iWorld
Sajith Sivanandan becomes EVP & head of Disney+ Hotstar
Mumbai: Disney’s international content and operations group has appointed Sajith Sivanandan as executive vice president and head of Disney+ Hotstar.
Sivanandan, who joins Disney+ Hotstar from Google, will start in October and report to Disney’s international content and operations group chairman Rebecca Campbell and Disney Star president K Madhavan.
Sivanandan will be in charge of Disney+ Hotstar’s overall business operations in India, with direct responsibility for defining the streaming service’s strategic business priorities and charting a product roadmap for the streaming service’s continued and exponential growth in the coming years.
He will also collaborate closely with local leadership in international markets, as well as the Disney+ team in the United States, to drive the continued growth of Disney+ Hotstar, which has become India’s leading streaming service due to its unrivalled scale, innovation, and breadth of content.
Speaking on the appointment, Campbell said, “I am delighted to have Sajith join our executive team and lead the innovative team at Disney+ Hotstar. His deep experience in the region, combined with his strong leadership and business management skills, will greatly benefit Disney+ Hotstar as the platform embarks on its next phase of growth.”
Adding to this, Madhavan said, “After witnessing rapid growth in recent years, the OTT market in India has entered a transformational phase which calls for an ingenious approach to the manner in which we innovate for growth. Sajith’s wealth of experience that he has gained over the years makes him the best person to lead Disney+ Hotstar on this journey.”
“Disney and Star are brands with an incredibly rich history of innovation, user focus, and storytelling, and Disney+ Hotstar brings those attributes together flawlessly. The opportunity to come back home to where I started my career and to work alongside a very talented team to serve Disney+ Hotstar users in India and in emerging countries is one that is both a privilege and an honour,” added Sivanandan.
Sivanandan is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in strategic business and leadership roles in global markets.
He has been with Google for over 14 years, most recently as managing director and business head of Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives for the APAC region.
Prior to that, he led Google Pay in India, where he was responsible for starting from scratch, defining and designing the overall strategy and growth for the service in the country.
Sivanandan began his professional career in 1996 with Star TV in India, where he managed Channel V’s North India market.
He attended St. Columba’s School in Delhi and attended Hindu College at Delhi University.
He has two master’s degrees in management, one in marketing from the Fore School of Management in New Delhi and the other in finance from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila.
iWorld
Samay Raina returns with Still Alive, confronts 2025 controversy in bold comeback special
Comeback set tackles controversy, blending humour with raw storytelling
MUMBAI: Samay Raina is set to release his new stand-up comedy special, Still Alive, on YouTube on April 7, 2026, marking a high-profile return following a turbulent year.
The trailer for the special dropped on April 5, offering a glimpse into what Raina describes as a raw and unfiltered set that leans as much on honesty as it does on humour.
Positioned as a comeback of sorts, Still Alive draws heavily from the controversy surrounding his show India’s Got Latent in early 2025. The episode led to legal trouble, multiple FIRs, and a lengthy six-hour interrogation by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell, placing the comedian at the centre of intense public scrutiny.
Rather than sidestep the episode, Raina leans into it. The special reflects on the fallout and his personal journey through it, blending observational comedy with moments of emotional candour. Early audience feedback from live performances suggests the tone is less about rapid-fire punchlines and more about storytelling with bite.
The special was filmed during his global Still Alive & Unfiltered tour, which ran from August 2025 to early 2026. The tour saw Raina perform across major international venues, including the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York, a milestone that places him among the youngest Indian comedians to take that stage.
The title itself signals resilience. “Still Alive” is a nod to navigating both legal and public backlash while choosing to remain unapologetically authentic, a theme that appears to anchor the set.
With the special set to premiere online, all eyes are now on how audiences respond to a performance that promises equal parts reflection and wit. For Raina, the message is clear. He is not just back, he is ready to be heard on his own terms.
