iWorld
JioMart goes live on WhatsApp in some areas in Mumbai
MUMBAI: JioMart, Reliance Retail's e-commerce, has gone live on WhatsApp in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan in Mumbai within days of announcing a tie-up with Facebook’s WhatsApp. This enables grocery shopping easier for people in these regions. JioMart seeks to leverage WhatsApp’s unrivalled reach of more than 400 million users.
As part of the collaboration, users can find local stores around them on WhatsApp, talk to shop owners and place orders from WhatsApp. People can initiate an order by texting “Hi” to +91-8850008000, which prompts a link that opens a mini store on the browser. The order details are then shared by JioMart with local stores over WhatsApp. The customer then has to pick up the order from the store.
JioMart, a joint venture between Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Platform, seeks to test the novel ordering system on WhatsApp, as a consequence of its association with Facebook. Last week, Facebook announced it was investing $5.7 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms to secure a 9.9 per cent stake.
WhatsApp, however, is yet to get approval from the government for a pan-India rollout.
The company is replicating O2O model, (online-to-offline marketplace), which was pioneered by China’s Alibaba. This model enables a customer to search online for products and then buy through an offline channel.
iWorld
Subedaar puts Indian original cinema on the global map with record-breaking Prime Video debut
MUMBAI: Prime Video has a runaway hit on its hands. Subedaar, the gritty action drama starring Anil Kapoor, has stormed to become the most-watched Indian original movie on the platform in its opening weekend, cracking the Top 10 across 31 countries and landing in 91 per cent of India’s pin codes within days of its March 5 premiere.
The film, a visceral, emotionally-charged story of a retired soldier, Subedaar Arjun Maurya, wrestling with civilian life amid crime and corruption, has struck a nerve. Directed by Suresh Triveni and co-starring Radhikka Madan, Mona Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Rawal, Faisal Malik, and Khushboo Sundar, the film is already being hailed as a showcase for what Indian original storytelling can achieve on the world stage.
“Subedaar’s success is a reflection of the growing scale and global resonance of Indian storytelling,” said Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India. “The film’s emotional narrative, its rooted portrayal of a soldier confronting his toughest battles beyond the battlefield, has struck a chord. Anil Kapoor delivers an acting masterclass, while Suresh Triveni’s solid direction and great performances from the ensemble cast have resulted in love and appreciation from customers across the world.”
Kapoor, 62, has been here before, but rarely at this altitude. Written by Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar, with dialogues by Triveni, Saurabh Dwivedi, and Chandrashekar, the film is a production by Opening Image Films in association with Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network (AKFCN), produced by Vikram Malhotra, Kapoor, and Triveni.
Subedaar streams exclusively on Prime Video in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu across India, and in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
For Prime Video, the numbers tell the real story: one weekend, one film, a global footprint, and a very loud signal that Indian original cinema is no longer just travelling well. It’s arriving.
