ITV

Category: Movie Channels

  • Star Gold gears up to premiere Salman Khan’s ‘PRDP’ on 14 February

    Star Gold gears up to premiere Salman Khan’s ‘PRDP’ on 14 February

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan has been a fan magnet with people flocking to theatres or for that matter on television, whenever his movie is on. Riding on this wave, Star Gold, which had earlier premiered the star’s previous hits like Kick and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is now gearing up for the world television premiere of his latest flick – Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP).

     

    The movie will be premiered on Star Gold and Star Gold HD on 14 February.

     

    According to a source close to the development, Star India acquired the satellite rights of the movie for Rs 50 crore. “Just like Salman’s previous movie’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s satellite rights commanded a price tag of Rs 50 crore, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has also been picked up for the same amount,” the source tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    In an earlier conversation with Indiantelevision.com, Star India Hindi movie business executive vice president and general manger Hemal Jhaveri has said that in most cases, channels acquire satellite rights for a period of 10 years from the production house for every film.

     

    For big ticket movies, Star Gold concentrates more on high sponsorship value. A senior media planning executive, on condition of anonymity, says, “For a big movie like PRDP, the title sponsor’s package will be close to Rs 1 crore. The channel tries aggressively to have at least one title and one associate sponsor on board. The associate sponsor package is sold at a price of approximately Rs 65 lakh. Major part of the air-time is sold as a part of the package and hence the 10 second ad slots generate minuscule revenue.”    

     

    It may be recalled that Star Gold premiered Bajrangi Bhaijaan last year on 11 October and according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India’s all India ratings, Star Gold emerged as the number one movie channel in the Hindi movie genre riding on the back of the movie’s world television premiere.

     

    As reported earlier by this website, 74.5 million people across the country tuned into the television premiere of Bajrangi Bhaijaan on Star Gold, which is close to three times the number of people that watched the movie in theatres.

     

    Whether PRDP will manage to create the same magic, only time will tell. 

     

    PRDP saw Khan reuniting with director Sooraj Barjatiya after a span of 16 long years and playing his quintessentially endearing character of Prem. The movie also stars Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Swara Bhaskar, Armaan Kohli and Deepak Dobriyal.

  • Star Gold gears up to premiere Salman Khan’s ‘PRDP’ on 14 February

    Star Gold gears up to premiere Salman Khan’s ‘PRDP’ on 14 February

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan has been a fan magnet with people flocking to theatres or for that matter on television, whenever his movie is on. Riding on this wave, Star Gold, which had earlier premiered the star’s previous hits like Kick and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is now gearing up for the world television premiere of his latest flick – Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP).

     

    The movie will be premiered on Star Gold and Star Gold HD on 14 February.

     

    According to a source close to the development, Star India acquired the satellite rights of the movie for Rs 50 crore. “Just like Salman’s previous movie’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s satellite rights commanded a price tag of Rs 50 crore, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has also been picked up for the same amount,” the source tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    In an earlier conversation with Indiantelevision.com, Star India Hindi movie business executive vice president and general manger Hemal Jhaveri has said that in most cases, channels acquire satellite rights for a period of 10 years from the production house for every film.

     

    For big ticket movies, Star Gold concentrates more on high sponsorship value. A senior media planning executive, on condition of anonymity, says, “For a big movie like PRDP, the title sponsor’s package will be close to Rs 1 crore. The channel tries aggressively to have at least one title and one associate sponsor on board. The associate sponsor package is sold at a price of approximately Rs 65 lakh. Major part of the air-time is sold as a part of the package and hence the 10 second ad slots generate minuscule revenue.”    

     

    It may be recalled that Star Gold premiered Bajrangi Bhaijaan last year on 11 October and according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India’s all India ratings, Star Gold emerged as the number one movie channel in the Hindi movie genre riding on the back of the movie’s world television premiere.

     

    As reported earlier by this website, 74.5 million people across the country tuned into the television premiere of Bajrangi Bhaijaan on Star Gold, which is close to three times the number of people that watched the movie in theatres.

     

    Whether PRDP will manage to create the same magic, only time will tell. 

     

    PRDP saw Khan reuniting with director Sooraj Barjatiya after a span of 16 long years and playing his quintessentially endearing character of Prem. The movie also stars Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Swara Bhaskar, Armaan Kohli and Deepak Dobriyal.

  • Films Division working on docu TV channel & resumption of short films in theatres: Mukesh Sharma

    Films Division working on docu TV channel & resumption of short films in theatres: Mukesh Sharma

    NEW DELHI: A total of 110 films from over twenty countries including India will be screened in four sections at the forthcoming 14th edition of the Mumbai International Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films later this month.

     

    Renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal will be the chief guest for the inauguration on 28 January and the Festival will conclude on 3 February. Actor Jackie Shroff, the first ever brand ambassador for the Festival, will also be present.

     

    A record 825 entries had been received for the competition and 110 shortlisted for the international, National, New Media and Animation categories.

     

    The five-member Jury for the International section is headed by Den Askarian of Germany and other members are: Jesper Andersen from Denmark, Mathieu Roy from Canada, and Siddharth Kak and Gitanjali Rao from India.

     

    The National Jury is headed by filmmaker Mike Pandey and its members are: Biju Dhanapalan and Uma d’Cunha from India, Andrius Stonys from Lithuania and Jane Yu from Taiwan. 

     

    The jury for a special section on Public Service Awareness will be headed by the veteran Ramesh Meer with Sekhar Muklharjee and Ashish Kulkarni as members.

     

    In another major shift, the screenings of the films in the Festival will be held at the Films Division theatres, Russian Culture Centre and Sophia College theatres at Pedder Road, Mumbai. Until now, the Festival has been held at the Tata Centre at Nariman Point.

     

    The inauguration and closing functions will be held at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi at 5 pm on 28 January and 3 February respectively.

     

    This Festival, which is held every alternate year is organised by the Films Division and is supported by the Maharashtra Government.

     

    There will be a Prism section, which will be non-competitive.

     

    Festival Director Mukesh Sharma told a press meet that the award amount will be Rs 55 lakh, Golden Conches, Trophies and Certificates and included Rs 5 lakh for the V Shantaram Memorial Award given for lifetime achievement. 

     

    Answering a question, he said he was pursuing with the Government the need for a separate channel run by Prasar Bharati on documentaries and shorts and for resuming short films before the feature in all theatres.

     

    Mike Pandey said he would keen to see an educational television channel, which would include all kinds of films.

     

    Answering a question, Sharma said that the Division had now opened up to NGOs and othes to make films for it. 

     

    The Festival will have retrospectives as tributes of Harun Farocki of Germany and Michael Glawogger of Austria, and a special screening of the films of Fernando Melgar of Switzerland.

     

    Homage will be paid through film screenings to K K Chandran, Krishna Mohan, Nirand N Mohapatra, Idessa Sathya, Prem Vaidya, and Ravi Jadhav who died in the last two years.

     

    Other sections include a retrospective of films by Jury members, and special packages such as Artists Cinema, CMS Vatavaran, Public Service Broadcasting Trust, Mexican Institute Films, Italian and Latvian animation, Serbian Films, NFB Animation by Torril Kove, and Wadia Movietone; students workshops and Master Classes; apart from workshops, a seminar, and a daily Open Forum. 

     

    Rajiv Kumar who heads the Films Division office in Delhi said simultaneous screenings will be held in Delhi from 29 January to 1 February. 

      

    Buoyed by the warm reception to the MIFF zone screening of competition films in National category in cities other than Mumbai during the 13th MIFF, screenings will be held simultaneously in New Delhi, Chennail, Bangalore, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Lucknow, Nagpur and Thrissur. MIFF zone is aimed at taking the competition films to film lovers who are unable to travel to Mumbai for the MIFF. Screenings will also be held at the University auditorium Kalina, Mumbai.

  • Star Movies Select HD to premiere of ‘I Am Ali’

    Star Movies Select HD to premiere of ‘I Am Ali’

    MUMBAI: Staying true to its promise of bringing 365 days 365 stories, Star Movies Select HD brings to you the inspiring story of boxing’s biggest legend in its tradition of showcasing an unreleased movie every month. This tradition entails the channel to showcase films with an exceptional story that have not been released in India. It’s targeted to viewers who are inquisitive about unique titles and want to watch movies that no one in the country has seen so far. Keeping with the tradition, Star Movies Select HD presents the life altering story of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali with the airing of I am Ali on 9 January 2016, at 9 pm.

     

    Star movies Select HD has also celebrated this tradition with an Unreleased Movie Festival  in November earlier this year showcasing exclusive movies such as Cuban Fury, Alan Partridge, Endless Love, Better Living Through Chemistry, Savannah, I Give it A Year. The festival returns in the month of March 2016 much to the delight of the ardent movie lovers.

     

    Premiering for the first time in India, I am Ali gives an intimate and heart-warming look at the man behind the legend – as we’ve never seen him before. Told through exclusive, unprecedented access to Ali’s personal archive of ‘audio journals’ combined with touching interviews and testimonials from his family and friends, including legends of the boxing community such as Mike Tyson, George Foreman and Gene Kilroy.

     

    Prior to Muhammad Ali, boxers were seen, not heard. As Clare Lewin shows, Ali had the repartee of a comedian. He was effortlessly witty and perceptive. Lewins and her team have researched their documentary diligently. They have tracked down some wonderful stills and archive footage, and interviewed many people very close to Ali. They use music inventively and strike a brisk tempo, cutting between the talking head interviews, old footage and audio recordings. ‘I Am Ali’ reminds us of his wisecracking humor, his courage, and that mix of grace and intelligence that ultimately won over almost everyone with whom he came into contact. Muhammad Ali transcends his sport and remains, indisputably, the greatest personality in boxing history.

  • Zee Studio’s line-up for January 2016

    Zee Studio’s line-up for January 2016

    MUMBAI:  Zee Studio, the hollywood movie channel, has a series of power-packed properties especially lined-up for the viewers.

     

    Kick-start your New Year with a double dose of hollywood’s biggest blockbusters with Zee Studio’s brand new property ‘Double Impact’. The channel will showcase movies like Goal 1 and 2, Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2, Toy Story 1 and 2, Mission Impossible 2 and 4, Karate Kid 1 and 3 and many more exciting titles starting 8 January 2016 every Friday from 7 to 9 pm.

     

    Come 17 January 2016 at 9 pm; watch the exclusive television premiere of the movie Eden on ‘Studio Xclusive’.  Gather all your allies under one roof and stay glued to your television, to witness the drama and the thrill of a U.S. soccer team which gets stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash.

     

    Celebrating the day of Indian democracy, Zee Studio has lined-up a special- marathon of movies like Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Transformers 3, Gi: Joe 2, Shooter, Minority Report and The Peace Maker on this Republic Day, 26 January 2016 from 8 am to 11 pm.

     

    Stay indoors over one weekend and experience a film extravaganza like no other as Zee Studio guarantees to blow your mind with an exclusive channel premiere of the movie of the month Expendables 2 on Sunday, 31 January 2016 at 9 pm.

     

    That’s not all! Zee Studio continues to air blockbuster premieres on ‘Super Studio’, with a fresh line-up of movies like The Incredibles airing on 10 January 2016 at 9 pm and Pain and Gain on 24 January 2016 at 9 pm.

  • Zee Talkies brings short films to television

    Zee Talkies brings short films to television

    MUMBAI: Starting 10 January, Zee Talkies is all set to bring the short film format to the audience of Maharashtra with Talkies Lighthouse.

     

    Talkies Lighthouse will include a series of handpicked short films, wrapped in a 90 minute format. The short films will be showcased by television & theatre actor Lalit Prabhakar and ‘Coffee aani Barach Kahi’ fame Neha Mahajan.

     

    Zee Talkies business head Bavesh Janavlekar said, “This is the first ever initiative in the Marathi entertainment arena, and one that has been packaged differently. The output of Marathi films has accelerated in the last two – three years. We believe that there is a lot of talent, which is unexposed due to lack of opportunities. There are aspiring filmmakers who have limited access to the audiences even though with a good product in hand. Until now, we were only focusing on films and film-related events, and this is the first time we are exploring an innovative approach to launch short films in a show wrapped around entertainment.”

  • Sony Pix eyes 10% growth in market share in 2016 riding on big ticket premieres

    Sony Pix eyes 10% growth in market share in 2016 riding on big ticket premieres

    MUMBAI: Armed with a host of big ticket movie premieres, Sony Pictures Networks India’s English movie channel Sony Pix is all set to usher in the new year with a bang. The channel, which commanded a market share of 17 per cent from May to December 2015, is eyeing a 10 per cent growth in share next year.

     

    Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and business head – English cluster Saurabh Yagnik says, “Acquisition costs have also seen a significant increase this year. We are expecting a 10 per cent growth in the market share next year. We plan to sustain the growth that we had this year.”

     

    While the channel has movie deals in place with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, MGM and Disney, it recently also inked a deal with NBCUniversal International Distribution under which it will now have access to movie titles from Universal Pictures. With this new deal in place, the three mega box office blockbusters of 2015 namely Jurassic World, Fast and Furious 7 and Minions will have their television premieres on Sony Pix in 2016.

     

    It may be recalled that Sony Pix saw a re-launch in 2013 with a focus on three pillars namely: investing in content, innovating to break clutter and building brand perception by straddling across the entire Hollywood ecosystem in the country. Though these key points from ‘version 1.0’ remain intact in the organisation structure, the channel in its ‘version 2.0’ avatar, will also be seen focussing on three key filters namely scale, style and talkability.

     

    Touting this as the next phase in the growth of the channel, Yagnik says, “The aim this year was to solidify our position as a leading player in the English movie and entertainment space. The year has been extremely successful for the channel. These three elements will form the core of our strategy for Pix v.2.0. By scale we mean larger than life experiences for our viewers. The style will be our personality that we would be identified with. And by talkability, we mean everything we do will be so well differentiated from the clutter that it would commonly refer to as hatke.”

     

    With Sony Pix v.2.0, the channel aims to catapult the philosophy of the brand statement ‘Stay Amazed’ a notch higher with gripping content of blockbuster movies.

     

    On the content front, the channel has acquired exclusive rights to the biggest franchises like Fast and Furious, Hunger Games, Star Wars, Rocky, James Bond, Spider-man, Twilight and Ironman to name a few.

     

    Version 2.0 will supplement the content with three mega premieres of the highest grossing movies of 2016. WhileJurassic World collected $1.66 billion at the box-office, Paul Walker’s last Fast and Furious 7 saw immense success globally with a collection of $1.5 billion. The animated movie Minions, on the other hand, also crossed the $1 billion mark.

     

    Apart from these, the channel will also premiere big ticket movies like Everest, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2, The Walk, Straight Outta Compton, Paddington, Hotel Translyvania, Goosebumps and Insidious 3amongst others. 

     

    “The movie business is all about watching a library of movies and not watching only new movies. Life with a limited number of movies will be boring and that’s why Sony Pix has innumerable movie titles under their cap. We buy movies just for the channel exclusively, which the other channels won’t have on board currently,” adds Yagnik.

     

    With the rise of the multiplexes, while the gap between the international and Indian theatrical release of movies has narrowed down over the years, piracy affects broadcasters to some extent as movies take at least six to eight months to premiere on television. Nevertheless Yagnik strongly believes that this does not affect the channel as the movies have a strong recall value over the audiences. “The audience will watch it in movie theatres or maybe download it but once the movie airs on television, the fans will still watch it again. The entire television watching audience does not go to the theatres to watch a movie. Typically any movie, which has scale in terms of cast, story, VFX, action or the viewing experience, will work well,” he says.

     

    “Big movies have 60 per cent of revenue coming from the international markets but if the movie is completely set in a particular cultural context then it will not work,” he continues.

     

    Sony Pix is all set to bring the next level of differentiation with its signature ‘pixification’ of three elements namely voice, body and soul of the channel. The channel’s voice has always been a male voice-over. However, in this updated version, the voice-over will have a female’s voice. The channel’s body will behold the flavour of the week, month or day in their promos one at a time. On the other hand, the channel’s soul has a change in its lingo more adept for the youth. “The voice-over is just one of the many new things that the audience will experience on the channel. It is important to create a distinctive identity and soul through pixification of our official properties to make it attractive and a free spirited zesty time,” adds Yagnik.

     

    Summarising Pix v.2.0 as the best in class content powered by an equally inimitable pixification of communication and brand ambience, Yagnik is upbeat on the year ahead.

  • Sony Pictures Networks launches Max HD, targets urban movie buffs

    Sony Pictures Networks launches Max HD, targets urban movie buffs

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India has launched the High Definition (HD) version of its Hindi movie channel Sony Max. Although the HD channel has arrived admittedly late in the market, the network plans to steer clear of the replica model for most HD avatars to channels, by taking on a completely different brand position – ‘Jee Ke Dekho.’

    Sony Max HD goes on air from 25 December and will be available in a separate HD package with the popular DTH players.

    When queried as to why the network waited so long to launch the channel’s HD feed, Sony Max and Sony Max2 senior executive vice president Neeraj Vyas says, “We were very clear that we didn’t want an HD channel just for the sake of it. We were also waiting for the right kind of content to come along so that we could showcase Hindi movies with a completly new approach and brand message altogether.”

    The other reason for the delay, Vyas reveals was from a technical standpoint. “We have taken at least 120 classic Hindi films like Anand and remastered them for High Definition airing. Who would not want to see these classics remastered digitally for HD in 5.1 Dolbi sound?” he questions, adding that such movies would mostly air on every Saturday on a special programming slot.

    “Apart from the new popular movies, which the audience nevertheless enjoys, we also wanted to expand our purview to give out more holistic content,” he adds.

    With an aim to reach out to Hindi cinema lovers with a cultivated palate for not just the mass entertainers but alternate and critically acclaimed cinema, Max HD has created a special programming slot for quality cinema with a niche following. “The new HD channel will have something called ‘Friday Select,’which will largely air critically acclaimed movies like Paan Singh Tomar, Shahid, City Lights etc. These are brilliant films but do not usually find exposure through normal standard definition channels as they are mostly mass focused,” Vyas explains.

    Vyas also agrees that acquiring licenses for such alternate movies for Max HD will also be relatively cheaper. “They will definitely be cheaper than any Shah Rukh Khan starrer. But primarily, it’s not about a better deal for us, but about setting up the right tone for the channel.”

    Max HD will be targeted at a niche audience and Vyas informs that the varied content is to broaden the appeal of the channel. “Our target audience is clearly SEC AB 18 – 45 years of age. Our target markets are also metros and cities and towns with plus one million population,” Vyas shares.

    Speaking on the advertisers, Vyas says, “Advertisers are excited about Max HD as the channel will offer them a very premium and wider audience.” Currently the channel is in talks with two to three brands. Deals are expected to be signed within a month of launch.

    Having said that, Max HD will not turn away from the mainstream blockbusters audience either. “We will have our Dhooms, Krrish, and PKs as well, while at the same time we will curate a list of alternate cinema for them,” he says.

    When asked as to why the focus is on urban audience when the industry is abuzz with BARC India’s rural inclusive ratings, Vyas simply points out that while the rural audience always existed, High Definition television’s market is still growing, and enjoying a more profitable business in the urban areas. “Within the industry, it has been noted that premium HD channels have recorded ten-fold top line growth according to the 2015 FICCI KPMG report,” he further adds.

    “I expect this channel to run profitably with its subscription and advertisement based revenue models. HD is a growing base and it’s not something I see becoming stagnant. Even at its nascent stage it is at six million homes. That’s a great growth story. If you go by the year’s television sales, 55 per cent have been HD enabled TVs. I think HD is the future. Not to mention, with digitisation coming in place, channels will get more exposure in smaller markets. For digital, it may take some more time due to the space constraint as digital pipe is bigger than the analog,” Vyas explains.

    The network’s effort to make Max HD different from its Standard Definition version will also be seen in the entire packaging. “We have changed the colour palate for our packaging completely to bronze, gold and glitter, whereas Max is essentially reds, blues and greens. So the whole attempt was to set a different tone with Max HD.”

    This can be seen in the several new promos of the channel. With strategic use of popular Hindi cinema dialogues that evoke nostalgia, they successfully capture the moments that make cinema larger than life for us, while highlighting the significance of High Definition feed. In fact, identifying their target audience as social media savvy netizens, the channel has gone ahead with digital first campaign to launch the channel. From contests like ‘Your Jee Ke Dekho Moments’running on their social media platforms, to the promotion videos releasing on 23 December, the build up the HD channel’s launch is mostly digital heavy with some print promotions as well.

  • The Film & Television Producers Guild of India announces 11 edition of the Renault Sony Guild Film Awards

    The Film & Television Producers Guild of India announces 11 edition of the Renault Sony Guild Film Awards

    MUMBAI: The Film and Television Producers Guild of India has announced the 11 edition of the Renault Sony Guild Film Awards. The Guild constitutes of the most influential luminaries in cinema who select winners, making it one of the most credible and much revered accolades. The extravaganza will unfold with New Year Celebrations in January and will be broadcast exclusively on Sony Entertainment Television.

     

    Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Ayushmann Khuranna, Kriti Sanon and Sonakshi Sinha feature among other star performers who will set the stage on fire with one incredible act after another. After a successful hosting stint last year, television’s superstar comedian Kapil Sharma will don the host’s hat once again and entertain audiences with his unbeatable comic timing.

     

    Renault India Operations Country Managing Director & CEO Sumit Sawhney said, “Renault India is yet again happy to work together with Guild’s 11th edition. This is our fourth year and we are elated to celebrate the achievements of distinct personalities of Indian Cinema who are driven by a commitment towards passion and excellence. Renault, the most awarded automaker in recent times, understands what it takes to win the hearts of people and also win accolades from a proficient jury. As we have always believed, both the Guild and Renault lay special emphasis on Driving the Change and are therefore a perfect fit with each other”

     

    The president of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Producer and producer Mukesh Bhatt said “It is a pleasure to be an integral part of the Guild and play a role in honouring the best talent of Indian cinema. Over the years we have strived and maintained the highest standards in selecting amongst the best of the best and this time too we are confident the Guild Awards will celebrate the sheer excellence of Indian films”

     

    Talking about the awards, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd. CEO N.P Singh said, “We are pleased to host the prestigious Renault Sony Guild Awards, the official awards of the Film industry. The award winners are selected by the industry Guild – making it truly democratic, credible and honours achievers across different film disciplines. Sony Entertainment Television promises to make the ceremony a power-packed blockbuster night of celebration with exuberant acts & performances.”

     

    Actor Akshay Kumar commented on the occasion, “As a member of this hard working industry, the Guild awards are extremely auspicious to receive for any artist or film professional. With eminent members of our Indian film fraternity forming the Guild, the awards like every year are presented to brilliant work & outstanding achievements, it is a great honour to be nominated for the Guild Awards & now after completing 25 adventurous years in this industry, I will be taking you all down memory lane with my own energy to add to this wonderful night, by putting my best foot forward & performing my heart out to you all, hope you enjoy”

     

    TV Host and Comedian Kapil Sharma said “Guild Awards see the fraternity members honouring excellence in their very own industry. I had a great experience hosting for the Guild awards and it is a delight to entertain and interact with these great film personalities. This time too we have planned interesting acts and I am confident my hosting stint this year will be bigger success.”

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Wizcraft International Founder-Director Sabbas Joseph said, “It is a momentous occasion, each year, to see all of those in the industry who have worked so hard be rewarded for their skill and talent with which they create magic on-screen. This year’s Guild celebrations will be spectacular considering the incredible line-up of performances and the talent that will be celebrated at the ceremony.”

     

    Instituted to celebrate exceptional achievements in Indian Cinema, the film fraternity will congregate, once again this year, to celebrate and honour the best contributions and accomplishments in the industry and to celebrate their work in the previous year. The Sony Guild Awards honour excellence in the creative as well as technical categories. Conceptualized, produced, marketed and promoted by Wizcraft International Entertainment, the Awards will bring together the most celebrated stars of Indian Television and Cinema on one spectacularly star-studded stage.

     

    Conceptualized, produced, marketed and promoted by Wizcraft International Entertainment, the Awards will bring together the most celebrated stars of Indian Television and Cinema on one spectacularly star-studded stage.

     

    It is the only Award that does not allow the general public to be part of the voting process in keeping with its policy of ‘By the Industry, For the Industry’. The Guild consists of over 160 members, who constitute some of the most powerful and influential luminaries in its sector. The winners of the Awards are chosen by the Guild’s members, making it one of the most credible and much revered accolades.

  • ‘Two big film releases in one week is not a handicap:’ Deepika Padukone

    ‘Two big film releases in one week is not a handicap:’ Deepika Padukone

    NEW DELHI: Two big films are slated to release on 18 December and the actress starring in one of them – Deepika Padukone is not in the least bit fazed at the competition.

     

    Padukone’s film Bajirao Mastani along with co-stars Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra, is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, which will clash with the Rohit Shetty directed Dilwale starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon at the box office.

     

    “There’s nothing odd about the date of the film clashing with the release of Dilwale. In fact, it is nice that the audience will get to see two films of completely different genres together,” Padukone said.

     

    The actress went on to say that very few roles that she has played have inspired or affected her personally and her character in Bajirao Mastani is one of them. “The credit for this goes to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is responsible for giving me the role of Mastani,” she said.

     

    Padukone, who addressed a press meet along with Singh, said the songs in Bhansali’s films were films in themselves. “He puts so much of effort in a single song that one is amazed at his energy,” she added. “This has been the most exhausting film that I have ever done.”

     

    However, the actress skirted any questions about the controversy over a song in the film, which has hurt the Maharashtrian community.

     

    Bajirao Mastani is part historical – part fiction film about Peshwa Bajirao and his life.

     

    Praising the director, Singh said Bhansali “knows how to extract the best performances out of his artists.”

     

    “It took me 21 days to get into the character. I have actually worked so hard playing Bajirao. It has been a lifetime experience for me,” he added.