English Entertainment
It’s a wrap for the latest season of American Idol on Zee Café
MUMBAI: Hearts beat loud, seconds felt like eons and the room was filled with a deafening silence that finally ended with a loud celebration. After much speculation and a neck-to-neck battle; one deserving and talented artist triumphed as the biggest singing sensation in the most anticipated season finale of American Idol on Zee Café. Laine Hardy, the 18-year-old country singer from New Orleans beat the 24-year old fan-favourite Alejandro Aranda, in becoming the newest singing phenomenon, winning the most prestigious title of American Idol.
This season, Zee Café, through its endeavour to bring ‘All Eyes On New’, provided countless budding artists with a platform and a golden opportunity to showcase their talent in an exciting campaign called #IdolInTheMaking. The channel, in association with many talented and successful idols like Monica Dogra, Melvin Lewis, Thomson Andrews and Sejal Kumar, set to motion a 360-degree marketing approach across on-air and social media platforms.
Every week, Zee Café opened the floor to fans across the country with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, encouraging them to send in their renditions of the song of the week disclosed on the episode. Having received over 150 entries, one lucky winner received the reward of a lifetime – a golden ticket straight to Hollywood. Featuring performers such as Monica Dogra, Melvin Lewis, Thomson Andrews and Sejal Kumar, the video series featured each of them take up the exciting challenge. The first video kick-started with renowned International artist Monica Dogra singing the song of the week with a twist. While Monica Dogra sang her beautiful rendition of ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ by John Denver, Zerxes Wadia, MC, made it difficult for the international sensation by adding moods like grief, happy, opera etc. as she sang. (Monica Dogra accepted the challenge! #IdolInTheMaking)
Next in the series was the popular choreographer Melvin Louis who performed to Love Someone by Lukas Graham with a table full of props thrown his way. (Melvin Louis Danced To Our Tunes! #IdolInTheMaking). Continuing the excitement and encouraging fans further, the series witnessed the popular YouTuber Sejal Kumar and the multi-talented singer-dancer Thomson Andrews who each accepted the challenge and shared their soulful renditions of Diamond by Rihanna and Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen. (Sejal Kumar Shines Bright Like A Diamond! #IdolInTheMaking | Thomson Andrews is CRAZY! #IdolInTheMaking). In over a month, the series of videos attracted over 150 entries from fans across the country with 6.4 million video views and 37 million impressions across platforms.
#IdolInTheMaking video series:
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.
