Manager – Business Development

Deepak Chhabria quits JioStar; steps down as executive vice president at Star Plus. Chhabria reported to Sumanta Bose, Head of entertainment business for Hindi and regional channels across the East and West markets. Deepak Chhabria, executive vice president at Star Plus, has quit JioStar, according to top sources familiar with the development. He joined Viacom18 in 2015 and held leadership positions in the merged entity and was leading Star Plus. A top source privy to the development confirmed the move to exchange4media. Chhabria reported to Sumanta Bose, head of entertainment business for Hindi and regional channels across the East and West markets. He was tapped to lead Star Plus and Star Utsav following the formation of the joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Viacom18 Media and The Walt Disney Company. Chhabria brings more than two decades of experience in television programming, content development and entertainment. His career has spanned organisations including BBC World Service Trust, Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Company, with responsibilities across fiction programming and general entertainment television. At BBC World Service Trust, Chhabria served as an executive producer on Jasoos Vijay and other intellectual properties. He subsequently moved into television programming, including a stint as fiction head at Viacom18. He later joined the Star network, leading Star Plus. His most recent role was executive vice president at the Hindi general entertainment channel, where he was involved in programming for one of the network's key television properties. Star Plus remains a significant player in the Hindi general entertainment segment, while Star Utsav operates in the free-to-air market. Both channels form part of JioStar's television portfolio following the consolidation of Reliance and Disney's media businesses in India. JioStar was formed through the combination of the media and entertainment businesses of Reliance and Disney, bringing television broadcasting, digital streaming and sports properties under a consolidated business. The integration has reshaped the organisational structure and leadership responsibilities across its portfolio. Chhabria's career has spanned several phases of the Indian television industry, from the expansion of general entertainment channels to the growing competition from streaming platforms and the consolidation of broadcasting businesses. Neither Chhabria nor JioStar has formally commented on the development.

JioStar Consumer Products & Bonkers Corner unveil streetwear range. The merchandise collaboration translates hip-hop aesthetics from television into an everyday fashion line. JioStar Consumer Products has partnered with apparel brand Bonkers Corner to launch an exclusive licensed streetwear range for the fifth season of rap reality programme Hustle. Said Mahesh Shetty, Head - Entertainment Sales, TV, JioStar: "Over the seasons, Hustle has given India's hip-hop community a stage, a voice and an identity. Style is central to that identity, and what our Hustlers wear is a natural extension of the music they make. In Bonkers Corner, we found a partner that speaks the same language as our audience and understands street culture from the inside, which allowed us to build a collection that lets fans carry the spirit of Hustle well beyond the screen. With Shop the Look on JioHotstar working alongside Bonkers Corner's strong online and retail presence, the journey from watching to wearing becomes seamless, and this is exactly the kind of authentic, culture-led collaboration we want to build our consumer products business on, one that deepens the bond between our IPs and the fans who love them." Said Shubham Gupta, Founder, Bonkers Corner: "We've always built Bonkers around self-expression, and Hustle embodies that mindset. This collaboration lets us take streetwear beyond fashion and into the culture, energy and conversations shaping young India." The partnership links television content directly with physical retail distribution.

Karthik Anantha Subramanian takes charge of fiction at Sun NXT. The writer-producer-director, formerly an executive producer at JioHotstar, will now steer movies and series across Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam 1 hour ago October 8, 2026 CHENNAI: Out with the old, in with the new, and no time wasted in between. Karthik Anantha Subramanian has wrapped up a five-year stint at JioStar and, within weeks, is already running the show at Sun NXT as head of fiction (south). Three weeks into the job, he says the energy has been amazing. His brief is wide. Karthik, who started in September 2026 and works from Chennai, will develop and produce movies and series across Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, three of India's most closely watched streaming markets. It is a big canvas, and he arrives with more than 12 years in media production and content development as a writer, producer and director. The track record helps. At JioHotstar, where he served as executive producer from August 2021, Karthik released more than ten shows, among them Heartbeat, Label, Parachute, LBW, Good Wife and Nadu Center. That is a decent run for any producer, and a useful calling card for a platform that wants to build its fiction slate. He describes the JioStar chapter as a memorable one, spanning five years, and says he is grateful to everyone he worked with and for the experiences that challenged and shaped him. Karthik is also a pen-wielding creative, not merely a manager of them. He wrote the story and screenplay of "Chilli Chicken", a 120-minute feature film now streaming on Amazon Prime. That combination of writing, producing and directing matters in a job where the hardest part is often knowing which scripts deserve a green light. A head of fiction who has sat in the writers' chair tends to speak the same language as the people pitching. The earlier part of his career points to a taste for building things. At Crea Shakthi, where he spent six years from July 2015, he rose from training executive to creative head, a post he held from July 2019 to July 2021. As creative head, he headed operations, oversaw the release of Crea-Play, an OTT and edtech app (creaplay.app, creashakthi.com), conceptualised new creative initiatives spanning films, shows, digital content and e-books, and led an organisation of more than 20 people. Before that, he spent a year as a project engineer at Wipro Technologies, from July 2014 to July 2015. Engineer, trainer, app builder, writer, producer: an unusual path, but one that blends creative instinct with operational discipline. For Sun NXT, the appointment signals intent to deepen its original fiction across the south. For Karthik, it is a fresh chapter. "Here's to new stories, new challenges, and a new chapter," he says. If the early energy is any guide, the next few seasons of southern streaming could be worth watching.