iWorld
Sunjoy Waddhwa on the making of ‘Your Honor’
MUMBAI: Sony LIV’s latest drama-thriller, Your Honor produced for Applause Entertainment by Sphereorigins, is all set to release. In a special interaction with indiantelevision.com, Sphereorigins founder Sunjoy Waddhwa shed light on the making of the series.
The original Israeli series was created by Ron Ninio and Shlomo Mashiach and distributed by Yes Studios. The Indian adaptation is helmed by Shool fame, E Niwas.
The series is headlined in India by popular Bollywood actor Jimmy Sheirgill. The makers decided to cast Sheirgill because they wanted a face who can look more relatable to the audiences, who looks like a family man and not just a judge.
The series was shot in 2019. It took 65 days to shoot the entire series, but seven months went into research, followed by four to five recce of the location. While in reality most of the mafias were based out of North India and Mumbai, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are usually shown as the crime capital. Hence, Waddhwa decided to take a different route and chose the backdrop of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Mumbai believing it will give a different tone, texture and colour to the series. Around 60 to 70 per cent of the series was shot in Punjab. More than 125 people were involved in creating this drama thriller.
Waddhwa says, “A lot of effort went into the pre-production and designing the look and character of actors, giving authentic touch in terms of language and costume. The director, writer, production designer, they all worked collectively to give the show a more rustic feel.”
In the series, Bishan Khosla (Jimmy Sheirgill), is a reputed judge whose teenage son Abeer (Pulkit Makol) is involved in a hit and run case. The victim of the accident is the son of a gangster. So, a lot of time went into the legalities. Waddhwa sought help from advocates and legal advisers to understand the details.
He mentions, “My takeaway from this has been that the importance of having the script in hand and working properly as per the script and doing good research makes life easier.”
As the shooting took place in the months of December and January, it was extremely cold. Apart from that, technicians and technical crew and fight master contributed to make it a scaled up version of television. As it is not a VFX-heavy series, the makers relied more on shoot material.
“The entire shot taking and story thought process is very different as compared to a normal series. It is more like an extended film rather than a series. Most importantly, there was no set of rules, that it has to be made like an OTT show,” he further adds.
When asked about dealing with comparison to the US adaption, Waddhwa quips, “For a Hindi-speaking audience it is a completely different show. Because this is in the dynamics of our situation. What value you add to the adaptation makes all the difference.”
The original rights of the series belong to Applause Entertainment. Waddhwa also hints at making the sequel of the series after gauging audiences’ response.
iWorld
Micro-Dramas Surge in India, Redefining Mobile Content Habits
Meta-Ormax study maps rapid rise of short-form storytelling among 18–44 audiences.
MUMBAI: Micro-dramas aren’t just short, they’re the snack that ate Indian entertainment, and now everyone’s bingeing between the sofa cushions. Meta, in partnership with Ormax Media, has released ‘Micro Dramas: The India Story’, a comprehensive study unveiled at the inaugural Meta Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. The report maps how the vertical, bite-sized format is reshaping content consumption for mobile-first audiences aged 18–44 across 14 states.
Conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 through 50 in-depth interviews and 2,000 personal surveys, the research reveals that 65 per cent of viewers discovered micro-dramas within the last year proof of explosive adoption. Nearly 89 per cent encounter the format through social feeds and recommendations, making algorithm-driven discovery the primary engine rather than active search.
Key viewing patterns show a median of 3.5 hours per week (about 30 minutes daily) spread across 7–8 short sessions. Consumption peaks between 8 pm and midnight, with additional spikes during commutes and work breaks classic “in-between moments” that the format fills perfectly. Around 57 per cent of viewing happens in ambient mode (while doing something else), and 90 per cent is solo, enabling more intimate, personal storytelling.
Romance, family drama and comedy lead genre preferences. Audiences show growing openness to AI-generated content, 47 per cent find it unique and creative, while only 6 per cent say they would avoid it entirely. Regional languages are surging after Hindi and English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada dominate consumption.
Meta, director, media & entertainment (India) Shweta Bajpai said, “Micro-drama isn’t a passing trend, it’s rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment. In under a year, an entirely new category of platforms has emerged, built audience habits from scratch, and created a business vertical that is scaling fast.”
Ormax Media founder-CEO Shailesh Kapoor added, “Micro-dramas are beginning to show the early signs of becoming a distinct content category in India’s digital entertainment landscape. When a format aligns closely with how audiences naturally engage with their devices, it has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The study proposes ecosystem-wide responsibility, universal signposting of commercial intent, shared accountability among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents, built-in safeguards, and formal media literacy in schools.
In a feed that never sleeps and a day that never stops, micro-dramas have slipped into the cracks of every spare minute turning 30-second stories into the new national pastime, one vertical swipe at a time.
