iWorld
Mindset change: You are not making for a single screen
MUMBAI: The 9th edition of The Content Hub Summit 2025 may as well have been titled “Adapt or Fade,” as India’s media elite gathered to discuss the changing face and format of storytelling. The consensus? You’re no longer making content for a single screen. You’re building cross-platform universes.
Chaired by Sukesh Motwani, director at Bodhitree Multimedia, the session pulsed with the urgency of a business hurtling through change. It became clear: the future is platform-agnostic, monetisation-hungry, and format-fluid.
Motwani set the tone early: “Fiction’s no longer just about arcs and actors. It’s about vertical shots for Reels, character intros for Shorts, and scenes that snap into memes.” Even directors are now briefed to film key plot points in portrait mode. The narrative may stretch to 90 minutes, but it better look good in 9 seconds too.
Samar Khan, CEO at Juggernaut Productions and chief content officer at DocuBay and EPIC ON, summed it up: “We told a true story as a doc. Platforms bought it as fiction. Now we’re cutting Shorts from it too.” His teams are also repurposing old documentaries into audio formats ideal for the podcasting boom.
Meanwhile, Sunil Chainani, business head of movies at Applause Entertainment, still sees value in a “theatrical first” approach for big releases, but admits the exploitation game has changed. “The music, the score, even classic dialogues, they’re all mini verticals in themselves.”
Veteran producer Kailash Adhikari pointed out that three-decade-old shows from the family vault are still monetising now as memes, clips, and podcast fodder. “YouTube, Facebook, Shorts… legacy content’s like gold dust if you know how to pan for it,” he said. Even policy podcasts, once considered too niche, are finding new life as snackable content with high-value backers.
Hemal A Thakkar of Mariegold Studio spoke about the gaming crossovers for shows like OMG2, predicting a future where Shiva might be both screen hero and playable avatar. “It’s not just shows. We’re building IPs—franchises that stretch into games, VR, and who knows, maybe AI-generated spin-offs.”
Some were sceptical about the vertical video craze. “I’m just doing what everyone’s doing,” Khan admitted. “I don’t know if it’ll last.” But others believe it’s here to stay, especially in genres like horror, where the claustrophobic frame intensifies the scare factor.
A Russian filmmaker’s war epic shot entirely in vertical format was cited as a radical experiment that could become a norm in bite-sized streaming. And songs? Already stylised like Instagram Stories.
The phrase of the day was “multi-screen”, but not just in the literal sense. It’s about thinking across devices, genres, formats and audiences. Whether it’s a 3-hour film, a 30-second short, or a 3-minute podcast, content must be conceived from the start to travel.
As creators wrangle with digital fatigue and the death of appointment viewing, one thing is certain: survival lies in flexibility. From AI-generated music videos to audio-only comedies, every content piece must now be a Swiss army knife.
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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.
