iWorld
Must-listen audiobooks and must-watch movies celebrating friendship
Mumbai: Friends make good days better, bad days bearable and trips unforgettable. This Friendship Day don’t forget to cherish those who bring method to your madness, the ying to your yang and the ones who pick up your calls at 4 a.m.! This list of audio titles, films and web series captures the essence of each kind of friendship you have. This list is perfect for your Friendship Day marathon for the friends who are close as well as those miles away. Tune in for a fun Sunday binge with your buddies this Friendship Day.
Platform: Audible
Childhood friends feel like a warm cup of chai on a rainy day. Set on the shores of Sydney, this Audible Original is a coming-of-age story that follows three hopeful 20-somethings from Mangalore – Devan (Adarsh Gourav), Meenu (Prajakta Koli) and Rahul (Taaruk Raina) trying to learn surf-lifesaving skills at Coogee Beach in Australia. They are each facing their personal demons while trying to qualify as a team to earn the Bronze Medallion. But the good part is they have each other’s back on this wild trip! Listen to this funny and uplifting comedy about friendship, dream fulfilment, culture clash, and humanity, in English and Hindi, on Audible.
Platform: Audible
Adapted for screen as the film ‘Kai Po Che’, this audiobook written by Chetan Bhagat has been loved by all – readers and viewers alike! This story is of a young boy who dreams of owning a business and opening a cricket shop to accommodate his friend’s passion. But the odds are stacked against them. Nothing is easy in a turbulent city – religious politics, calamities and unacceptable love stand in the way of them realising their dream. Will this put their friendship to the test? Tune into this dark, witty tale about modern India, where the author brings the ethos and isolation of an entire generation to the fore.
Platform: Audible
‘No Man is an Island’ is a heartwarming collection of classic tales like ‘The Woman on Platform No. 8’, in which a mysterious stranger befriends a young boy, and ‘The Crooked Tree’, in which a writer and a hawker form an unlikely bond. Ruskin Bond, in his simple yet poignant style, writes about the many shades of friendship and camaraderie in this audiobook. Listen in for refreshing stories on friendship from India’s beloved author!
Platform: Audible
Ever thought about the conversations you could have with your best friends to take your friendship to a deeper level? Canadian comedians and actors Mae Martin and Sabrina Jalees are best friends of more than 20 years and they share the conversations friends should be having to truly get to know each other. Benefits with Friends deep dives into topics like money, gender, parenting, kink and shame. A must-listen with your best friend, this audio series will empower you to let go of your inhibitions and take your friendship a notch higher!
Platform: Amazon Prime
Asmara is sent to her grandparents’ neighbourhood as punishment. But she lies to her friends about being in Canada to save face. She is not happy about the traditional setting. But this punishment becomes a blessing in disguise when she finds genuine friendship, life lessons and a hint of romance in the neighbourhood. She is faced with the dilemma of either keeping her truth hidden or finding the courage to be herself. Tune in for a story of friendship, growth and twists!
Platform: Amazon Prime
Will that much-awaited Goa trip make it out of the group chat? Madgaon Express is a mad story of a trip which did! Dodo (Divyenndu), Ayush (Avinash Tiwary) and Pinku (Pratik Gandhi) are three childhood friends who wanted to go to Goa together. Bad decisions and bad luck have them deal with one tragedy after another but through it all, their friendship shines through. If you’re also a part of the ‘We are planning a trip to Goa’ gang, this film is bound to leave you in splits.
Platform: Netflix
Shared experiences bring people closer. That is what happened with Geeta (Tabu), Jasmine (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Divya (Kriti Sanon) who are strapped for cash. Another thing they have in common is they work as flight attendants on Kohinoor Airlines. But as their luck would have it, it is only a matter of time before Kohinoor Airlines goes bankrupt. The trio covertly join in on a gold smuggling operation to get out of their sorry situation. Will they be successful or will they get caught? Tune in to watch this heist comedy and the series of events that unfold.
Platform: Netflix
From the makers of cult classics like ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, comes ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’, a story of three best friends juggling life as 20-somethings in Mumbai. This urban dramedy explores friendship, ambition, and love in the age of social media and its impact on our lives. Starring Adarsh Gourav, Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is a must-watch with friends, this film on modern friendships is relatable, packed with fun and drama and makes you ponder about how much of our life is controlled by social media perceptions.
iWorld
Meta introduces new AI tools to boost discovery-to-purchase journey
From shoppable Reels to generative video, platforms get smarter at turning attention into sales.
MUMBAI: Meta is turning “scroll and stop” into “scroll, stop, and shop” and it’s using AI to make the whole journey feel almost effortless. The company has announced several new tools and enhancements designed to help brands guide people from discovery to purchase more effectively, while delivering more relevant and personalised experiences across its platforms.
Creators can now add product links more broadly on Instagram Reels, turning their content into shoppable moments. Businesses in 22 countries, including India, will soon be able to share their product catalogues with creators, opening up a new sales channel for brands and fresh monetisation opportunities for creators.
The Creator Marketplace has also been upgraded with enhanced target audience filtering, integrated with Ads Manager. This helps businesses quickly find creators who are a strong match for their goals. Campaigns using Partnership Ads deliver, on average, 19 per cent lower CPAs, 13 per cent higher click-through rates, and 71 per cent higher median brand lift.
Meta is expanding Reels Trending Ads inventory with new content categories including TV & Movies, Travel, Business, Finance & Investments. According to Meta’s analysis of 59 studies, Reels Trending Ads delivered an incremental 6.6 percentage point Ad Recall lift compared to control groups.
AI-Powered Shopping Enhancements
- Product Set Optimisation is now in testing, allowing retail media networks to promote specific products with detailed reporting. Early results show 17 per cent lower median seller cost per purchase.
- Product Showcase is being expanded so marketers can upload one image or video and let Meta’s AI automatically add relevant products as a carousel when it improves performance.
Meta is expanding its generative AI capabilities with:
- UGC-style videos featuring avatars and voiceovers
- Easier voiceover translation and text overlay translation in a single streamlined flow
- New tools to automatically turn product catalogues into dynamic video ads for Reels
Early testing of the Advantage+ creative video generation tool showed a 10 per cent increase in CTR and 8 per cent increase in CVR on average. Campaigns using catalog product video saw 20 per cent more conversions per dollar, while Reels placements with catalog product video delivered 33 per cent higher incremental conversions.
Industry voices welcomed the updates. Vikas Chawla of Social Beat called Partnership Ads a “flywheel” for authentic content that converts. Niti Kumar of Spark Foundry and Sadhvi Dhawan of Blink Digital highlighted the power of Reels Trending Ads for cultural relevance and guaranteed share of voice. Ramasish Bhowmik of Adbuffs noted that Meta’s GenAI tools are giving teams a clear competitive edge.
In a world where attention is fleeting but shopping intent can spark in seconds, Meta is betting that smarter AI will help brands turn discovery into decisions faster than ever. The message is clear: the future of advertising isn’t just about reaching people, it’s about reaching them at exactly the right moment, with exactly the right product.
