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Tag: Akshay Kumar

  • Kajaria Ceramics touches patriotism with Akshay Kumar

    Kajaria Ceramics touches patriotism with Akshay Kumar

    MUMBAI: Kajaria Ceramics has launched another new ad campaign with its official brand ambassador and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. The company recently launched a TVC for its bathware solutions brand KEROVIT with Anushka Sharma.

    In line with the vision of ‘Make in India’ and taking forward last year’s brand campaign theme, the new TVC highlights the deep rooted India connection of the brand.

    Conceptualised by Crayons Advertising, the TVC showcases Akshay Kumar running after a drifting kite, crashing a Bengali wedding to running on the streets of Rajasthan and reaching to Kerala’s traditional snake boat ride Akshay Kumar symbolically showcases Kajaria’s presence across India and how the brand is deep rooted into its diverse culture and tradition.

    Touching the chords of patriotism, the campaign will unfold with a power packed 360- degree outreach and engagement plan across media vehicles. The brand will have a significant presence across digital, retail, radio, print, cinema and TV. It is also timed to the Republic Day celebrations across India.

    Kajaria Ceramics joint managing director Rishi Kajaria, “At Kajaria we reiterate the fact that we are a brand that is Indian first and a business later. It is our primary goal to keep contributing to transforming India into a better and more beautiful country. We are very happy to continue our association with one of the most grounded celebrity of today, Akshay Kumar who symbolises our brand philosophy. This simple yet heartwarming ad campaign is sure to appeal to every Indian.”

    With a turnover of Rs 2850 crore, the company is optimistic about the double-digit growth in the next five years.

    Actor Akshay Kumar says, “I am happy to continue to be a part of the brand. I take great pleasure in doing campaigns which resonate with our country’s dream and vision. It is highly fulfilling to convey to the world how well connected India’s number one tile manufacturing company is with its nation. I look forward to continuing my association with the brand.”

    Since its establishment in mid-1988, Kajaria has been moving forward on many fronts by capitalising on solid growth opportunities, improving its operating efficiency and by sharpening the focus on its business portfolio.

  • Sparx launches campaign with Akshay Kumar in Futsal

    Sparx launches campaign with Akshay Kumar in Futsal

    MUMBAI: Footwear brand Sparx has launched its new commercial ‘Add Sparx To Your Life’ starring Akshay Kumar. The TVC is supported by a 360-degree marketing campaign which will sprint across outdoor, digital, print and retail promotions.

    The TV commercial focuses on attitude and sportsmanship while innovatively capturing the energy, moves and attitude of a super active sportsperson. The campaign will also run in regional languages like Telugu, Marathi and Kannada for a stronger consumer connect in every corner of the country. Other important touch points like print and digital are being used aggressively to amplify the campaign and generate maximum offline and online buzz in the market.

    Relaxo executive director Gaurav Dua says, “The campaign’s idea is to create a strong connect between customers and the intrinsic brand values of Brand Sparx. Sparx stands for style, energy and attitude, which have perfectly being captured in the new TV campaign. The TVC encourages customers to take up challenges and emerge as a winner with a go for it attitude.”

    Touching upon the TVC which starts with visuals wherein a few boys confront Akshay and his team on a Futsal ground. As he takes on the challenge, the camera follows some of the most amazing sports skills with a catchy and energetic music in the background. As Akshay takes winning shot and signs off with ‘Add Sparx To Your Life’, the climax captures the expressions of the audience as well as the defeated team. Bringing together a high-octane action, the TVC perfectly highlights Sparx’s brand ethos that includes attitude, challenge, crossing the limits, energy, youth, sporty and stylishness.

    Arms communications creative director Sanjeet Ahluwalia adds, “We wanted to choose an international, aggressive sport to drive home the message. Since Akshay Kumar is our brand ambassador, we chose Futsal, an upcoming sport in India that is gaining a lot of popularity amongst the youth. With energetic music and fast-paced action, I am sure it is going to win a lot of hearts.”

  • Amazon acquires rights for digital premiere of 2.0

    Amazon acquires rights for digital premiere of 2.0

    MUMBAI: Amazon announced an exclusive content deal with Lyca Productions for the digital premiere of 2.0, the Rajnikanth and Akshay Kumar-starrer mega-budget blockbuster. Prime members will have access to watch the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of the much-awaited film on Prime Video. One of the most opulent projects in Indian cinema, with a reported budget of almost $ 90 million, 2.0 also marks the debut of Kumar in South Indian cinema and as the antagonist.

    Commenting on the association with Lyca Productions, Amazon Prime Video director content Vijay Subramaniam said, “With this momentous deal, Amazon Prime Video further enhances its robust Bollywood and regional content library. We keep the customer at the centre of all that we do. Amazon Prime Video is happy to join hands with Lyca Productions for the exclusive streaming rights for this mega blockbuster film. Both, Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar are phenomenal actors with an unbelievable fan following that will soon get the chance to stream the sequel of Rajnikanth’s memorable movie on their favourite streaming device.”

    “Making movies is my passion” said Lyca Group chairman Subaskaran Allirajah. “We are here to produce great movies. I hope these investments will take Tamil and Indian cinema to world-class standards.”

    2.0 is helmed by the master of grandeur, Shankar, and is the sequel to the 2010 film Endhiran (Robot). It will see Rajnikanth reprise his role of Dr Vaseegaran and the robot Chitti. The movie, pegged as one of Asia’s costliest ventures, is also being filmed using 3D cameras directly to ensure that the film provides a grand visual experience.

  • We are shifting focus to outwear category: Saket Todi, Lux Industries

    We are shifting focus to outwear category: Saket Todi, Lux Industries

    MUMBAI: Would you have ever given a second thought to ads that promote the hidden qualities of innerwear had it not been for celebrities like Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan pompously wearing them? With innumerable local players vying for a slice of the piece, innerwear is a tough nut to crack. But the demand for such an essential piece of clothing is what keeps sales going.

    Kolkata-based Lux Industries has acquired an open global license for manufacturing and supplying innerwear to UK-based brand Byford, and South Africa-based brand Polo. The manufacturing commenced a month ago. Lux is scouting for newer brands to tie up.

    Scoring runs on home turf may be easy but liaising with international brands requires additional and stringent quality control (QC) checks at all levels. Lux has a dedicated QC at all points of production starting from knitting the yarn to fabric, processing of the fabric, cutting, stitching and packaging of the final product. Technology and automation like computer-aided design and auto cutters reduce the rejection rate and improve quality.

    Sold as premium wear products they are accordingly priced between the range of Rs 250-300 in the UK and South Africa. Although the global license is only for men’s innerwear at this point of time, Lux wants to expand its portfolio internationally by introducing women’s wear where it sees an ocean of opportunities.

    Lux has recently commissioned an integrated facility at Dankuni to ramp up its capacity in West Bengal and will be leveraging this plant for exports. With existing operational manufacturing facilities in Ludhiana, Tirupur, Delhi, Belgachia, Dhulagarh, Agarpara and Kashipur, the newest addition in Dankuni, spanning over 0.6 million square feet, has the potential to increase the production capacity to 2 million pieces a day in the next three years from 1.4 million pieces now. While over 90 per cent of the inner wear industry is based in and around Kolkata with some manufacturing done in Tirupur and Tamil Nadu, Lux now has 11 units across India at West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu.

    German knitting, Italian cutting and advanced computer-aided machines are all under one roof thus, substantially cutting down the number of outsourced functions and encouraging more research and development within the company.

    There are two sub-brands under its umbrella – Lux Venus for the masses and ONN that is slightly in the premium range. While the former accommodates rural consumers, a substantial demand comes from metros and mini metros for ONN.

    With a market share of over 22 per cent in the men’s innerwear category in India, its net profit rose 64.98 per cent to Rs 15.69 crore on 43.51 per cent increase in net sales to Rs 255.96 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016.

    Latching on to Amitabh Bachchan’s popularity in tier II and III cities, the company signed him as the brand ambassador for its price-sensitive brand Venus recently. ONN, endorsed by Shahrukh Khan, is experimenting by launching t-shirts, track pants and loungewear for men.

    Despite the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) in July hampering Q1 sales this year, Lux Industries senior VP Saket Todi points out that it achieved a top line of over 45 per cent in the first month of GST. “We are optimistic that the third and fourth quarter will be very good for the underwear segment,” he adds.

    With winter season shrinking year after year and more manufacturers coming into play, it is a challenge for brands to sustain in the market. Todi adds, “It is a difficult segment to be in now with climatic changes hampering our business. That is the reason we want to focus more into our outerwear category.” The company will roll out its fresh campaign in December this year with brand ambassadors Varun Dhawan and Amitabh Bachchan.

    Seven per cent of the turnover is dedicated to advertising budget. 60 per cent of it is for TV through campaigns, in-theatre advertisements and IPL sponsorships, 20 per cent for print, 10 per cent each for outdoor and others like digital, brand promotion and conferences. “We will continue to heavily invest on television like before,” he adds.

    Todi also points out that the yearly exports turnover stood at about Rs 110 crore and is growing.  Lux brands constitute about 65 per cent of export revenue while the rest is from licensed brands. Exports account to 10 per cent of its turnover, which is roughly Rs 105 crore.

    A brand that has stayed digital-shy till this year, can it catch the mood of the ever-transforming audience there?

  • Fortune Oils breaks stereotype; gets male brand ambassador in Akshay Kumar

    Fortune Oils breaks stereotype; gets male brand ambassador in Akshay Kumar

    MUMBAI: Fortune Oils has rolled out its latest campaign, but this time with a male brand ambassador. As quirky it may sound for an oil brand to have a male endorsing the brand, Fortune Oils’ latest campaign unveils its brand ambassador Akshay Kumar. Taking forward the brand’s message, Fortune Oils’ latest TVC shows Akshay spending time with army jawans at a camp – drawing on his association and support for the Indian Army.

    On interacting with the jawans, Akshay realises that one of the things they miss is home-cooked food. Overwhelmed and humbled by the soldiers’ sacrifice and commitment to keeping the nation safe, Akshay expresses his wish to cook for them. A different side of Akshay comes alive, something not seen before – his pre Bollywood avatar, Rajiv Bhatia. Akshay then proceeds to cook a delicious, just-like-home meal, including the army men’s favourites.

    Conceived and executed by Ogilvy South, this film celebrates the idea of home cooked food and the emotional attachment we all have with it in a fresh and interesting story.

    Ogilvy South Asia executive chairman and creative director Piyush Pandey said, “The film continues on the theme of ‘ghar ka khana’ but this time we use jawans as they are the ones who miss ghar ka khana for long extended periods away from home.”

    Adani Wilmar COO Angshu Mallick added, “Fortune Oils’ communications have always been about connecting with our consumers on an emotional level. So when we were considering a brand ambassador, who better than Akshay Kumar. He is popular, likeable and relatable with people across different ages. Known to be a hardworking and conscientious person, Akshay epitomises all the values that Fortune stands for and is the perfect representative for our brand.

    Ogilvy South CCO Azazul Haque points out, “The idea of choosing Akshay Kumar as a brand ambassador came from the client and we loved it. A cooking oil brand choosing a male brand ambassador was a bold and progressive decision. Also Akshay has good credibility as a food expert because of his affiliation with world famous cookery shows and his own past with the food industry.”

  • Highest rated Hindi GEC primetime programmes in rural India

    Highest rated Hindi GEC primetime programmes in rural India

    BENGALURU: In an earlier paper, we have discussed the highest rated Hindi GEC programmes in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM) – this included the urban and rural HSM markets, based on the weekly viewership ratings of the top 5 primetime programmes published by Broadcast Audience Research Council of Indi (BARC) during the first 39 weeks of 2017.

    It must be noted that the ratings (impressions) mentioned for the programmes in this paper may not represent the actual ratings during the first 39 weeks of programmes. The ratings in the paper are a sum of the ratings garnered by a programme only when it has appeared in BARC’s top 5 programmes list. Hence the actual ratings could be higher.

    As is common knowledge, rural viewership preferences are different from urban, BARC’s data for the top 5 Hindi GEC primetime (1830 to 2130 hours) NCCS HSM (U+R): 2+ individuals is not homogenous across markets. There is lumpiness, preferences vary within the urban as well rural audiences depending upon geography. While in the overall HSM markets Kumkum Bhagya on Zee TV was the most watched programme during the first 39 weeks of 2017, followed by Naagin 2 on Colors, rural HSM markets preferred the Supernatural to the family drama – Naagin 2 was the most watched programme in the Hindi HSM rural market during the 28 weeks it was there in the top 5 primetime programmes in the HSM rural market list in the first 39 weeks of 2017. The programme scored 184.395 million impressions during the 28 weeks in the top 5 programmes in the rural market list.

    Nagin 2 was followed by the Akshay Kumar – Ashwini Yardi – Meenakshi Sagar produced family drama Jamai Raja on Zee Anmol as the second watched programme during the 27 weeks it was present in the top 5 programmes in the rural market list with a score of 165.376 million impressions in the first 39 weeks of 2017.

    Optimystix Entertainment’s children’s Superhero series Baal Veer scored the third highest ratings of 162.266 million impressions during the 31 weeks it was in the top 5 programmes list in the first 39 weeks of 2017. The show earned these ratings on Sony Pictures Network India Private Limited (SPN) women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal. Also on Sony Pal was the sitcom Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma at fourth place with 102.036 million impressions during the 20 of the first 39 weeks of 2017 that it was on the top five programmes list.

    Zee TV’s Balaji Telfilms Limited produced KumkumBhagya was the fifth most watched programme with 88.325 million impressions during the 17 of the first 39 weeks of 2017 when it was in the top 5 HSM – rural market list. Please refer to the figure below.

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    Unlike their urban brethren, rural India does not prefer reality television if one were to go by BARC data for top 5 primetime programmes in the HSM rural market.

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    Soaps include all sub-genres such as family drama, comedy drama, sitcoms, mythology drama, supernatural drama. Reality includes music, dance, shows such as Fear Factor, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bigg Boss, etc. Comedy includes shows such as The Kapil Sharma show, etc., Awards means award shows such as Star Screen Awards.

  • Akshay Kumar’s versatility saves holiday week from dullness

    Akshay Kumar’s versatility saves holiday week from dullness

    The flow of new films seems to have tapered down. In the weeks when new films are not meant to be released like during IPL or exams etc, a bunch of small, inconsequential films swarm the cinemas. Even if one or two of them had a merit, they stood no chance because of high admission rates, odd show timings that they were meted out, and the lack of face value of such films.

    Now, when the playtime is open and available, the exhibitors were able to get one Bareilly Ki Barfi besides the other release, Partition: 1947 (Hindi-Dubbed), which failed to get the footfalls and faced a no audience, no show situation.

    The starving cinema halls had some relief with Akshay Kumar’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha with an extended Independence Day weekend coinciding. The film raced to the Rs 900 million-figure during these holidays. The film has to meet the target of Rs 1.25 billion and, looking at the weak opposition in the new release, Bareilly Ki Barfi, the Akshay-starrer should sail safe eventually.

    *Bareilly Ki Barfi had some renowned names riding with it. The film boasts of Nitesh Tiwari who wrote and directed the recent blockbuster Dangal, as the writer while Ashwini Iyer Tiwary, who made Nil Battey Sannata, as the director. Both the writer and the director failed to live up to their earlier glory as Bareilly Ki Barfi has none of that spontaneity or laughter expected of their work.

    The film opened with a low Ra 20 million. The Saturday improvement was fair but still on the lower side while Sunday was much better with double the Friday figures. The film ended its opening weekend with a total of Rs 108 million.

    *The other major release, UK-based Gurinder Chadha’s Partition: 1947 (Hindi-Dubbed), an attempt to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the Partition, had little relevance for today’s Indian viewers. A futile attempt, it finds no takers as the film fared poorly at the box office.

    *Toilet Ek Prem Katha thrived on the holiday week. The week had a holiday on Monday in many parts being Janmashtami, a national holiday on Tuesday being the Independence Day and the Parsi New Year holiday on Thursday in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

    The film had opened with fairly decent collections and picked up steam on Saturday and Sunday with the holidays adding handsomely to take the collections on the verge of Rs one billion, the mark it will easily cross during its second weekend. 

    With an opening weekend of Rs 511 million, the film added another Rs 415 million to take its first week tally to Rs 936 crore million.

    *Jab Harry Met Sejal added Rs 41.5 million in its second week to take its two-week total to Rs 616.5 million.

    *Mubarakan is struggling to sustain, despite being a fairly entertaining film, and keeps holding out hope in its subsequent weeks which will help cut down its losses. The film collected a decent Rs 54 million taking its four week total to Rs 553 million.

  • Toilet: Ek Prem Katha … Part fun, part sermon

    With little choice of genres left for films after themes like family social, horror and mythology were taken away by TV channels, filmmakers have to find variations in what they are left with: romance, action and comedy.

    Toilet Ek Prem Katha is a small town love story, and a love story needs a villain in some form. Unless the coming together of two lovers is met with some hindrances causing anxiety among the viewers, it remains incomplete. In this film, the villain that becomes the cause of separation between two lovers is a tradition that stops the villagers from creating the facility of toilets within the house.

    The character of Akshay Kumar is a small town lad who is well past his marriageable age due to the superstitions of his father played by Sudhir Pandey, a pandit, who is convinced that the character of Akshay’s marriage will fail since he has a negative influence of planet Mars on his horoscope and that his wife will have to have two thumbs in her palm if the marriage has to work. Pandey gets rid of half the ill effects of horoscope by getting Akshay married to a buffalo cow. Now all that remains to be made sure for Akshay to enjoy a blissful married life is to find a girl with two thumbs!

    But, fate ordains otherwise. While travelling on a railway shuttle, Akshay comes across Bhumi Pedenkar and both get into an argument over toilet manners. There is little in common between the two as Akshay’s character is a 12th-standard pass while Bhumi is a university topper. Her small family of four keeps pace with times while Akshay’s father, who dominates his life, lives in past. Akshay is 37 while Bhumi is a student.

    However, all these do not deter Akshay from falling in love with Bhumi. He starts chasing her till, like it happens in such love stories; Bhumi too is attracted to Akshay. The families agree to the match. While Bhumi’s family has no reservations, to deceive Pandey, Akshay gets an artificial extra thumb fitted on Bhumi’s hand.

    It is all lovey dovey for Akshay and Bhumi. But at the first dawn post-marriage a bunch of women come to call Bhumi to join them. Called Lota Gang, the women are on their way to far off fields for their daily ablutions.Having been brought up in a house with all the comforts, Bhumi cannot cope with this situation. She demands that a toilet be built within the house.

    While Akshay is trying to convince Pandey, he and Bhumi find ways to make things comfortable for her. Akshay comes up with what is called Jugaad, an ad hoc arrangement, each day so Bhumi need not go to fields. One of them is to take her to the local railway station where a particular train stops for seven minutes during which she is supposed to finish her business. Once, Akshay even steals a portable toilet. And, finally he builds one in his house only for it to be broken down by Pandey and other village folk.

    The film now shifts to the campaign run by the present government which aims to build toilet facility for every individual or community. However, the climax is the same as many such films about crusades the corruption in government departments, the involvement of the media and so on. What is different but inspired from real life incidents is the married woman leaving her husband and home because it does it not have a toilet.

    Having taken up the issue of toilets and the lack of it, the film takes too long to touch the crusade against a certain class’s mindset that prevent them from installing this basic facility in the house. Towards the end, especially in the last 50 minutes or so, it becomes preachy. The proceedings should have been crisper.

    The direction is fair. While the first half offers some entertainment, the later part has only little of it. The film has one song that works for it in Gori tu latth maar…. as it has visual appeal. Production values are average.

    The film scores on casting. Akshay Kumar is good as a confident small town lad. Bhumi Pednekar is convincing. Divyendu Sharma, Anupam Kher, Sudhir Pandey and Rajesh Sharma support well.

    Toilet Ek Prem Katha has average merit but is expected to enjoy a huge weekend from Saturday till Tuesday, and again a restricted holiday to follow for the Parsi New Year on 17th. This should help the film reach its target.

    Producers: Aruna Bhatia, Shital Bhatia, Prernaa Arora, Arjun N. Kapoor, Hitesh Thakkar.

    Director: Shree Narayan Singh.

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, . Divyendu Sharma, Anupam  Kher, Sudhir Pandey and Rajesh Sharma.

  • Zee’s former exec Akash Chawla launches Fresh Lime Films

    MUMBAI: Zee Studio’s former executive VP and business head – film division Akash Chawla has launched his own venture. The new venture Fresh Lime Films, a creative studio, has two verticals — digital content creation and feature films. 

    Chawla’s venture is a Fresh Lime endeavor to take Indian stories to the audience across the globe.

    Concluding his 12-year career with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) in February 2017, Chawla moved on — only to start his own venture. Chawla has been the head of marketing for close to 12 channels of Zee. 

    A part of core senior management team in Zee, his last assignment was as the head of the content studio — Zee Studio — focused on creating and monetising content across platforms. In his career, he has headed business across content creation, acquisition and creating/launching brands in the entertainment space. 

    As a studio head,  he set up and led blockbuster and national-award winning films such as Akshay Kumar’s ‘Rustom’. 

    Also Read:

    Akash Chawla bids adieu to ZEEL after 12 years

    ZEEL’s Akash Chawla replaces Pradeep Hejmadi as Business Head of Zee TV

  • Big stars unaffordable for independent producers

    MUMBAI: Big films are getting scarce with some major studios pulling out from backing productions. Thanks to the corporate houses bankrolling films, the costs have escalated and the stars have become unaffordable for independent producers.

    Besides these factors, a majority of big stars such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn, etc. now prefer to work mainly for their home productions or in joint ventures with directors who have successful track record.

    In the circumstances, some independent producers are making a comeback, albeit, with films featuring lesser stars and relying more on different content, a story without props like action and special effects and such.

    Some such films do turn out to be good, win appreciation as well, the two recent examples being Mukti Bhawan and Anaarakli Of Aarah. However, the moviegoer does not find such films viable at the admission high rates that multiplexes charge which are same as big star films.

    *Begum Jaan, the new release of the week, is one such film that tries to tread a different trend, away from what its producers, the Bhatt Brothers, were known to make so far: mostly thrillers, romance laced with titillation backed by strong musical scores.

    Remade in Hindi from the Bengali film Rajkahini (2015), the film lacked purpose. There were major issues, massacres and millions were uprooted from their homes and became refuges during the partition. And as the film’s story goes, here is this woman brothel owner who wants to save her brothel from being dismantled in the cause of creating a border wedge! And, the film also shows some flashbacks of the violence of that happened during the partition!

    Begum Jaan opened to weak response, failed to find appreciation and, yet, thanks to some good promotion and expecting Vidya Balan to come up with another striking performance, it managed to rake in Rs 3.4 crore on the opening day. On Saturday and Sunday, the collections remained almost stagnant as the film collected Rs 10.6 crore for its opening weekend.

    *Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana has a disastrous opening week as the film manages to put together a meagre Rs 80 lakh.

    *Mirza Juuliet, an intercommunity romance with politics and violence as the background in UP, fails badly. The film collects about Rs 55 lakh for its first week.

    *Mukti Bhawan enjoys good word but not the moolah and collects just about Rs 50 lakh.

    *Blue Mountain remained very low at about Rs 10 lakh in its first week.

    *Bahubali: The Beginning (Re-run) collected Rs 3.1 crore in one week despite an extensive release.

    *Naam Shabana sustained well in its second week to add approx. Rs 5.6 crore to its first week collections taking its two week tally to Rs 28.1 crore.

    *Phillauri added Rs 40 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 24.6 crore.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania collected Rs 1.1 crore in its fifth week to take its five week total to Rs 114.2 crore.