Bhumi Pednekar at UN General Assembly: Climate Crisis Needs Action Now

Actor and UNDP India National Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bhumi Pednekar, has brought the urgency of climate action to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, delivering a message centred on the human impact of the climate crisis.

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Image credit: Bhumi Pednekar at the United Nations General Assembly

On the global stage, Pednekar stressed that climate change should not be perceived as a distant issue for future generations. "I am at the United Nations General Assembly with just one message: The climate crisis is not a future problem. It is happening to real people in real places and we need climate action now,” she stated. Her message coincides with climate change being a major focus of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. This year's high-level week at the UN includes discussions on climate action, a just transition, and the increasing threats posed by rising sea levels, which the UN describes as an escalating threat already impacting communities, livelihoods, and economies.

Bhumi Satish Pednekar's involvement with UNDP India goes beyond a single appearance. In March 2023, UNDP India appointed her as its first National Advocate for the SDGs. In this role, she has worked to raise awareness about sustainable development, gender equality, and climate action. She previously joined UNDP India as a Women@Work Champion in 2022. The actor has increasingly utilized her public platform to address issues beyond cinema, such as women's rights, gender-based violence, and environmental concerns. Her association with UNDP has also enabled her to amplify campaigns focused on sustainable choices and climate awareness.

UNDP India has recognized Pednekar as one of the voices helping to boost its climate-action efforts, including the #ClimateCounts campaign, which aims to combat climate misinformation and promote informed collective action.

Her presence at the UN General Assembly adds another layer to her public advocacy: linking global discussions on sustainability with the everyday realities of communities affected by climate-related challenges.

For Bhumi Pednekar, the central message remains clear: climate change is already impacting lives, livelihoods, and communities. The pressing question is how quickly awareness can be transformed into meaningful action.

#BhumiPednekar #lifestyle #environment #awareness #UNDP

I.I.M.U.N. Takes Indian Students on 20-Day U.S.A. Leadership Tour Across Eight Cities

From Harvard and MIT to NASA, the UN and leading technology companies, the 2026 USA Leadership Tour offered students direct access to global institutions and influential leaders.

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India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.) has concluded its 2026 USA Leadership Tour, taking Indian students across eight major U.S. cities over a 20-day programme designed around experiential learning, leadership and global exposure.

The tour covered Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, bringing students into conversations with prominent figures from science, technology, business, academia and public policy.

Among those who interacted with the delegation were Nobel Prize-winning virologist Charles M. Rice, National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler and entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla. The students also had a surprise meet-and-greet with television host Jimmy Fallon.

From Harvard and MIT to NASA and the United Nations

The programme included visits to some of the world's leading universities, including Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, New York University and Dartmouth.

Students also visited global companies and institutions including Google, Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks, HP, Cisco, Intel, L'Oréal and Nasdaq. The itinerary further included engagements with the United Nations during the period of the UN General Assembly sessions, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and NASA.

The delegation also interacted with organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Gates Foundation, Dow Jones and The Washington Post, alongside engagements with Toyota, Nokia, SAP, ServiceNow and Bain & Company.

Rather than limiting learning to conventional classroom settings, the tour focused on direct conversations and first-hand exposure to organisations that students often encounter through textbooks, lectures and news coverage. “There is only so much leadership one can learn from a textbook,” said Rishabh Shah, Founder of I.I.M.U.N. “Bharat of today demands global thinkers who can take the best from the world and make our country better. This is to ensure that this happens.”

For participating students, the experience also offered an opportunity to understand how some of the world's leading institutions function from the inside. One student described the programme as their first journey outside India and said the experience helped them understand what makes institutions and leaders of such calibre work.

Building on the 2025 U.S. Leadership Tour

The 2026 programme builds on I.I.M.U.N.'s inaugural USA Leadership Tour in 2025. That edition covered five cities and featured more than 40 engagements with universities, global institutions, technology companies and financial organisations. The delegation also met Second Lady Usha Vance during that programme.

Following the expanded U.S. programme, I.I.M.U.N. is set to take 50 Indian students on a Switzerland Study Tour in 2026.

I.I.M.U.N.'s Global Youth Leadership Platform

Founded in 2011, India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.) is a youth-run non-profit organisation focused on connecting young people with global perspectives and leadership opportunities.

Its programmes include simulations of the Indian Parliament and international organisations, leadership programmes, literature festivals, public affairs initiatives and experiential learning programmes.

In its 15th year, I.I.M.U.N. says its programmes have reached 275 Indian cities and 40 countries, engaging more than 7.5 crore adolescents through its various initiatives. Its platforms have brought young people into conversations with Heads of State and Government, Nobel Laureates, members of the judiciary, diplomats, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, authors, policymakers and professionals from diverse fields.

The 2026 USA Leadership Tour reflects that broader approach: taking education beyond classrooms and creating opportunities for young Indians to interact directly with institutions, ideas and individuals shaping the world around them.

#iimun #india #usa #education #youth #nasa

Rohit Gupta: Building the Next Generation of Mobile-First Entertainment

As audiences increasingly consume entertainment on smartphones, the traditional boundaries of storytelling, screen formats and content distribution are changing rapidly. From short-form videos to vertical narratives, mobile-first entertainment is creating new opportunities for creators and platforms to rethink how stories are developed and consumed.

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At the centre of this emerging space is Rohit Gupta, the Founder of Reeloid, a platform focused on vertical, mobile-first storytelling. With a background in chemical engineering, filmmaking and technology, Gupta’s journey reflects the convergence of creativity and digital innovation that is reshaping the entertainment industry.

Gupta began his professional career with an IT startup working on assessment and examination systems. His interests, however, remained closely connected to storytelling, design and the arts. He eventually began creating documentaries and short films, with his first documentary winning the Best Documentary Award at the Rajasthan International Film Festival. One of his short films was subsequently selected for the short film section at the Cannes International Film Festival.

His filmmaking journey has continued alongside his entrepreneurial work. Gupta is currently involved in a documentary project with the Indian Navy documenting the recreation of a fifth-century ship. The project has been in production for more than two years and has also received public acknowledgment from the Prime Minister through a social media post.

It was his early experiments with vertical storytelling that eventually led to Reeloid.

From Vertical Experiment to Reeloid

Gupta says the idea for Reeloid took shape in 2021, when he was experimenting with vertical video content. Along with his team, he developed a 12-minute vertical drama divided into one-minute episodes.

At a time when the format was still relatively unfamiliar to mainstream OTT platforms, the team eventually released the project independently. The response encouraged Gupta to explore the format further. “The idea for Reeloid emerged in 2021 when I was working on vertical video content and realized that storytelling itself could be adapted to a vertical, mobile-first format,” Mr.Gupta explains. For him, the evolution of storytelling is closely connected to changing audience behaviour. Reeloid takes its name from the combination of the cinematic idea of celluloid and the accessibility of mobile-first entertainment, reflecting the platform’s larger ambition.

Keeping Storytelling Human in an AI-Driven Industry

While artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of entertainment production, Gupta believes technology should support storytelling rather than replace the creative process. Reeloid works with writers and creators to develop character-driven narratives across genres including romance, drama, horror and slice-of-life stories. The emphasis, according to Mr.Gupta, is on relatable characters and authentic emotional experiences rather than simply reproducing formats that have performed well elsewhere. “Storytelling remains a deeply human craft,” he says, while acknowledging that AI can play a role in production planning, content analysis and optimisation. This philosophy also informs Reeloid’s approach to audience engagement. Mr.Gupta believes strong hooks can attract viewers, but relatability is what ultimately sustains their interest.

One example he cites is an early story centred on a woman entrepreneur starting a cloud kitchen, which connected strongly with viewers. Rather than attempting to create content for every demographic, Reeloid focuses on specific audience segments and stories designed around their experiences and aspirations.

Technology as an Enabler

For a mobile-first entertainment platform, technology is not simply a distribution mechanism. It also shapes how content can be produced, adapted and monetised.

Gupta says Reeloid has developed its own technology platform, giving the company greater flexibility to experiment with different business models beyond conventional subscription and advertising-led approaches. The platform also uses AI at different stages of the production process, including planning, post-production and content optimisation. Mr.Gupta, however, maintains that technological advancement has to remain secondary to the creative purpose of a story. “Our goal is to leverage advanced tools to improve efficiency and audience experience while preserving the creative integrity and emotional depth of storytelling,” he says. The approach also opens possibilities around adapting existing content for vertical consumption and exploring new forms of mobile storytelling.

Taking Indian Stories to a Global Audience

Rohit Gupta’s long-term ambition extends beyond creating another short-form content platform. He wants Reeloid to become a destination for vertical storytelling while taking Indian narratives to audiences outside India. The strategy involves experimenting with genres and formats while using audience insights and performance data to understand which concepts have the potential to develop further. That could eventually allow stories that begin as mobile-first vertical content to expand into larger entertainment properties, including feature films and long-format productions. For Rohit Gupta, the opportunity lies in connecting technology, audience behaviour and traditional storytelling craft. “My vision for Reeloid is to become a global destination for vertical storytelling while showcasing authentic Indian narratives to international audiences,” he says.

From engineering to filmmaking and now mobile-first entertainment, Mr.Rohit’s journey reflects an industry where creative instincts and technological capabilities are increasingly intertwined. Reeloid represents his attempt to build within that intersection creating a platform where stories are designed not only for a new generation of screens, but also for the changing ways audiences discover, experience and connect with entertainment.

About Rohit Gupta

Rohit Gupta is a filmmaker, storyteller and entrepreneur and the Founder of Reeloid. A chemical engineer by education, he transitioned into filmmaking and digital entertainment, with recognition for his work at the Rajasthan International Film Festival and Cannes. He continues to work across documentaries, films and emerging digital entertainment formats.

Website: reeloid.app