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Tag: Amitabh Bachchan

  • Amitabh Bachchan lends vocals for Pro Kabaddi League promo

    Amitabh Bachchan lends vocals for Pro Kabaddi League promo

    MUMBAI: The second season of Star Sports’ Pro Kabaddi League is set to kickstart on 18 July, 2015 and Star India has roped in none other than Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan to lend his baritone voice to its new commercial. 

     

    The iconic actor, who has an inimitable voice, has composed and sung the latest commercial of Pro Kabaddi League. 

     

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, “Star has a deep and abiding commitment to growing the sport of Kabaddi. The inaugural season introduced the sport in an aspirational and cool avatar. We are delighted to partner with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan for the second season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, to help galvanize the sport across the nation.” 

     

    Bachchan added, “The early years of one’s life are the moments deeply ingrained in us. Kabaddi formed an integral part of our daily sport. When Star asked me for my participation in its promotion under Pro Kabaddi, I readily agreed for one simple reason – an opportunity to relive our younger exciting days. The composition of the song, its tune and its singing by me, has been an absolute delight. During its recording, helped by music director Aadesh Srivastava, I actually felt I was playing the game.”

     

    The promotional film for Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, takes forward the #LePanga narrative in the form of a peppy, energetic and fast paced Bachchan song. The underlying visuals have superlative game and in action portraits of the heroes of the sport. What better booster than the baritone the country adores? This was the thought that motivated the very words of the film penned by India’s leading adman Ogilvy and Mather executive chairman and national creative director Piyush Pandey.

     

    Highlighting the concept, Pandey asserted, “The idea was to combine the martial energy of the great India sport with the great Indian tradition of ‘Veer Ras,’ one of the nine emotions or ‘Navrasas’ of our culture. With a sense of fun and fire, that is how I wrote this song. Thereafter Mr. Bachchan took over. He composed the music, sang the song and created a legendary track.”

     

    Star Sports Pro Kabaddi will be telecast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2 in English; Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD3 and Star Gold in Hindi; Maa Movies in Telugu; Suvarna Plus in Kannada and Star Pravah in Marathi.

  • Zee Classic to air cult favourite ‘Sholay’ for the first time

    Zee Classic to air cult favourite ‘Sholay’ for the first time

    MUMBAI: Even after 40 years of its release, the characters and dialogues of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay are etched into our memories. Be it Basanti chatting away nines to the dozen but at the end claiming breathlessly, ‘Kyunke mujhe befuzool baat karne ki aadat to hai nahin’ or Gabbar Singh’s booming voice philosophizing, ‘Jo darr gaya samjho margaya’ or the sound of the swing squeaking after the dacoits have inflicted their reign of terror on the household of Thakur Baldev Singh, the movie continues to be a favourite throughout generations. Bringing alive its core proposition – ‘Woh Zamaana, Kare Deewana’ – Zee Classic brings the greatest epic ever told with the finest starcast ever assembled on Saturday, 20 June at 7:30 pm.

     

    The movie starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan in lead roles holds a first-time record of running successfully for five years at Mumbai’s Minerva theatre. Not many know that initially Dharmendra was keen to play the role of Thakur Baldev Singh, which was immortalised by Sanjeev Kumar. He agreed to play Veeru only when the director told him, if he didn’t do it, Sanjeev Kumar would get the part and Basanti, too. Since Sanjeev Kumar had just proposed marriage to Hema Malini, Dharmendra didn’t want him sharing screen space with her let alone romancing her. And as they say rest is history, he quickly took on Veeru’s role.

     

    During the making of Sholay, four of the leads became romantically involved. While Amitabh Bachchan married Jaya Bhaduri four months before filming started, Dharmendra had begun wooing Hema Malini during their earlier film Seeta Aur Geeta and used the location of Sholay to help further his case. During their romantic scenes, he would pay the light boys to spoil the shot, thereby ensuring retakes.

     

    Exalted more than a religious scriptures for characterisation in Bollywood, Sholay tells a story of Amitabh Bachchan (Jai) and Dharmendra (Veeru) the two outlaws hired by a traumatized police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to avenge the brutal murder of his family by Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), the most feared villain in Hindi film.

     

    Everything about Sholay attained classic status and quickly entered the pop culture mainstream: the music by R.D. Burman, the dialogue by Salim-Javed and the characters, who also include garrulous female horse cart driver Basanti (Hema Malini) and the wistful widow Radha (Jaya Bhaduri). 

  • Disney Channel snaps up Amitabh Bachchan’s animated series ‘Astra Force’

    Disney Channel snaps up Amitabh Bachchan’s animated series ‘Astra Force’

    MUMBAI: Graphic India and Disney Channel have joined hands with Amitabh Bachchan to produce a 52-episode animated series titled Astra Force. 

     

    The series created by Bachchan and Graphic India CEO Sharad Devarajan is slated to air on Disney Channel India in 2017.

     

    “I am truly excited to be collaborating with my friends Devarajan at Graphic India and Siddharth Roy Kapur at Disney to launch this exciting new superhero series, Astra Force,” said Bachchan. “In the same way animation from other markets has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide, it’s now India’s time to create new heroes and animated shows to spark the imaginations of children all across the world.”

     

    A funny and fast-paced, action-adventure series, filled with laughs and thrills, it tells the story of a mythical hero from a distant world, who was stranded on Earth millions of years ago after an epic space battle.

     

    When eight-year old brother and sister twins accidentally awaken the mythical superhero from his long hibernation, they must teach him about our modern world and join Astra to save the universe from a new wave of giant monsters and intergalactic threats. If monsters weren’t enough, Astra’s new young friends also have to hide the superhero from their parents and deal with Astra’s insatiable hunger for modern desserts after an eternity spent in hibernation.

     

    “At Disney, we believe in showcasing great stories with compelling characters that are loved by our audiences. It is imperative to get the local texture right for any story to resonate and emotionally connect with the viewers. With Bachchan associating with Graphics India and Disney Channel India on Astra Force, we will be bringing an interesting facet to storytelling in the local animation space,” said Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur.

     

    “Bachchan is a real life superhero to millions, including myself, so it’s no surprise that he is the perfect person to become immortalized in this new animated avatar,” added Devarajan. “The opportunity to collaborate with Bachchan on Astra Force is made that much stronger by partnering with Disney, a company whose creativity and storytelling I have admired all my life.”

     

    Devarajan is the producer of the series along with Graphic India SVP creative Jeevan J. Kang who is overseeing visual development, character design and art for the project. Graphic’s previous animated superhero, Chakra The Invincible, was created with Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Avengers) and received over 30 million views globally on Rovio’s ToonsTV platform available through the Angry Birds app.

     

    In addition to the partnership with Disney Channel India, Graphic India will also be launching the character in a series of digital and print comic books available through a special Facebook comic app through Bachchan’s large social media following.

  • Zee Cinema inks long term ad sponsorship deal with Rubicon in UK

    Zee Cinema inks long term ad sponsorship deal with Rubicon in UK

    MUMBAI: Moving away from the traditional ad spots during programming, Zee Cinema has inked a long-term contract with Rubicon in the UK and will create exclusive properties suiting the client’s requirements.

     

    The first property under Zee Cinema’s special sponsorship package for the brand will be called ‘Rubicon Amitabh Special’ and will showcase blockbuster movies starring the living legend Amitabh Bachchan once every month.

     

    The second property named ‘Rubicon Family Movie Nights’ will be a bi-weekly property showcasing yesteryear classics and latest superhits on Wednesdays and Sundays respectively. Rubicon will get exclusive sponsorship for these properties.

     

    Zee Network head of sales Vasdev Tuli said, “This is the very first time Zee Cinema has created a bespoke partnership like this. We’re really excited about our partnership with Rubicon, a brand with such a great profile with our viewers.”

     

    AG Barr head of marketing Adrian Troy added, “Rubicon has been a favourite amongst South Asian families for over 30 years. This partnership does more that target family moments, it helps Asian mums create those moments too.”

     

    OMG Ethnic director Debarshi Pandit said, “We wanted this partnership’s aim to not just associate Rubicon with family moments, but actively bring the family together while watching their favourite films on Zee Cinema.”

  • Zee Classic to air ‘Deewaar’

    Zee Classic to air ‘Deewaar’

    MUMBAI: Zee Classic that believes in ‘Woh Zamaana Kare Deewana’ is all set to quench the audiences thirst for classic cinema. The channel brings the ultimate family drama ‘Deewaar’ starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh and Nirupa Roy this Sunday, 7 June at 2 pm.

     

    Written by Salim- Javed and directed by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra’s ‘Deewaar’ received unprecedented success. The film in totality ran for over 100 weeks and was one of the only 13 films that grossed over Rs one crore mark in every territory across India between 1970s-1980s. Considered among the top 10 money-spinners of the industry, ‘Deewaar’ was a trend setter in true sense. Starting from iconic dialogues such as ‘Mere Paaas Maa Hai’ to ‘Main aaj bhi phenke huye paise nahi uthatha’ the film turned out to be the plinth for Amitabh Bachchan’s thriving stardom.

     

    Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi (Shashi Kapoor) are two brothers who were raised in poor conditions by their formidable mother (Nirupa Roy).  However dire social circumstances lead both brothers to follow different life choices and career paths. Where, Vijay turns out to be a shrewd criminal, Ravi chooses to be a police inspector assigned to locate lawbreakers. Vijay burnt with anger for the social injustice caused by the society on his family especially his mother wants to provide her with all the luxuries of life. And thus begins a fundamental battle of the righteous ideologies.

     

    Who will win? Will Ravi bring Vijay to justice?

  • NDTV Prime to air online series ‘The Big Indian Picture T?te-?-T?te’

    NDTV Prime to air online series ‘The Big Indian Picture T?te-?-T?te’

    MUMBAI: Continuing their efforts of bringing the path-breaking independent publishers to the fore, NDTV Prime is all set to launch a brand new series, The Big Indian Picture T?te-?-T?te.

     

    Premiering on Monday, 1 June at 9 pm the show will aim at unraveling the mysterious lives of Bollywood personalities.

     

    The Big Indian Pictures T?te-?-T?te will feature in-depth and intimate interviews of film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. The series will be hosted by the multi- talented editor-in-chief of The Big Indian Picture, Pragya Tiwari. Shot in real locations, the show will bring to light the real star from the reel star.

     

    The premier episode on 1 June at 9 pm will see Pragya Tiwari digging deep into the personal life of the only fourth generation star of bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor. In this exhaustive interview he dissects his life and career journey, relationships and friendships. We will also see him talking about how he sees himself and how he thinks the world sees him.

     

    Some of the other celebrities featuring on the show will be Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ayushmann Khurrana, Kalki Koechlin, Farah Khan, Huma Querishi and many more.

  • Amitabh Bachchan to promote DD Kisan

    Amitabh Bachchan to promote DD Kisan

    NEW DELHI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has undertaken scores of public service advertising on Doordarshan, has now been made the brand ambassador for the pubcaster’s latest venture, DD Kisan.

     

    Prasar Bharti additional director general Ranjan Mukherjee, who heads the channel confirmed the same to indiantelevision.com.

     

    Bachchan will feature prominently in a Doordarshan campaign to create greater awareness for the channel.

     

    DD sources confirmed that the actor had agreed to promote the channel as the specific request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also instrumental in appointing Bachchan as the brand ambassador for Tourism Gujarat during his tenure as chief minister of that state.

     

    Sources further said that Bachchan would feature in audiovisual, radio jingles as well as field publicity.

     

    However, while he is reported to be excited about the association, a formal announcement will be made later.

     

    Interestingly, Bachchan had himself registered as a farmer in 2010 when he bought land in Muzzaffar nagar village of Kakori, 23 km from Lucknow.  

     

    Meanwhile, DD Kisan has already entered into tie-ups with the Indian Meteorological Department and several agricultural institutions and scientists to provide up-to-date information. 

  • Amitabh Bachchan & family invest $71 million in Ziddu.com

    Amitabh Bachchan & family invest $71 million in Ziddu.com

    MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan along with his family have made their first significant equity investment in an overseas company. The Bachchans have invested $71 million (approx Rs 450 crore) in acquiring a minority stake in Singapore’s Meridian Tech Pte Ltd, which owns Ziddu.com.

     

    Ziddu.com is a free cloud storage, global wallet, social commerce and social gaming platform startup. 

     

    The firm, which also offers a micro payment platform, was founded five years ago by Venkata Srinivas Meenavalli. 

     

    “Mr Amitabh Bachchan and his family have invested in Ziddu.com at a valuation of around $71 million,” said Meenavalli.

     

    “I’m very happy and excited that they have reposed confidence and trust in Ziddu.com,” he added. 

     

    According to Google Analytics, Ziddu is among the top five file-sharing sites across the world, generating 1.2 billion page views with visitors from more than 225 countries. The company logged revenues of $20 million in calendar year 2014. 

     

    The deal was executed on 18 May, 2015.

  • ‘Piku’ piques brands’ interest for product placement

    ‘Piku’ piques brands’ interest for product placement

    MUMBAI: As many as six brands, a couple of them first timers, have inked a product placement deal with Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) recently released film Piku, which is directed by ShoojitSircar and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan.

     

    The six brands namely Amul, Syska, Himalayan Water, PriyagoldSnakker, Jaypee Greens, and Mitashi have been placed it in the movie without disrupting the flow of the story. Of these, Syska and Himalyan Water are debutants in the space of product placement in movies.

     

    Each of these brands communicates and highlights different aspects of the film. While Amul takes up the family space with its sub-brands Amul Milk and Amul Ice-cream, Syska talks about how gadgets help in keep us going in our busy lives via their Bluetooth and Power Bank Range. Himalayan Water, on the other hand, talks about the mantra of living natural in our ever so busy life, whereas PriyagoldSnakker talks about relishing the small and sweet moments of life.

     

    The brands have also extended their partnership into a marketing tie-up on the ATL & BTL mediums. Brands like Amul, Syska, Priyagold Snakker and Mitashi have created co-branded TV spots and played it across various music, news, sports and general entertainment channels (GECs).

     

    PriyagoldSnakker also created special Piku Chocolate Packs, which are being sold in the market. Himalayan Water supported the film via BTL promotions across their retail chains and also created special Piku Neck Tags for their bottles.

     

    Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) managing director R S Sodhisaid, “We are happy to have associated with this fantastic, slice-of-life, family based, fun film. The association of the film with our most popular milk and ice-cream brand will appeal to all audiences across the nation. We have had several appropriate film associations in the past, which helped us connect with the audience in a better manner. We wish the movie all success.”

     

    SSK Group of Companies director Rajesh Uttamchandani added, “Tie-ip with multi-starrer movie Pikuhas taken our brand to the next level and with Irrfan Khan as our brand ambassador and a leading protagonist in the movie, it makes this an apt choice. Aww! Entertainment has played a phenomenal role in making this journey successful.”

     

    MSM motion pictures senior vice president revenues and marketing Vivek Krishnani said “Piku is uniquely positioned because it has appeal across different age groups, therefore it is important for the film to travel to diverse audiences across the country. The film has garnered interest across a cross section of brands who have found Piku to be an ideal platform to reach out to their consumers, who are also movie going audiences. We are glad to have Aww! Entertainment as one of our key agencies that have led some of our critical brand associations.”

  • ‘Piku’ peaks at box office; earns Rs 25.22 crore

    ‘Piku’ peaks at box office; earns Rs 25.22 crore

    MUMBAI: The Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan starrer Piku might have started slow at the box office on Friday but interest was piqued amongst movie goers as it earned positive word of mouth. Piku managed to gain patrons during later shows on Friday. The movie’s wheels picked up additional “motion” on Saturday and Sunday.

     
    The film improved by leaps and bounds with Rs 5.32 crore collections on Friday, Rs 8.7 crore on Saturday and Rs 11.2 crore on Sunday to take its opening weekend figure to Rs 25.22 crore.

    Kuch Kuch Locha Hai proves a dud with no takers. Expecting Ram Kapoor and Sunny Leone to sell high priced tickets came as a cropper. The audience can’t be taken for granted with half-baked ideas. The film managed to collect just about Rs 2.4 crore in its first weekend.

     
    Sabki Bajegi Band manages a meager Rs 20 lakh in its first week. Proves a disaster.

    Gabbar Is Back backfires. The film is the worst among recent Akshay Kumar releases and the idea to cash in on famous Gabbar character from Sholay and its brand equity fails. The film stays afloat thanks to a four day weekend due to holidays collecting Rs 36.6 crore in its first four days but drops thereafter ending its first week with a total of Rs 56.4 crore.

    Margarita With A Straw collects Rs 55 lakh in its third week to take its two week tally to Rs 5.8 crore.