News Broadcasting
Programming head Shalini Rawla quits Hungama
MUMBAI: Shalini Rawla, who was heading programming for UTV’s proposed children’s channel Hungama TV, has resigned.
Rawla, who took over as vice president, marketing in late February this year and was shifted to programming soon after, put in her papers on Wednesday, industry sources have confirmed to indiantelevision.com. Rawla was unavailable for comment.
When contacted, Hungama TV COO Purnendu Bose, however, denied that Rawla had quit, brushing off the news as rumour.
Rawla’s last stint before joining Hungama was as vice president, account management, Contract Advertising. Rawla has also worked with Lintas and Ambience and was closely involved in creating the communications package for several new brand launches like Cadbury Chocki, Cadbury Bytes, Cadbury Celebrations and Parx Readymade men’s apparel.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
