Latest news with #Varghese
Economic Times
21 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Ajit Varghese to replace Vikram Sakhuja as Madison's Group CEO – Media & OOH
Madison Media has appointed former JioStar Head of Revenue – Entertainment & International, Ajit Varghese, as Partner and Group CEO – Media & OOH, succeeding Vikram Sakhuja in the Partner and CEO, Varghese will have a stake in Madison. Sakhuja will continue as Executive Director, focused on building organisational capability, and will be based in New Delhi. Varghese, a veteran of the media industry with over three decades of experience across Indian and international markets, returns to Madison after holding leadership positions at several global and digital-first companies. Madison World Chairman Sam Balsara said, 'I am delighted to have Ajit join us back. Ajit has all the credentials to steer an agency like Madison into the future — substantial media agency experience at Madison and GroupM, both in India and abroad, then with a digital publisher, and finally with JioStar. Ajit, like Vikram, will join us as Partner and CEO with a stake in the business.' Ajit Varghese added, 'Coming back to Madison feels like returning home — but with a fresh purpose and a bigger mission. This is where my media journey began, and it's where I now hope to help write its next big chapter. The world of media is transforming at lightning speed, and Madison is uniquely poised to lead with its client-first thinking, independent spirit, and deep talent. I'm thrilled to partner with Sam and the entire team to shape the next phase — a future-ready and platform-powered Madison that delivers innovation, agility, and measurable business outcomes for brands. The ambition is clear: make Madison the most impactful and future-facing agency in the region.' An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Varghese began his career in media planning at Madison Media, eventually serving as Chief Operating Officer of Madison Media Infinity for seven years. He went on to spend 13 years at GroupM, where he held senior roles including Managing Director – South Asia at Maxus, CEO – Asia Pacific at Maxus, and Global President of Wavemaker, based out of his tenure at GroupM, Varghese held executive leadership roles in the digital ecosystem, including as Chief Commercial Officer at ShareChat. Most recently, he served as Head of Revenue – Entertainment & International at JioStar, the joint venture between Reliance and Disney. In this role, he was instrumental in shaping strategy across TV media, digital, connected TV, branded content, and platform-driven brand narratives.
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Time of India
Bribery case: ED officer appears before VACB
Kochi: Enforcement directorate (ED) assistant director Shekhar Kumar, who was named as an accused in a corruption case by the Ernakulam vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (VACB), appeared before the agency on Tuesday for interrogation. VACB sleuths questioned him from morning to evening. The case pertains to an FIR registered based on the complaint of a businessman from Kollam who was allegedly asked to pay a bribe of Rs 2 crore to avoid an ED investigation. Kumar had approached the Kerala high court with an anticipatory bail plea, which was granted. He appeared before the VACB as per a summons issued by the agency in the backdrop of the anticipatory bail order from the high court. The officer turned up at the VACB office in Kathrikadavu with his lawyer around 10.30am and was questioned till evening. The officer is understood to have denied demanding a bribe or knowing the two accused persons — Wilson Varghese and Mukesh Kumar — who were arrested in the case. He is likely to be questioned again in the coming days. The complainant was questioned by the ED as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities in connection with the import and export of cashew from Africa. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo He alleged he was threatened at the ED office, after which Varghese contacted him. He claimed that he dealt only with Varghese, who contacted him demanding a bribe on behalf of an ED officer. According to him, he grew suspicious of the ED's involvement when he received an email and a call from the agency exactly as Varghese had told him. He also claimed that once there was a perception that he was willing to settle, calls and summons from the ED stopped. The ED vehemently denied the allegations, terming them baseless.|
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Narivetta: They won't let you watch the shadow-banned Santosh, so you should watch Tovino Thomas' blazing new film 10 times as revenge
The Central Board of Film Certification's screening process can often be arbitrary. Only recently, Indian audiences complained about the CBFC's decision to have a 30-second kiss shortened in the film Superman. A person on social media pithily observed that the scene would've made the cut had Superman been slapping Lois Lane instead of making out with her. There is an element of truth to this, of course. It wasn't too long ago that the CBFC deemed Marco — a movie in which many children die cruel deaths — fit for public viewing. At the same time, they've stalled the release of films such as Honey Trehan's Panjab 95 and Sandhya Suri's Santosh. Sometimes, however, this chaotic approach to film certification allows certain movies to slip through the cracks. Narivetta is one of them. Directed by Anuraj Manohar and starring Tovino Thomas, the mere existence of the Malayalam-language film is enough to suggest that the movie gods have a sense of humour. The CBFC can block Santosh, but while they were abusing their power, Narivetta snuck under its nose. A more populist cousin to Santosh, the film fixates on many of the same themes. Narivetta is about the systemic oppression of minorities, and mass corruption in organisations meant to serve and protect; but more than anything else, Narivetta dares to raise objections about police brutality at a time when Rohit Shetty's cinema has basically coated the concept in Teflon. Also read – Rekhachithram: Indian movies have been mistreating women for decades, but Asif Ali's Malayalam thriller attempts to redeem the entire industry Like Shahana Goswami's character in that film, Varghese Peter in Narivetta had no intention of being a cop. He stumbles into the position, and makes it clear to everybody around him that it isn't his cup of tea. Even though Santosh carefully avoids drawing any overt parallels to real-life incidents, and goes to the extent of setting its drama in an unnamed Indian state, the movie has been shadow-banned by the CBFC for a centrepiece sequence in which the titular character essentially murders a Muslim murder suspect in a blind rage. It is made quite obvious that the suspect was innocent, and that Santosh's actions were influenced by her prejudices and peer pressure. Varghese goes through similar turmoil in Narivetta. When he raises his hand against a protester, he is told to rein it in. 'Don't be an action hero,' is the advice he gets from his bosses. One of them, a man named Basheer, offers kindness instead. Played by Suraj Venjaramoodu — the husband from The Great Indian Kitchen — Basheer takes Varghese under his wing, and advises him to do his job with utmost sincerity. Narivetta goes out of its way to highlight Basheer's Muslim identity. You wonder why; there has to be a reason. And there is. Not too long afterwards, a platoon of cops including Varghese and Basheer is deployed in a nearby jungle, where a group of tribal folks is protesting against the government's encroachment over their land. Tensions are high; the peaceful protest could erupt into violence at any moment. Basheer instructs Varghese to remain calm and follow orders. Their superiors tell them that the tribals are, in fact, being used by Maoist terrorists as proxies in their war against the government. They've hidden caches of weapons in the jungles; it's a trap! Two teams are sent to locate the artillery; Basheer and Varghese are separated. Only one of them returns, and that, too, empty handed. A concerned Varghese begs the bosses to send out a rescue party for Basheer, and after a while, they do. He's found in a river, tied to a chair, dead for hours. This gives the police enough of a reason to launch an all-out attack against the tribal protesters, many of whom are killed mercilessly in the ensuing massacre. Narivetta asks questions that perhaps never even crossed the minds of the people behind Kesari Chapter 2, a movie so blindly devoted to its masters that it was willing to manipulate the truth. Certainly, nobody behind the Cop Universe films would even want to consider the possibility of nuance. Why craft a real character when you can have them jump out of a car instead? In Narivetta, the police are shown to be no different from the stormtroopers in Star Wars, or the German infantry during World War II. They are the foot soldiers of authoritarian regimes built on the back of bloodshed. They are the villains who murdered one of their own — a member of the minority himself — just to find an excuse to commit an even more horrific crime. Varghese takes the role of a conscientious objector. Read more – Officer on Duty: Cruel and convoluted, Kunchacko Boban's woman-hating washout could give Bollywood a run for its money Varghese is shocked by his discovery; Basheer was sacrificed like a pawn in the government's scheme to quell the protest. The reluctant hero, mocked in the first act for being an aimless loafer, finally finds his purpose. In his trauma, he has a moment of clarity. Varghese is ridden by guilt for his complicity in the crime. He resolves to blow the lid on the operation, which was covered up — quite literally — by the cops in charge. The tribal protesters did nothing wrong, and yet, they were murdered for exercising their democratic rights. Disillusioned by his experience, Varghese confides in his girlfriend, who can't believe her ears. Not only is Narivetta critical of governments, it's also quite plainly suspicious of the institutions that serve under them. One of these institutions is the film industry itself. By dedicating thousands of theatres to slop, and by allowing the continued silencing of films such as Santosh, the industry is playing into the hands of power. It doesn't realise that by contributing to the erosion of basic free speech and by kowtowing to the crown, it is essentially dooming its own future. Post Credits Scene is a column in which we dissect new releases every week, with particular focus on context, craft, and characters. Because there's always something to fixate about once the dust has settled. Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police. You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More
Hindustan Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Tovino Thomas drives the action in Narivetta, a film that suffers from the point of perspective
(SPOILER ALERT) There's a crucial scene at the very end in Anuraj Manohar's Narivetta, where Tovino Thomas' character Varghese comes face to face with Thaami (Pranav Teophine), one of the men from the tribal community. Both of them are in the middle of a riot, and as Thaami picks up his wooden spear to take aim, for a split second, Varghese thinks that the spear is aimed at him. But it's not. The spear zooms ahead just above his head and lands straight on the front glass shield of the police van. Tovino Thomas plays a righteous police officer in Narivetta, now available to watch on SonyLiv. The hook of the story is Varghese This marks a clear-cut statement: Thaami is not angry at one specific police officer because of personal grudges; it is the entire corrupt system that is the main issue. Narivetta, a compelling and gritty new film that dramatises the 2003 Muthanga incident, almost makes a case for itself. It remains narratively propulsive and richly performed, but the film has one crucial problem: it suffers from the problem of perspective. The film pivots from the standpoint of a male protagonist (Varghese) whose story of righteousness and integrity takes the upper hand over the main motivations of a story that is dipped in brutal violence and systemic corruption. Whose story must the viewer care for in Narivetta? Whose story is it to tell at the end of the film? The answer that is implied from the beginning is Varghese. It is through Varghese that the viewer enters the story; his perspective is the narrative focus of the film, as he reluctantly takes up the offer of a police constable as a last-minute chance to make things better for his family. We see him whiling away his time at the village, and the meet-cute interactions with his girlfriend Nancy (Priyamvada Krishnan) position him as a good guy who wants to do something better with his life. His noble intentions make life a lot tougher as he joins the force, and is then forced to confront the injustices and casualties that occur in the shadows of state machinery. Meanwhile, the narrative has a parallel track where we see Thaami's lifestyle, as a member of the tribal community, routinely mistreated and humiliated by the village members. He shares the concerns with the tribal populace, who have been residing on their ancestral lands for generations, and now face the call for eviction under the pretext of forest conservation by the state. They have no other choice but to protest, because if they don't fight for their own lives, then who will? He is joined with the rest of the community as they continue a sit-in protest inside the forest, refusing to leave the land until their demands are met. But in Narivetta, the very concern of this community is dramatised in a way that feels passive and rudimentary in approach. The viewer knows about these people and their demands only through the eyes of Varghese. Therein lies the irony of this story, where a story about the trauma and violence meted out on a community is viewed from an outsider's lens. It almost reflects the real-life loss of control and ownership that the community protested unintentionally. The viewer does not have access to the reality of these men and women except for a few scenes in the beginning, which merely offer a detached and orderly exposition. The problem of perspective The decision to centre this story on Varghese highlights the crucial issue of perspective. Is Narivetta a story that is ultimately for Varghese to tell? The righteousness and integrity of the male protagonist are the film's final telling card, a rather persuasive reminder that such men, and such moral consciousness, exist. But this constructed narrative authority makes me wonder why the film, as powerful and necessary as it is, chose this interpretation in the first place. Thaami's story deserved a more nuanced and astute focal point. He becomes a supporting figure in a story that finds its main character's energy through the tragedy inflicted on his own kin. Varghese's presence highlights the systemic power play and corruption that is deeply entrenched in the state governance at large. The attention to these details could have made for a separate film altogether, solely revolving around Head Constable Basheer's (played by a terrific Suraj Venjaramoodu) fate. That Varghese is able to unpack the bewildering truth behind these acts of brutality inflicted upon the people around him gives his character the direction to lead the story forward. The film bends towards that stamp of responsible proclamation. Nevertheless, Narivetta still remains quite effective, and even as it embraces a rather fundamentally reasonable denouement, it demands your absolute attention. Narivetta is available to stream on SonyLiv. This is The Fault in Our Films, where Santanu Das writes about one acclaimed film/series and what stops the 'good' from becoming 'great'.
Hindustan Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Narivetta on OTT: Here's why you should not miss Tovino Thomas' latest socio-political thriller
Tovino Thomas' latest Malayalam film, Narivetta, made its digital debut a day earlier than the scheduled date on Sony LIV as well as on OTTplay Premium. It is now streaming in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam on these platforms. Here are a few reasons why you should not miss this gritty thriller online this weekend. Tovino Thomas and Suraj Venjaramoodu in Narivetta Watch Malayalam's latest box office hits such as Narivetta, Thudarum and more on Sony LIV and JioHotstar via OTTplay Premium Reasons to watch Tovino Thomas' Narivetta online Sociopolitical drama based on true events The film was praised mostly for its gripping story and poignant scenes that, being based on actual events, are bound to leave viewers in a state of shock and disbelief. It is admirable how well Narivetta captures a community's tenacious resistance against systemic injustice. Gripping narrative Varghese, the film's protagonist, is compelled to work as a police constable following his family's constant pleas. Shortly after joining, he and his team are sent to Wayanad to watch over a protest led by an Adivasi community against the state government. These people have taken over a restricted section of the forest in protest of the state government's ineffective land distribution. Over the course of a few days, Varghese encounters shocking events that drastically alter his life forever. Strong performances For his portrayal of Varghese, a character that experiences a range of emotional states before evolving into someone who defends the cause of others, Tovino Thomas is deserving of a great deal of appreciation. In addition to the Identity star, the audience will be left deeply affected by the main cast, which includes Suraj Venjaramoodu, Pranav Teophine, and Arya Salim. In a negative role, Tamil actor Cheran gives a strong performance. Efficient making style in Narivetta Narivetta has an excellent technical team behind it. The police thriller's details enhance the viewing experience as well. The film has just the appropriate amount of dramatic moments that will have a significant effect on spectators thanks to Anuraj Manohar's brilliant direction. Overall, Abin Joseph's screenplay offers an engaging viewing experience. The music by Jakes Bejoy complements the thriller perfectly. Narivetta is a captivating film which also owes to the works of editor Shameer Muhammad and cinematographer Vijay.
