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Vishwaroopam’s DTH premiere on 2 Feb, after theatrical release
MUMBAI: After buckling under pressure from theatre owners, Kamaal Haasan‘s spy thriller Vishwaroopam is all set to premiere on direct-to-home (DTH) platforms on 2 February, almost a week after the theatrical release.
The Hindi version of Vishwaroopam will be released on 1 February across India. The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film will be released on 25 January as announced by the actor earlier.
"While the original DTH premiere was on a Thursday (January 10) and hence inconvenient for most, I am now releasing it on a Saturday at the end of the first week of release (January 25) which will be on February 2," Haasan said in a statement.
The trilingual action film was earlier supposed to premiere on DTH on 10 January a day before the theatrical release on 11 January which met with fierce resistance from a section of theatre owners who saw the move as an attack on their livelihood.
The protest by cinema owners in Tamil Nadu, who had also urged the Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa to intervene, had Haasan change his mind.
The actor and film-maker had also moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against certain theatre associations for restricting the release of his film.
However, Haasan did not reveal the name of DTH operators who will telecast the movie. Haasan‘s production had earlier signed a deal with all the six DTH operators to air the film.
"I will announce the names of my DTH partners who will be involved in this endeavour soon," he said.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
