English Entertainment
COMEDY CENTRAL Pranks Viewers On April Fool’s With Ek Desi Surprise Of F.R.I.E.N.D.S
MUMBAI: Prepare to LOL, LMAO, LMFAO, ROFL and even ROFLMAO, as COMEDY CENTRAL celebrates April Fool’s Day with the best of F.R.I.E.N.D.S in a way never seen before. Crafting an insane laughter riot, starting 6am, COMEDY CENTRAL airs the world’s highest-rated sitcom in a new avatar, with one character in every episode speaking in the conspicuous voice of a prominent Bollywood personality, that too in Hindi.
Commenting on the quirky direction of the channel’s special-programming, Hashim Dsouza – Head of Programming, English Entertainment, Viacom18, said “Comedy Central has been the home of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and we’ve continually presented this iconic show through fresh and innovative programming that week-on-week keeps it at the pinnacle of most-watched shows in English entertainment. Delving deep into the spirit of April Fools, we’re giving viewers a unique and bizarre version of their favorite sitcom, ensuring they enjoy this ultimate prank-day. For the longest time, Indian fans could only imagine and hope for a Desi F.R.I.E.N.D.S, but now that wait is over as we give them a glimpse to a whacky Hindi-speaking avatar of the show.”
So, buckle up and binge on this wild marathon as Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Joey find their voice with much gusto from some of the most iconic stars of Bollywood including Sonam Kapoor, Kajol, Kangana, Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in this string of rib-tickling episodes.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
