iWorld
India’s Deepstory wants to cure scrolling whiplash with sideways swiping
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s Deepstory has declared war on digital chaos. The short-video platform, which officially launched this month, reckons it has cracked what others missed: people don’t hate short videos, they hate the emotional ping-pong that comes with them.
The fix? Swipe left to stay on topic. Swipe up for something new. Simple enough, yet radical in execution. Where rivals hurl users from cooking clips to political rants in seconds, Deepstory lets them dwell. Each leftward swipe surfaces more creators discussing the same subject from fresh angles. No follower counts. No algorithm-chasing. Just relevance.
“Short-video apps today create emotional whiplash,” says Raj Aryan Das, founder and chief executive. “Deepstory fixes that. A left swipe shows you different creators on the same topic, so you can stay with what interests you instead of being dragged around by randomness.”
The concept germinated in 2021 as a proof of concept for investors. Company registration and research followed in 2022. The beta app launched in November 2024 and grabbed early traction until April 2025, when retention collapsed. The culprit: a weak recommendation engine that couldn’t find proper follow-up videos. Rather than tinker, Das and his team scrapped the system entirely, rebuilt it using vector intelligence and external trend signals, and accepted a temporary user exodus. The new engine now maps videos into dense topic spaces using metadata, sound, narrative cues and visual objects.
Early metrics suggest the gamble worked. Nearly 19.7 per cent of homescreen actions are left swipes—proof, the team argues, that users crave depth over distraction. View-through rates sit at 17.8 per cent. Music edits, film breakdowns, motivational clips and Formula One content are thriving.
For creators, the model offers something rare: equal billing. Every left swipe is an open slot any relevant creator can claim, regardless of audience size. Emerging voices appear alongside established names whenever their content fits. Deepstory is building a monetisation model with low fees, direct brand partnerships and a forthcoming “Motion Image” format that animates still photographs.
The business case leans on intent. Each left swipe signals real-time interest, letting brands place stories where attention is already focused. Contextual advertising delivers 30 to 40 per cent higher click-through rates than scattergun placements, according to industry data. The contextual ad market is expected to surge over the next five years as users demand relevance and privacy.
Co-founder and managing director Satyabrata Das, a four-decade media veteran who has shaped ETV, ZEE5, Zee Digital and Laqshya Media Group, sees timing on their side. “People do not dislike short videos. They dislike the chaos around them. Deepstory brings structure and mental space. For brands, it becomes easier to tell stories when the user’s mind is already on the topic.”
The platform’s sideways-storytelling approach predates similar experiments now appearing elsewhere. Meta and other platforms are testing linked-post formats where creators manually attach follow-up videos. Deepstory’s difference? A left swipe doesn’t lock viewers into one creator’s queue. It opens the topic to everyone.
Whether the world wants calmer scrolling remains to be seen. But Deepstory is betting that intentionality beats whiplash—and that India can export the cure.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
