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Aircel, Balaji Telefilms launch interactive & detective mobile series
MUMBAI: Telecom service operator Aircel has partnered with Balaji Telefilms to launch an interactive and detective mobile series, Kriminal Kaun.
The series is introduced by New Media, the digital entity of Balaji Telefilms.
Kriminal Kaun is a series of ‘audiosodes‘, wherein Aircel users can subscribe to this service and listen to the stories in Hindi or Tamil.
The stories focus on mystery – be it murder, kidnap or robbery. There is a fresh series every week like – Crime in Fashion World, The Trap and Wedding Night Murder.
Each series has four episodes, updated daily. In the first episode, the consumers get to hear the story; the second episode focuses on investigation; the third episode is dedicated to subscriber interaction where they get to guess the “Kriminal” in the series and in the fourth episode, the detective inspector Avinash solves the crime.
The detective series is available to all Aircel voice users for Rs 30 per month as subscription and for 10 paise per minute.
Said Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh, “We have partnered with Balaji Telefilms to offer our consumers a thrilling and entertaining experience with the first ever interactive and detective daily audio series on your mobile phone in India.”
Added Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Puneet Kinra, “Considering the busy lifestyles of Indian consumers, we decided to offer entertainment on the move. With these ‘audiosodes‘, mobile entertainment will no longer be restricted to gaming and music. This is the first time that an interactive daily detective series has been introduced to cellular phone users in India, and we look forward to creating more such creative content.”
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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.
