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
Prime Video to stream Tamil thriller Exam from May 15
Seven-episode series from National Award-winner A. Sarkunam streams in India and 240-plus countries
MUMBAI: Prime Video announced on April 27th that Exam, a taut seven-episode suspense drama set against the crucible of high-stakes competitive testing, will premiere on May 15th in India and across more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Written and directed by A. Sarkunam, a National Award-winner, the series is produced under the Wallwatcher Films banner by the creative duo Pushkar and Gayatri, who have previously delivered Suzhal: The Vortex (both seasons) and Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie for the platform. Dushara Vijayan and Aditi Balan lead the cast, with Abbas in a pivotal role.
The show will stream in Tamil with dubbed versions in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada, and subtitles in 15 languages, including English, a distribution sweep that underscores Prime Video’s push to globalise Indian regional content.
Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India, framed the series as both timely and commercially astute. “Exam is a very timely and relevant story that captures the emotional intensity of competitive exams and masterfully transforms it into a thrilling high-stakes drama,” he said. “We believe it is a story that will resonate deeply with millions.” Madhok noted that it was a privilege to once again collaborate with Pushkar and Gayatri following the success of Suzhal and Vadhandhi.
For Pushkar and Gayatri, the series is as much a moral reckoning as a thriller. “With Exam, we wanted to dig into ambition, injustice, and those moral crossroads that people face when pushed to the edge,” the creative producers said. “At the heart of this story is a young woman who refuses to remain powerless. Her journey is not about glamorising defiance, but about exploring the emotional and ethical cost of standing up to a system stacked against her.” They described Prime Video as “an incredible collaborator” and “the perfect home” to bring the series to global audiences.
Wallwatcher Films, which Pushkar and Gayatri founded and run, has been on a productive streak with the platform. Beyond Exam, the company is also readying Vadhandhi Season 2 for Prime Video, making the duo one of the platform’s most active regional creative partners.
The real exam, it seems, is for Prime Video itself: can a Tamil drama about systemic injustice and a young woman’s defiance crack audiences from Chennai to Chicago? If Pushkar and Gayatri’s track record is anything to go by, the answer is likely yes, and the results will be out on May 15th.
