunter, I’d just recovered from a heart attack. Dad was unwell. Work wasn’t exciting. I felt like I had no market left,” he confessed. But the journey gave him a second wind. “At 38, I thought I was done. Now I’m raising the bar every time I step on set.”
And action has changed too. “Earlier I’d rehearse 15 times. Now I watch 14 times and hit it once with full conviction,” he smiled.
Despite Hunter’s popularity, Shetty called out advertisers who label such shows as “brand unsafe”. “You’re kidding me, right?” he asked the crowd. “Hunter isn’t gore. It’s about a father getting his daughter back. It’s emotional, not explosive for the sake of it.”
When a media professional cited caution around showing violence to children, Shetty countered: “This is about family. Marriage, love, loss, redemption, there’s more to this than punches.”
In a powerful moment, Shetty turned to the audience and asked: “How many of you binge-watch action series? Family Man, Jack Ryan?” As hands tentatively rose, he fired back: “Then why not back us with ads?”
He also addressed the industry’s obsession with sanitised content. “Advertisers should take risks on stories that matter. We’re telling stories that move people sometimes with a fist, sometimes with a tear.”
Having survived multiple career reinventions, Shetty credited his enduring fan base to one simple rule: honesty. “I give 100% to every project whether it’s a Rs 100 crore film or a tight-budget drama.” That effort shows, he believes, in audience reactions. “Once, in Patna, a fan saw me in a theatre and jumped off a balcony to imitate a stunt. That’s the intensity of connection.”
And what’s his advice to the younger generation of actors? “Respect your craft, your producer, your body. It’s not about taking your shirt off anymore. It’s about staying relevant and real.”
With Hunter’s new season blending raw emotion, complex storytelling, and age-defying action, Suniel Shetty has truly rewritten the rules not just of genre, but of how stories age, evolve and punch back. And if advertisers are still stuck on “safe” spaces, they might just be missing the biggest hero arc of them all.
iWorld
T20 World Cup ’26: India–England semi-final sets global streaming record of 619 million views on JioHotstar
India–England semi-final records 65.2 million peak streams
MUMBAI: The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 set a new milestone in global sports streaming, as the India–England semi-final drew record digital audiences on JioHotstar.
The match on 5 March registered 65.2 million peak concurrent viewers, the highest ever recorded for a live event on any streaming platform worldwide. The semi-final also generated 619 million views, making it the most streamed T20 international match in history.
The landmark audience numbers were driven largely by viewers in India, setting a record achieved within a single market, rather than through aggregated viewership across multiple countries.
The high-scoring encounter between India national cricket team and England cricket team produced 499 runs across both innings, fuelling widespread fan engagement across platforms.
According to the International Cricket Council, the digital record surpassed the previous global benchmark of 65 million concurrent viewers, set in November 2024 by another international streaming platform.
Across television and digital platforms combined, the semi-final reached more than 320 million viewers, while total watch time exceeded 23 billion minutes, making it the most watched T20 international match ever.
“This World Cup demonstrates the immense passion of cricket fans and the progress made in bringing the game closer to audiences worldwide,” said ICC chairman Jay Shah.
“This moment reflects the scale of cricket fandom in India and the technological capability required to serve hundreds of millions of viewers simultaneously.”
JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar, said the audience surge underscored the future of large-scale digital entertainment.
“One in every three Indians tuned in to watch the second semi-final. Delivering such an experience at scale requires the very best of technology,” he said.
The 619 million views during the match also eclipsed the 533 million views recorded during the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
With the final yet to be played, the 2026 tournament has already set multiple benchmarks in audience reach and digital engagement.
India will face the New Zealand national cricket team in the final on 8 March at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network and streamed on JioHotstar.
