ITV

Category: Movie Channels

  • “Mumbai Police really rock,” says Rani Mukherjee who plays a cop in Mardaani

    “Mumbai Police really rock,” says Rani Mukherjee who plays a cop in Mardaani

    MUMBAI:  MAX, the premium Hindi movies and special events channel brings you the Bollywood crime thriller film, ‘Mardaani’ at 8 pm on Saturday, 20th December.

     

    Directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra, Mardaani sees Rani Mukherjee in a violent avatar. This film is about a tough female cop Shivani Shivaji Roy who uncovers the depraved world of human trafficking. This leads to a cat-and-mouse game between the cop and the ruthless mafia.

     

    Commenting on many movies being based on the police force, Rani Mukherjee said, “By and large we need to see the positive side and there are a lot of cops who do a lot for us. I am very proud of the way the Mumbai Police functions. There could be problems in different states in India but I think Mumbai Police really rock. They have probably always got things and the law and order situation (under control) very, very quickly.”

     

    Catch the hard hitting crime thriller ‘Mardaani’ premiering at 8 pm on Saturday

     

    20th December, with a repeat telecast on Sunday, 21st December at 1 pm

  • HBO celebrates Christmas and New Year

    HBO celebrates Christmas and New Year

    MUMBAI: HBO Defined will showcase a fantastic line-up of movies throughout December with Best of Defined 2014 and Merry Xmas special on HBO Defined and New Year ’s Eve stunt on HBO Hits. The HBO premium channels, which are exclusively 100 per cent ad-free, will entertain the audiences with movies from every genre.

     

    HBO Defined will air movies like Man of Steel, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Gravity, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit and The Great Gatsby under the best of defined 2014 on the weekends at 10 pm. The Merry Xmas special on HBO Defined also has an exciting Christmas line-up of movies like All I Want For Christmas, Four Christmases, The Santa Clause Trilogy and The Polar Express from 2pm onwards on 25 December 2014. HBO Hits will be ringing in the new year by presenting  blockbuster movies such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Green Hornet, The Hangover Part III, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Conjuring and Vantage Point.

     

    Commenting on the exciting line up, HBO managing director south Asia Monica Tata said, “We invite our audiences to celebrate the magic of Christmas and New Year with their favorite HBO Original Shows and movies on the HBO Premium channels this festive season. HBO Defined and HBO Hits have always lived up to giving their audiences a viewing experience which they have never witnessed before. Along with a great line up of films the channels will also celebrate via interactive contests on Facebook and Twitter”.  

  • Sony Max gets ‘filmy’ yet again!

    Sony Max gets ‘filmy’ yet again!

    MUMBAI: It’s no surprise that Indians have always been crazy or ‘deewana’ about two things – Bollywood and cricket. It is the only country, where in the most unexpected of moments one can find people using a dialogue from a movie or breaking into a song. And it’s this ‘Bollywood Fever’ which makes it important for Hindi movie channel Sony Max to bring out the ‘deewanapan’ (craziness) in a new, surprising manner every time.

     

    It was in 2012, when the channel felt the need to get viewers close to the world of movies and live the life filmy style, and thus launching a campaign titled, ‘Shuruaat Yahin Se’ which celebrated 100 years of cinema. It talked about how watching a good film is a way to handle extreme emotions.

     

    But the phrase failed to click with the audiences, and so in 2013, the channel’s tagline ‘Deewana Bana De’ had to come back in a new avatar. Max launched three television commercials as part of its brand campaign – ‘Jahan Dekho, Vahaan Deewana’ which added a new dimension to its existing positioning, ‘Deewana Bana De’.

     

    This year, to further strengthen its emotional connect with the consumers, the channel has launched three commercials as part of its brand campaign – ‘Ab Khulkar phailegi Deewangi’. The three 40-seconders, carve out the very basic element within the common man. It doesn’t talk about brand Max, but about the deewanapan in everyone.

     

    The first of the three TVCs that went on-air on 15 December shows how an extremely slow tuk-tuk driver gets charged-up by listening to the ‘Dhoom’ song tune and starts cruising through the road in full speed.

     

    The second TVC shows bridesmaids along with an old aunt making a war cry for the bride ‘Chak De’ to perk her up from the anxiety of her suhagraat. The third TVC depicts how a furniture showroom salesman bitten by the Bollywood bug replicates the iconic Zanjeer movie scene while attending a customer.

     

    This year the channel has particularly borrowed dialogues and songs from key films like Zanjeer (1973), Dhoom and Chak De India. The films have a very subtle humorous appeal and the brand films are directed by ace ad film maker Anaam Mishra from Crome Pictures.

     

    Sony Max VP – marketing Vaishali Sharma believes that this will make the campaign more powerful. “It will help us integrate the brand seamlessly into the consumers’ life,” she says.  

     

    According to Sony Max senior VP and business head Neeraj Vyas, Hindi films have their own kind of crafting and now the germ is all over. “In the last 50 years of cinema, the characters and songs have become larger than life. There is filmy madness in everybody and now the madness is spreading. Till last year, we said ‘Deewana Bana De’ and showered some elements and this year we are saying that look, now the craziness is spreading.”

     

    Conceptualised by DDB Mudra, it took two months for the channel from planning to the execution of all the three commercials. Vyas found the scripts very cute and in the Max zone. When asked why the channel picked these three movies, he says, “It could have been anything else as well. But when you sit for a campaign for over two months you go through a lot of ideas and scripts. We thought that these were quite relevant and without being over-the-top funny.”

     

    According to Sharma every year the channel continues to strengthen its emotional connect with the consumers so that it can, within the space of Hindi movie genre, continue to occupy strong position and affinity in the hearts and minds of consumers.

     

    For Sharma , ‘Deewana Bana De’ as a positioning line, has lived for a long time but the channel’s attempt in the last one-two years has been to make it more relevant to people’s life.  “The impact that Bollywood films have on our lives is ingrained into our DNA. Also from the brand perspective, strengthening the fact that people from all strata’s continue to watch Max and owning the space of how movies impact our daily lives.”

     

    DDB Mudra Group chairman and CCO Sonal Dabral feels that the new campaign is all about infecting people with passion and love for this great Indian cinema and to encourage people to see the lighter side in every walk of life. He adds, “India is a country passionate and obsessed with ‘Bollywood’ and what better way to capture this unique obsession than by coming out with a campaign which pays homage to Indian cinema.”

     

    Sharma shares the learning that the channel has acquired over the years. One, to understand what role movies plays in people’s lives and two, how it is a big source of entertainment.  “Over the years how we have evolved as a brand is how we make ‘Deewana Bana De’ or Max as a brand more relatable. We have wide range of audience’s right from people in metros to LC1 and rural markets, but to find a brand essence and a campaign that cuts across audiences is a tricky task for us.”

     

    So to make the job easy, year-on-year the channel keeps in touch with the consumers by doing qualitative and quantitative research to find out how they are interacting with the brand and how movies on television forms a big chunk of their daily lives. “Especially when you keep going down to smaller and smaller towns, the whole aspect of ‘I wait to watch movies on television to brighten up my life’ is what consumers share the relation with the brand. So the brand affinity scores are very high for Max.”

     

    According to Vyas, the channel does hygiene research every year to keep understanding what the consumers want and to keep a tab on social relevant changes that keeps on happening across which also helps the channel in the kind of movies it picks.

     

    To give an extra dose of entertainment, apart from the brand campaigns, fillers like Bittu Bak Bak, Fully Deewana, etc also keep running throughout the day.

     

    On the marketing front, it’s a primarily television led campaign. Apart from both the movie properties – Max and Max 2, the commercials will also be available across the Sony network. Moreover, Max has bought space on 32 channels for over three weeks from other networks to promote the new campaigns. These include English news, regional channels, kids and music channels to a large extent. The 360 degree marketing plan also includes a digital campaign and cinema across key markets spread over the next one month.

  • ‘Badlapur Boys’…Breathless!

    ‘Badlapur Boys’…Breathless!

    MUMBAI: Like most Indian sports films, Badlapur Boys is more about underdogs taking the top spot. From Lagaan (the poster design resembles that of Lagaan) and Iqbal to Hawa Hawaai and many others in between, such themes are common now. The basic plot remains the same, only the sport in the question changes. Here, it is Kabaddi.

    Badlapur and neighbouring 42 villages were renowned for cultivating Basmati rice but the failing rains over the years has rendered the area barren and poor. The villagers want the government to build a canal to bring water to these villages. A number of representations to the local District Collector fail to bear any results; their file is stuck in the system and has not reached the CM of the state.

    During one of the representations to the DC, one of the villagers threatens to self-immolate if the DC does not move their file. On the 16th day he does so, leaving his young son and wife behind. The case has been closed declaring the man mad. The son, who loved playing Kabaddi, grows up to be NIshan. He now works as a farm labourer in the next village. Caught playing Kabaddi while the goats he was tending to destroyed some crop in a field, he is made to swear he will never play the sport again.

     

     

       
     

    Producers: Karrm Movies.

    Director: Shailesh Verma.

    Cast: Nishan, Saranya Mohan, Annu Kapoor, Kishori Shahane, Puja Gupta.

    NIshan grows up watching other kids playing Kabaddi from the side-lines. But, the problem is, their Badlapur team is a perpetual loser. They never win, so much so that they decide to play the next match with a team which is much worse than them to restore some prestige to their name in the village where everybody makes fun of them.

    During the village fair, an ex-national Kabaddi team member and the present coach of the Railways’ team, Annu Kapoor, is the chief guest. He seems to have seen a spark in the village team and offers to coach it. The team is na?ve and learns about 75th UP state Kabaddi championships in Allahabad. From total losers, they aspire to participate there and save their reputation once and for all. From then on, things work in their favour, especially that of Nishan. Once forbidden to play the sport, he is relieved of his promise when one of the members abstains.

    The tournament is between 32 teams from UP but, again, one team has met with an accident and can’t make it. Conveniently, Annu Kapoor wields a considerable amount of influence to change the basic rules and get the lads from Badlapur to fill in as the 32nd team! They need a name and he names them Badlapur Boys.

    The rest is like what we have been seeing since ages in films. The hero takes a beating initially only to bounce back later: Badlapur Boys go on winning bout after bout. In between, there has been some scheming and backstabbing. The hero, Nishan is hurt on purpose to disable him and to stop him from playing more matches. Playing any more could prove fatal for him but he is determined to play, win and meet the CM (who is the chief guest) face to face and tell him what his father did and why.

    The Badlapur Boys win the finals, the sacrifice of Nishan is rewarded a few years later with a canal for the village farmers.

    Kabaddi has started getting some attention recently with league tournaments with big shot team owners backing them. But the attention has not been enough to draw people to spend on watching the games. Also, the one watched at league level on TV is real pro compared to rather tame games played in the movie.

    ‘Main Aur Mr Right’…Wrong movie!

    Main Aur Mr Right is a kind of contemporary film where a group of young friends, all well placed in their lives, meet on regular basis and have a blast. Except one of them, Shenaz Treasurywala, all are taken: one couple is married, one is engaged and the one is together but not committed yet.

     

     

    Producers: Pooja Gujral, Aseem Raees.

    Director: Adeeb Rais.

    Cast: Shenaz Treasurywala, Barun Sobti.

     

    Shenaz Treasurywala runs a casting agency and looking at the kind of ‘talent’ she screens regularly, it would be surprising if her agency makes any money. Her friends always bug her with suggestions to find a man and settle down in life. However, Shenaz is too choosy, she is Ms Perfect and won’t plan to marry unless she meets her Mr Right.

    Shenaz’s opinion about herself is rather high and no man impresses her. But her friends just won’t let her be. And, just to stop them bothering her every day, she announces one day that she has finally found her Mr Right and she will present him to the gang soon. Being a talent manager, she is flooded with pictures and portfolios and remembers one of them of a good-looking lad, Barun Sobti. He aspires to be an actor in league with Salman Khan who is his idol and whose name he swears by.

    Things are not as easy as Shenaz imagined. Barun is a typical rough shod Punjabi who does everything that is gross. He lacks in style and class that Shenaz and her friends relate to. But, she takes it as a challenge to mould and polish Barun so that she could present him to her friends. Of course, he would have come from abroad to return soon. She offers a hefty sum for role playing to the struggler who, like most strugglers, is broke most of the time.

    Barun has perfected everything Shenaz wished and she is ready to take him to her friends. The presentation of ‘Mr Right’ finally happens; all are duly impressed. He blends with the group well and becomes a part of it. The bonhomie continues but Barun soon realises that the bonhomie is fake, all the friends are keeping their true feelings from each other and usually lying to keep the friendship going. His honest na?ve self begins pointing out the follies of every one of them. Till, one fine evening, while the friends are having a nice time at a restaurant, the bubble bursts; Barun is recognised by one of his struggler friends who is a waiter in the same restaurant. This was just when all the friends were confessing to their wrongdoings.

    The friendships are shattered, so are the pairs. As an outcome of this breaking of the clique, Shenaz finds her Mr Right within the group itself. That lasts for a few months until she starts missing Barun. The contemporary film then ends on a traditional note as the idea of Mr Right is dumped and Barun and Shenaz are the real item instead of role playing.

    Direction is average. The film tries to tell too many stories in one go. Bappi Lahiri has scored some hummable music. Cinematography is fair. Editing is lacking. Performances are generally passable except that of Barun Sobti who is impressive.

    Main Aur Mr Right shows no prospects at the box office.

  • Brodha V teams up with Kolaveri Di Music Director Anirudh Ravichander for Tamil Film Song– “Shake That”

    Brodha V teams up with Kolaveri Di Music Director Anirudh Ravichander for Tamil Film Song– “Shake That”

    MUMBAI: Anirudh Ravichander, the man behind the viral phenomenon ‘Kolaveri Di’ and the hottest music directors in the Tamil Music industry, announced his collaboration with rapper Brodha V.  Brodha V is bringing his trademark lyrical hip-hop to one of this season’s most anticipated Tamil Films, Kaaki Sattai. Brodha V will be rapping on a high-energy song titled, “Shake That”. The music launch for this film is scheduled on 12-12-2014 on the occasion of Tamil Superstar Rajnikanth’s birthday.

     

    Brodha V, hailing from Bangalore have worked with Vishal-Shekhar and rapped on the song Ready Steady Po from Chennai Express and with Raghu Dixit on the song Dheaon Dheaon from Mujhse Fraandship Karoge. He has also released several DIY style music videos on his YouTube channel which till date have received over a million views. Last year, his latest independent simgle, Aigiri Nandini, likewise has received a great response on YouTube and from critics.

  • Max 2 wraps up the year on a romantic note

    Max 2 wraps up the year on a romantic note

    MUMBAI: This month, Sony Max 2 presents its viewers with some of the biggest Bollywood hits through the decades with its ‘Jubilee Hits’ movie festival starting from 14th – 27th December. The iconic movie channel is all set to showcase 13 films from the 1950s to the late 1990s portraying different genres. Reinforcing its positioning of showcasing evergreen movies, the channel aims to end the year by presenting the best of Indian cinema to its viewers.

    Comprising a mix of movies filled with romance, family dramas and social issues, the movie festival fits in perfectly with the festive season by spreading cheer to its viewers through movies of the golden era. Movies that will be showcased as part of this festival include ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’, ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’, ‘Kati Patang’ and ‘Chandni’ to name a few. ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ which has completed 1000 weeks of its run at Maratha Mandir on 12 December is also a part of the festival. This directorial film by Aditya Chopra will enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running Bollywood film ever.

    Commenting on the film festival MAX & MAX2 senior EVP & business head Neeraj Vyas said, “The holiday season is all about spending time with loved ones and what better way to do this than by showcasing a movie festival that enables families to catch up on quality time together over iconic films. The ‘Jubilee Hits’ movie festival aims at building and spreading that love and appreciation for great Indian cinema which is what MAX2 is all about.”

      Catch the ‘Jubilee Hits’ movie festival airing from 14 -27 December at prime time viewing.

  • It’s a first! Watch 4 Hollywood premieres on &pictures

    It’s a first! Watch 4 Hollywood premieres on &pictures

    MUMBAI: As the month of December approaches, the air is filled with hearty celebrations and entertainment galore. In keeping with the festive spirit and continuing to provide its audiences with fresh and clutter-breaking content, &pictures, India’s premium Hindi movie channel will soon premiere an amalgamation of four blockbuster action-packed Hollywood movies for the first time ever on Hindi television! Airing under its popular band ‘Hollywood Sundays’, the channel will also offer its viewers an exciting movie experience as the mega-hit movies premieres will be simulcast on &pictures as well as &pictures HD every Sunday at 12 noon from 7 December.

     

    &pictures will showcase an exciting line-up of superhit Hollywood blockbusters, starting with Charlie’s Angels- Full Throttle, starring Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz in the lead. The story revolves around the action packed life of three angels who investigate a series of murders which occur after the theft of a witness protection profile database. Next in the line-up on December 14th is Transformers starring Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel, a science fiction action film based on the Transformers toy line. The film combines computer animation with live-action. The next movie on 21st December is Mission Impossible 3 starring Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan and Ving Rhames. The story follows the action-packed mission of Ethan Hunt who comes face to face with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer while trying to keep his identity secret in order to protect his girlfriend. Culminating the festive programming is the light hearted, fast-moving animation film Kung Fu Panda on 28th December, a movie that fits every age group and has been exceedingly loved and adored by all.

     

    Speaking of the festive line-up, Ruchir Tiwari, Deputy Business Head, Hindi Movie Channels, ZEEL, stated, “This festive season, we want to give our viewers a complete family entertainment with a mix of action, comedy and animated movies on Hollywood Sundays. We have hand-picked the best of Hollywood titles and are certain that our audiences will enjoy watching them.”

  • Fall in love 1000 times over with DDLJ on Max2

    Fall in love 1000 times over with DDLJ on Max2

     MUMBAI:  Max 2, India’s iconic Hindi movie channel brings back Indian cinema’s most iconic love story ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ on Friday, 12th December at 8pm with a simulcast on Max. The blockbuster hit of the 90’s is synonymous to channel’s positioning of ‘Kuch filmon ka jaadu kabhi kam nahin hota’. Whilst taking its viewers on a nostalgic trip it also is giving the viewers a chance to relive the moments of the movie by initiating a contest where lucky winners can stand to win memorabilia signed by the stars of the film.

    The trans-continental romance which helped popularize locales like Switzerland was declared an all-time blockbuster and remains the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema, completing 1000 weeks at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai. Produced by Yash Chopra and written and directed by his son Aditya, the film stars Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles.

    Commenting on the movie Max & Max 2 Sr. EVP & business head Neeraj Vyas says, “It is a timeless classic which has charmed Indian audiences through the decades and is the reason why it is longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema. We would like to bring this magic alive for our viewers and what better way to do this than have a simulcast of this iconic film on both our channels.”

    Participate in the 1000 weeks celebrations by tuning-in to ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ on 12 December, Friday at 8pm on Max 2 and Max.

     

  • ‘Soch Mat, Seethi Maar’ with movie channel premieres on UTV Movies

    ‘Soch Mat, Seethi Maar’ with movie channel premieres on UTV Movies

    MUMBAI: Drawing on the universal passion and love for Bollywood in India, UTV Movies is all set to entertain it’s viewers with a formidable list of movie channel premieres starting this December. Adding to its existing slate of 1000+ entertaining titles, UTV Movies will now be premiering blockbuster movies acquired from the Viacom18 movie library.

     
    With this deal, the channel will continue to engage viewers with an instant dose of entertainment with 11 new films including Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya, Mary Kom, R… Rajkumar, Hasee Toh Phasee, Gori Tere Pyaar Main, Madras Café among others. The deal also includes some soon-to-be released films and untitled movies that will be aired during the year.

     
    Commenting on this, Vijay Subramaniam – VP, Content and Communications, Media Networks, Disney India, said, “Over the years, UTV Movies has addressed the viewer’s need for entertainment through engaging content and with this deal, we will continue to engage our viewers and provide them with the content that appeals them ”

     

  • Are you a Secret Keeper yet?

    Are you a Secret Keeper yet?

    MUMBAI: When you are passionate about something, success is inevitable. An initiative that was born out of such love and care, a movement that was long overdue in India – #StarMoviesSecretScreening. The reason for its success is testimony to the power and drive of its Secret Keepers – the elite community of movie lovers from across the country.

     

    The initiative began a few months ago and its first installment saw Star Movies launch the first ever #StarMoviesSecretScreening communication only on social media with one intention – celebrate good cinema with a great experience.

     

    The first #StarMoviesSecretScreening showcased ‘The Maze Runner’, two weeks before the international release starting off the cult movie movement. They repeated the experience again with another Hollywood masterpiece – ‘The Gone Girl’.

     

    Now in its third edition the secret was bigger than ever, the experience; grander than before. #StarMoviesSecretScreening along with Fox Studios treated the Secret Keepers to the cinematic brilliance of Ridley Scott’s EXODUS – a journey that set the screen ablaze on 3rd December 2014 in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. This film is an interpretation of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt as led by Moses and related to the Old Testament Book of Exodus.

     

    The movie starring Christian Bale, Ben Kingsley and other mighty actors narrates the epic story of one man’s courage to take on the might of an empire. The Secret Keepers were thrilled to be a part of this journey and their love parted the twitter feeds as #StarMoviesSecretScreening was trending nationally.

     

    On the occasion, Kevin Vaz, General Manager – English Cluster, Star India said, “At Star Movies we’ve always tried to create new and exciting experiences for our viewers. The Secret Screening was a result of great consumer insight meeting the perfect idea. We’ve had great response from our Secret Keepers and we are certain that this property will continue to intrigue and thrill audiences.”

     

    Shikha Kapur, CMO, Fox Star Studios India, added – “Exodus: Gods and Kings is as epic a movie as it gets. Mounted on a lavish scale with some stunning visual display, soldered with top notch performances from a solid cast, and with the solid reins in the hands of the master director Ridley Scott, this film has had audiences waiting for its release with peaking anticipation.

     

    #StarMoviesSecretScreening was just the right platform to debut this colossal movie experience with the legions of fans across cities. May the tribe of Secret Keepers flourish! We are confident that Fox Star Studios will be there at every secret screening, enthralling and exciting all, with our cinema.”

                                                                                                                                                                                              

    Secret Keepers rejoice. Our journey has just begun. Together, we shall and we will build our brotherhood, one secret at a time.

     

    #StarMoviesSecretScreening… Ssshhhh… it’s still the best kept secret!