ITV

Tag: Alia Bhatt

  • Varun & Alia become Romeo & Juliet to teach you cleanliness

    Varun & Alia become Romeo & Juliet to teach you cleanliness

    MUMBAI: Did you ever think that the epic Romeo and Juliet could make a case of ‘keep your city clean’ initiative? That’s just that Adar Poonawalla’s Clean City advertisement has attempted with Bollywood actors Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

    Created by Dharma 2.0, the TVCs highlight the importance of keeping your city clean and urges people to take smaller steps to do their bit for their city. The two adverts, titled ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and ‘Astronaut’ reinforce the core message of keeping a city clean by taking essential steps like throwing waste in the bin.

    In the first ad, Juliet waits in her balcony to be proposed by Romeo. However, during their conversation, Juliet happens to throw a juice box outside. This disturbs our hero, who retracts the proposal and leaves her. He picks the box and throws it in the garbage bin showing how necessary it is to properly dispose waste and keep the surroundings clean.

    The second advertisement features two astronauts, a woman and a man, who descend from a spaceship on the moon. The two crack a few jokes during which, the man unwraps a chocolate bar and mindlessly throws the wrapper which floats owing to lack of gravity. Here, the woman gets irked and tells him to not throw garbage on the moon, before leaving him behind and shutting him out of the spaceship. The TVC ends with her asking the audience to keep their city clean.

    The quirky themes employed for the adverts are humorous and urge people to take necessary actions, in a light-hearted manner.

    Dharma 2.0 head Punit Malhotra said, “The importance of a greener and cleaner environment needs to be reinforced and the two TVCs intend to do just that. The campaign draws strong humorous elements and features the two youth icons, Alia and Varun to establish a strong connect with the millennials.”

    Serum Institute of India owner and CEO Adar Poonawalla added, “The Clean City initiative works tirelessly to encourage people to take smaller steps that go a long way in keeping a city clean. The initiative brings together the people in the city because it is only through their active participation that positive change can be brought about. It also tackles the task of cleaning 800kms of Pune streets on a daily basis. It is imperative to get the word out and urge other cities across the country to join in the movement. The campaign created by Dharma 2.0 is engaging and entertaining.”

  • Alia Bhatt tries BlueStone at home in new TVC

    MUMBAI: BlueStone.com has launched a campaign to promote its unique ‘Try At Home’ experience with its first and newly appointed brand ambassador, Alia Bhatt. The campaign, spread across multiple media, elucidates the brand’s proposition with a touch of enticement from Bollywood’s next generation superstar.

    As part of the new campaign, the online jewellery brand has launched a TVC, featuring the young and vivacious actress, who exemplifies the spirit of picking the finest in jewellery. The 40 second Ad film portrays her as a fervent shopper who enjoys every moment of the unique ‘Try At Home’ experience offered to her by the jewellery brand before making her purchase. Key aspects that grab the viewer’s attention include the element of convenience and a choice of the trendiest designs in contemporary fine jewellery offered by the brand.

    Apart from being present across all leading television channels, the campaign will be visible in Print, Digital and Social Media outlets with OOH presence in select cities.

    Narrative: The film opens with Alia in a plush room with a vanity mirror and a BlueStone.com jewellery box that is the center of her admiration. She picks a pair of earrings and tries them on, while taking a sophisticated glance in the mirror and pulls her hair up to make herself look elegant with a queen like dignity in her manner. She goes on to try more earrings, a necklace, perhaps a bracelet and adorns different personalities in the mirror with each try. All along, a gentleman from BlueStone.com waits patiently outside her door, he is the brand’s ‘Try At Home’ executive. An assistant reminds Alia about the gentleman and she returns to him only to be fascinated by another selection of jewellery that catches her attention. She takes off once more unhurried and dignified to her room to try the new collection as the executive settles back in his chair.

    The TVC has been conceptualized and executed by Contract Advertising in association with Dharma 2.0 and the music has been directed by Abhishek Arora.

    BlueStone.com founder and CEO Gaurav Singh Kushwaha said, “Our ‘Try At Home’ service has helped us connect with our customers at a personal level, raising the bar on the overall jewellery shopping experience. Over 20% of our consumers shop from us by trying on the jewellery at the comfort of their homes and we intend to boost this unique service further. Alia’s role as a vivacious and style conscious shopper, perfectly complements the profile of our young and dynamic consumers, who will identify with her experience.”

    Contract Advertising national creative director Ashish Chakravarty said, “When we were told about BlueStone’s try at home service the ladies at the agency wasted no time in requesting for a trial. There was a conference room full of girls and jewellery, all in the name of research of course. Their delight and excitement at the gold coming over is what led us to this fun space of Alia goofing around with jewellery in complete privacy. Something one can’t do in a showroom under the glare of sales people and spotlights. The styling, Alia’s effortless charm and of course the awareness of the service via this spot will have a lot of fine jewellery home delivered and tried on in the near future, we feel sure.”

    Dharma 2.0 director Shakun Batra said “While every other brand wants to focus only on beauty, they were most keen on the story and fun quotient of the ad.” Dharma 2.0 producer Punit Malhotra said “It was a fun campaign. I think it’s this energy that translates to the film as well.”

  • Skechers signs on Yasmin Karachiwala

    MUMBAI: Bollywood celebrity fitness trainer Yasmin Karachiwala has been signed by Skechers, the sports lifestyle brand known for its high-performance shoes. Karachiwala, with her experience, will now represent Skechers as their fitness expert in India.

    Karachiwala has been part of the fitness industry for 22 years and has trained Bollywood big-wigs like Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt and lot more. Apart from owning a gym-body image in the Mumbai suburbs, she is also the first BASI certified pilates instructor in India and established the first pilates studio in Mumbai.

    As a fitness expert for Skechers, Karachiwala will be guiding the youth of today towards healthy living and will encourage them to take up a fitness regime as part of their daily lives. She will also interact with them on the importance of having a fit body and mind through the Skechers social media handles, and will also impart knowledge about using the right shoe for the right activity.

    Karachiwala says: This International footwear brand has set standards for great fitness in India and abroad. Any fitness regime is elevated by when done with the correct technique and wearing the right shoe. A good workout needs a perfect pair of shoes as a perfect companion.”

    Skechers south India CEO Rahul Vira said, “Karachiwala, as the Skechers fitness expert, she will motivate youngsters and impart knowledge on how walking, running and simple work out regime should become an indispensable part of our everyday life.”

  • Discovery’s ‘India Best Jobs’ to feature those who followed ‘inner calling’

    MUMBAI: Discovery Channel, India’s leading destination for factual entertainment, is launching a new series titled ‘India’s Best Jobs’ which will feature 13 extra ordinary individuals who followed their inner calling and turned their passion into profession. Hosted by popular actor and singer Meiyang Chang, the series decodes the careers of select trendsetters who chose unusual yet extremely successful career paths proving to the world that ‘Aaj ke India mein sab kuch mumkin hai!’. The series opens a world of possibilities and breaks myths around jobs and careers for the youth of India. The show has generated lot of advertiser interest – Bluestar Water Purifiers, Project Management Institute, Kirloskar and Abbott Healthcare have come on-board as on-air partners.

    It will premiere on July 01 and will air every Saturday at 8pm.

    The series will feature ‘a day in the life of’ each of the individuals with Chang delving into the reasons behind their bold career choices. Each episode will answer the HOW, WHY & WHAT of these life-changing decisions and the misconceptions, ridicule, criticism that each one had to overcome to pursue their dream jobs. The series features well known personalities including RJ Naved, stand-up comedian Zakir Khan, chef Ranvir Brar, fitness trainer to the stars- Prashant Sawant and celebrity yoga instructor Anshuka Parwani, amongst others.

    Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific VP & head of real world products – South Asia Sameer Rao said, ‘India’s Best Jobs’ is an important step in our endeavor to showcase programming reflective of Indian zeitgeist. This series is a salute to the extraordinary individuals who lived their lives without limits and reveled in their passion.”

    Featured artists:

    •       RJ Naved – Star Radio jockey of a renowned FM channel, Naved is famous for playing pranks on his listeners. Interestingly, Naved discovered his passion and mastered the art of mimicking people at a very early age.

    •       Ranvir Brar- A celebrity chef, TV show host, successful restauranteur, a food stylist and an executive chef for one of India’s leading hotel chains. The episode delves into how he was inspired by the local kebab vendors in Lucknow to pursue his love for food and how he took his passion to the next level and was named as the youngest executive chef in India at a young age of 25.

    •       Prashant Sawant- A celebrity personal trainer who has been working in the fitness industry for more than two decades. The go-to trainer for Bollywood’s elite including Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. The episode will give a sneak peek into his life, both professional and personal, including views from many of his esteemed clientele, his loyal followers, his wife and other family members.

    •       Anshuka Parwani- A celebrity yoga instructor based in Mumbai. Her clientele includes Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Tushar Kapoor. She is one of the renowned aerial yoga experts in India.

    •       Zakir Khan- An Indian stand-up comedian, writer and presenter. He had won Comedy Central’s India’s Best Stand Up Comedian competition and rose to fame in 2012.

    •       Avi and Anita Malik – An ex-Indian Air Force fighter pilot, Avi Malik, along with his wife Anita Malik, founded Temple Pilots paragliding club. Over the past 18 years, they have taught paragliding skills to over 500 individuals. They both left high-flying corporate careers to pursue what they firmly believed was their eternal calling – paragliding. Avi and Anita were the first ones to professionalize the sport in India and recently also trained a visually impaired person to complete his first ever solo flight.

    •       Manoor Sachdeva – Founder and Director of Canine Solutions Rehabilitation Centre, Manoor is a dog behaviorist and looks after as well as treats dogs with issues like anger management, excessive timidity, anti-social behavior and more. Manoor along with his wife Anjali runs this centre at their farm Phoebe’s Farm, named after their dog Phoebe. Manoor credits Phoebe for teaching him everything there is to know about handling dogs of all kinds.

    •       Siddhartha Joshi – One of India’s most successful and followed travel bloggers, who strongly believes in the power of travelling to build bridges and break down barriers. Through his blog called ‘The Wanderer’, Siddhartha shares his passion for meeting and interacting with new people while travelling. His biggest dream is that one day the world will know no boundaries, and people will be able to travel anywhere, visa-free.

    •       Vijay Singh Ajairajpura – Hailing from a Rajput family in Jaipur, biking runs in his blood. His father used to race for Jaipur Motorcycle club in the 70s and his grandfather organized the first all-India MotoX race in Jaipur in 1977. Vijay is proud of his Rajputana heritage and founded Rajputana Customs, one of the first custom motorcycle operations in the country.

    •       Akriti Khatri- Akriti always had a curious mind and a knack for investigations which led to Venus Detective agency, India’s leading female private detective agency. Her agency provides services like Pre-matrimonial, Post-matrimonial, Infidelity/Adultery, Divorce Cases, Surveillance/Follow, Missing Person, Under Cover Operations, and Loyalty Test etc.

    •       Shivang Mehta- A journalist turned PR professional; now a traveler and natural-history photographer, Shivang Mehta wears many professional hats. His love for the forests of Kumaon pushed him to leave the cozy comfort of corporate offices and start an organization Nature Wanderers with Corbett as the main area of work. An official trainer for Canon India, Shivang conducts wildlife photography workshops across India, Sri Lanka and Africa.

    •       Harpreet Bacher- ‘The Wedding Story’ is the brain-child of Mumbai-based photographer and cinematographer Harpreet Bachher. Filming, photographing, editing and showcasing a crisp cinematic record of weddings in a well-scripted, and visually stunning way is all what he seeks in his life. His clientele includes Aahana Deol, Divyanka Tripathi and many others.

  • Gionee unveils campaign by Mullen Lintas

    MUMBAI: As a smartphone player that harbors ambitions of captivating the populace of this country with its offerings, Gionee has done itself proud by emerging a hot favorite amongst other emerging players. In a short span of time, it has managed to cross over 1.25 crore customers and the numbers continue to rise every passing day. After the successful launch of S6s smartphone a few months ago, Gionee has announced the launch of another model called A1.

    The A1 is a great innovation from Gionee and is backed by a phenomenal design and other noteworthy attributes. While it’s loaded with best-in-class features, the idea is to launch A1 with great fanfare and make it a desirable phone in India. A1 is the first flagship model under #Selfistan and will be followed by the launch of other models under the same umbrella. The main highlight in all these models is that they will all possess a selfie flash. To announce the launch of A1 in India, Gionee has launched a new campaign starring brand ambassador Alia Bhatt. The campaign beats everything done in the past and is well placed to take the world of ‘selfie’ way forward.

    Mullen Lintas Delhi has developed an idea called “#Selfiestan”, which is how an ideal world should be. A world of equals and a world where people come closer to each other, where one can express their emotions freely and connect with strangers. ‘#Selfiestan’ as an idea is aimed to differentiate Gionee A1 from any comparison in the world of selfies. Incidentally, Gionee A1 also happens to be great on battery life and other features.

    Gionee India MD Arvind R Vohra said: “The Gionee A1 is the new language of fun, laughter and sharing. As we launch the new device in India, we want to offer a new expression to young users today. #Selfiestan is the embodiment of a world where people can express themselves freely and showcase their love for selfies. We at Gionee India are proud to bring our own version of selfies to India with the #Selfiestan campaign. The film reflects the unique concept perfectly.”

    The campaign has been made exciting by roping in Alia Bhatt, one of the brand ambassadors of Gionee. Alia Bhatt has done a commendable job in driving the idea of ‘Selfiestan’ further. Mullen Lintas Delhi has designed the campaign to leverage the uniqueness of the content. Given that it’s a new launch of the phone, the campaign starts with a teaser on Outdoors and TV and is backed by aggressive drive across Print, Digital, Radio and Activation as well.

    Alia Bhatt said: “#Selfiestan is truly a special world where you and I can express ourselves freely through selfies. It is one big tribe of selfie lovers who change the notion of selfies being just a narcissistic form of expression to a more inclusive ‘smile-and-the-world-will-smile-with-you’ kind of place. A kind of place where all of us can coexist feeling really amazing, all the time! So I welcome you all to Selfiestan!”

    Mullen Lintas chairman & CCO Amer Jaleel said: “While other brands are still saying why they are good for Selfies, Gionee chooses to take the larger platform, that of owning the world of Selfies, which we branded as #Selfiestan. It is the equivalent of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ anthem for today”.

  • ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ is on its way to becoming a hit

    The time period for the release of Badrinath Ki Dulhania was dicey to say the least. The film was released bang in the middle of days of election results in the most politically volatile states of the North India, board exams and the pre-Holi Friday. Also, cinema halls are closed till mid-noon on Holi day and one or two shows are cancelled across most cinemas.

    Being a youth-oriented musical romance, the film could have drawn and deserved a better opening response over the weekend. The film did have a sagging second half till it picks up later towards the end. But, the young pair of Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt had a great chemistry going, and the film sustained all the onslaughts best as it could.

    Badrinath Ki Dulhania opened on Friday with about Rs 12 crore, improving a little by little over Saturday and Sunday. Being the solo release and an entertainer helped. The film collected Rs 54.7 crore in its extended weekend of four days.

    *Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai has managed a poor Rs 20 lakh in its first week.

    *Commando 2, a forced sequel, had nothing to offer except action by Vidyut Jammwal. He may be an ace martial arts exponent but how many times can one watch the same person doing same action sequences? What people prefer is stunts and that, just about every hero seems to be doing, thanks to special effects.

    The film, which did Rs 14.6 crore business during its first three days, managed to add little over seven crore for rest of the four days to close its first week with Rs 21.8 crore.

    *Rangoon adds to its misery as the film dropped Rs 19.1 crore in first week to Rs 65 lakh in its second week. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 19.75 crore which, for all practical purposes, is the film’s lifetime business.

    *The Attack On Ghazi continued to add bit by bit to the collections. The film collected Rs 2.5 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 17.95 crore.

    *Jolly LLB has collected Rs 2.4 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 106.2 crore.

  • Badrinath Ki Dulhania: Part fun, part dull

    Director Shashank Khaitan seems to be creating a franchise of his own as he comes back with ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ after his earlier film, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. This film too starts off in Hindi belt but later traverses to Singapore to break the monotony.

    In the process, Badrinath Ki Dulhania also heavily promotes the woman’s cause, her independence and right to choose.

    Varun Dhawan’s character is a barely educated lad from Jhansi working as a recovery man for his well-off but steadfast and old-fashioned father played by Rituraj Singh. Singh’s character considers himself lucky. Since he has sired two sons, daughters, according to him, are a liability. He does not care if his sons love some girl, they have to marry according to his wishes and the dowry that the girl brings is his prime consideration.

    Accordingly, his elder son, Yash Sinha’s character had to sacrifice his love and marry Shweta Basu Prasad’s character who brought along a car showroom besides cash as dowry. She is well-educated but a working woman is no-no for Rituraj.

    Varun joins the baraat of his friend headed for Kota. There, he spots Alia Bhatt, also a guest, and instantly falls for her. It is a one-sided love as Alia is a headstrong and independent girl who wants to work to bring her middle-class family out of a tight financial situation. Also, Alia has an elder sister, played by Aakanksha Singh, who, according to tradition, has to marry first.

    Nice guy that he is, Varun decides to help Alia and her family find a suitor for Aakanksha on the condition that Alia will marry him in the same mandap. Varun does manage to find a match for Aakanksha and the wedding day is decided.

    Things don’t go as planned, however, and Varun has to chase Alia all over again.

    Enjoyable so far, the film loses pace as the location shifts to Singapore where Alia has taken up a career in an airline. Varun is left to do a Devdas act, slipping into a bout of self-pity. This part slows down the film considerably for a while before it comes back into some fun and songs. The climax is interesting while it also delivering a message.

    The script is penned keeping in mind that the theme is youth-oriented and romance, with light moments aplenty, especially in the first part. The second half needed to be spruced up. Direction is competent and the songs are well placed.

    The film has a popular musical score with Humsafar…..,Rokenaruke…. Tenutakiyabina…. being hummable while the title song has a sectional appeal. The remixed Tammatamma… is already popular number from the film Thanedaar (1989). Cinematography is good.

    Varun plays his carefree character with élan. Alia makes a good pair with him, and acts well. Sahil Vaid makes a mark. Rituraj is impressive. Yash, Shweta and Aakanksha land good support.

    Otherwise a plus film, Badri Ki Dulhania will have to contend with pre-Holi weekend which affects collections, especially in the Hindi belt, board exams and election results aftereffects for next few days.

    Producers: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar.

    Director: Shashank Khaitan.

    Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Gauahar Khan, Mohit Marwah, Aakanksha Singh.

  • Digital campaign: Red Chillies wins ‘CMO Asia’ awards

    MUMBAI: Red Chillies Entertainment bagged two awards for Dear Zindagi’s brilliantly executed digital marketing campaign at the CMO Asia’s Social Media Marketing Awards. The marketing team won two titles for the film that included- ‘Best Viral Marketing Campaign’ & ‘Best Use Of Social Media In Entertainment Industry’.

    The film released on 25 November 2016 and was very well received by the audience across the world. Starring Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan, the film tracks the story of a 20s something girl trying to figure out her life. It reflects the mind space of today’s youngsters and they formed the target audience of the film. The digital medium became a preferred marketing platform to reach out and appeal to the young, urban millennial.

    Red Chillies is always known to break the paradigm of movie marketing and the makers of the film decided to do away with releasing a single trailer and launched Dear Zindagi Takes – 5 short teasers which gives unique insights about the movie. These were named very uniquely to capture the essence of each video and main protagonist’s life aspects.

    Talking about the win at CMO Asia awards, Red Chillies Entertainment head of marketing Binda Dey said, “The strategy was to focus on building a more casual and relatable communication to engage the digital natives. The proposition was communicated through narratives and storytelling instead of in-your-face promotions across all innovations and integrations, that led to organic share-ability and word of mouth”

    Red Chillies Entertainment, along with their digital agency, Flarepath made use of various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder and YouTube to generate awareness and buzz among the target audience and amplified it with a blogger outreach program.

    Dear Zindagi was the first Bollywood film ever to collaborate with the popular dating platform Tinder where the main protagonist’s profile was launched and users who matched were given a chance to party with Alia Bhatt.

    Since the consumption of video content on the Internet is huge amongst Indian millennials; the marketing team associated with different content creators including TVF, Culture Machine, ScoopWhoop, Tinder and Miss Malini to launch multiple promotional videos.

    Overall, the campaign created 2.6 billion + impressions only across various social platforms. In the campaign period of 49 days, there were a total of 29 Twitter trends including India and Worldwide. These numbers and the awards certainly prove that content and creative experimentation can change the dynamics of any given campaign.

  • After Alia, Gionee ropes in Virat Kohli

    After Alia, Gionee ropes in Virat Kohli

    MUMBAI: Gionee clocks 1.20 cr customers in India and announced ace cricketer and the captain of the Indian Cricket Team Virat Kohli as their new brand ambassador.

    Kohli will soon be seen in the upcoming campaign of Gionee, and will also be actively involved in a host of innovative marketing and customer experience initiatives of the brand. Gionee had roped in actor Alia Bhatt as it’s brand ambassador a few months ago and he is joining her in helping the brand touch new heights.

    The company grew twice as much as the last fiscal year and has ambitious targets for this year as well. It undertook several strategic steps in recent times to further consolidate it’s position. It rolled out a global re-branding exercise with a new logo and tagline, “Make Smiles” along with signing on an MoU to put up it’s own manufacturing unit in India.

    The association with Virat Kohli will further enable the brand to carry forward it’s high decibel visibility and connect.

    On the partnership, Gionee India country CEO and MD Arvind.R Vohra said “ India is one of the fastest growing young economies in the world and Gionee takes immense pride in having India’s biggest youth icons Virat Kohli and Alia Bhatt as its brand endorsers. With the two of the most loved icons in India our motto of Making Smiles is bound to create a new benchmark across billions of young hearts.”

    On the association, Kohli said “I play my game with dignity and passion and apply the same rule in choosing my partnerships. Gionee comes across as a brand that is fueled by passion, determination and focus to innovate and perform and with all of this have it’s heart in the right place by giving back to society. Thus, I feel and believe that this association will go a long way. I am very excited to start this journey with Gionee.”