Marina Bay Sands Celebrates Singapore’s 60th with Star-Studded Film

CINEMATIC CELEBRATION

Singapore‘s architectural landmark Marina Bay Sands Marina Bay Sands has unveiled “Nothing Comes by Chance,” a four-minute commemorative film celebrating the city-state’s 60th independence anniversary. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Kirsten Tan, whose “Pop Aye” won awards at Sundance and Rotterdam, and produced by Tan Si En of Momo Film Co, whose “Dont Cry, Butterfly” won three awards at Venice, the tribute features an ensemble cast of Singaporean talents including veteran actor Tan Kheng Hua and her daughter Lim Shi An, national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen, singer-songwriter Jasmine Sokko, actor Pierre Ng, chess prodigy Lana Rice, and Belle the sheepdog.

Set against Singapore’s cityscape from dawn to dusk, the film weaves together vignettes of Singaporeans navigating personal turning points. “Our talented cast played gentle archetypes of themselves and each brought a distinct texture and flavor to the film,” said director Tan.

INDUSTRY INTEL

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has appointed Kiran Mani, CEO – digital at giant Indian media conglomerate JioStar, as chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee. The IAMAI governing council member and former D2C committee co-chair brings over two decades of experience in technology, content, and consumer behavior while leading JioHotstar.

“India isn’t just a fast-growing content market – it’s becoming the epicentre of global digital storytelling,” Mani said, emphasizing opportunities in 5G, AI, and machine learning transformation. “The Indian media industry must now move from following trends to setting them.”

Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and CEO of news aggregator Inshorts, joins as co-chair. The committee facilitates policy dialogue and advocacy for streaming platforms and content creators.

PRE-SALES PEAK

Yash Raj Films‘ “War 2” has become the fastest Indian film to cross $100,000 in North American pre-sales, achieving the milestone in just seven hours, according to the studio. The Hrithik Roshan–NTR collaboration broke the previous record held by NTR’s “Devara,” which took 11 hours and 37 minutes to reach the same benchmark earlier this year.

Directed by Ayan Mukerji and starring Kiara Advani as the female lead, “War 2” is one of the biggest Indian films releasing this year and is part of the studio’s spy universe. The makers have adopted a “less is more” policy, keeping plot details under wraps ahead of the Aug. 14 release in the Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil languages.