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Tag: Anuraag Srivastava

  • Anuraag Srivastava appointed as CEO of Rainshine Entertainment, India

    Anuraag Srivastava appointed as CEO of Rainshine Entertainment, India

    New Delhi:  Rainshine Global, a US-based diversified media and entertainment company on Thursday announced the elevation of Anuraag Srivastava as the CEO of Rainshine Entertainment, India to drive its ambitious growth in the country. In addition, the company is expanding its content offerings globally and formally launching a new subsidiary – Rainshine Media Fintech.

    Rainshine Global will expand its global footprint by focusing on creating shows and films based on Indian and global themes for audiences outside India. It has already established teams and partnerships in the US, and the UK to curate content on universally relatable ideas and topics to attract viewers globally.

    Rainshine Entertainment (India) will leverage the escalating adoption of digital content in the country. Through strategic collaborations, acquisitions, and syndication it will introduce fresh content and expand its offerings to a larger audience. It will create a wide spectrum of short-form and long-form audio & video content ranging from podcasts, scripted series, feature films, and documentaries.

    Hasmukh on Netflix, Humble Politician Nograj on Amazon Prime Video, Men Without Music – an audio crime series on Audible, HoopNation – a docu-series on YouTube, Chattis aur Maina on Disney+ Hotstar, and the National Award-winning short documentary Amoli are part of the concepts and formats that the company has brought out. Rainshine’s owned and partner content studios like CM Studios, FirstAction, Manzar Studios, Rainbox Studios, Weirdass Comedy, and Indian operations of Rainshine Animation, will now be managed under this entity.      

    Rainshine Media Fintech, the new subsidiary will focus on developing a variety of financing options ranging from media credit and digital tokens created on Rainshine’s proprietary Blockchain platform. With a streamlined structuring, the company will delve and accelerate growth by diversifying and innovating in newer avenues as a pioneer in the media and entertainment industry. 

    Sharing his thoughts, Rainshine Global, chairman and CEO, Neeraj Bhargava said, “Our business in India is growing at a rapid pace. We have been successful in creating and exploring interesting formats. We are constantly trying to innovate and come up with fresh and unique ideas for feature films, shows in the digital & TV format, and podcasts. Anuraag has led this admirably and integrated our partner companies into a comprehensive offering. We have very high expectations of growth here and I am excited to have him take the lead for our business in India.”

    He further added that the company is also preparing for expansion in other areas, particularly global content and media financing.

    Talking about his new role, Srivastava said, “I am truly excited to be a part of Rainshine Entertainment (India)’s next chapter and thank Neeraj and the Rainshine Board for their confidence in me. We are growing rapidly, adding new capabilities, and as an industry are still in the early phase of growth in India. I am committed to building a company with a stellar team. Our focus will be on developing a reputation for great content and building our profile as an industry leader.”

  • Max Fashion partners with Lightstream for #MaxHoliApnoWali campaign

    Max Fashion partners with Lightstream for #MaxHoliApnoWali campaign

    MUMBAI: With Holi 2020 right around the corner, Max Fashion, the most profitable leading value fashion retail brand, released a vibrant new campaign, #MaxHoliApnoWali.

    Conceptualised and created by Lightstream, the branded content studio owned by Rainshine Entertainment, the ad targets the Hindi speaking markets of UP, Bihar, and Jharkhand who are known to purchase new clothes during this time. The campaign has been rolled out in all three states, and across the brand’s digital platforms and in cinemas.

    The ad portrays a typical Indian family based in Lucknow, where two sisters are seen teasing their younger brother, about throwing colour on him on Holi. In a heart-warming turn of events, the sisters surprise him with a beautiful Max Fashion Holi collection outfit instead. The campaign showcases the true festive feeling of togetherness and celebrating with your loved ones.

    Speaking on the campaign, Max Fashion SVP marketing Jiten Mahendra said, “Customer engagement is the core of our communication strategy. Despite us operating in 17 international markets, for us connecting through regional connect is extremely critical and in our endeavour to create brand resonance we selected Holi as an occasion. Like the brand mission of democratising fashion, Holi is also an event which blurs the differences across age, caste and communities. Our campaign objective is to capture real moments and bring a smile on our customer’s face.”

    Lightstream CEO Anuraag Srivastava said, “Holi is a widely celebrated festival in India, expressed through the beauty of colours. With the festival coming up next month, Max Fashion wanted to develop something meaningful that captures the true spirit of togetherness. We had the pleasure of working closely with them to conceptualise and translate this vision into a reality. Through this campaign, we were able to portray the celebrations in a quintessentially middle-class family, making it relatable for people across the target cities.”

  • Industry leaders provide valuable insights on content creation at The Content Hub 2020

    Industry leaders provide valuable insights on content creation at The Content Hub 2020

    MUMBAI: The fourth edition of The Content Hub 2020, presented by Indiantelevision.com, saw a gala turnout with scores of people eager to hear industry leaders speak about content and the way forward. While the first part of the day saw discussions on digital content and the second half went into understanding storytelling, research and OTT format, the last part saw a mix of audio content, movies and digital transformation.

    Before we venture into day two, here’s a wrap of what happened yesterday.

    The audio content business

    Rainshine Entertainment co-founder and COO Anuraag Srivastava in a fireside chat with Monisha Singh Katial explored the opportunity of the podcast business. The audio and podcast side is a new venture for the company where it dedicatedly has two verticals looking after AVOD and SVOD services.

    Srivastava believes the potential gap between the audience belonging to rural and urban space is increasing because the content on television is not heard on the radio anymore. So, podcast is a way by which small towns can plug in through radios. "One of the things that we see here, unlike the US, is that India entirely skipped the satellite radio market where we went from short wave to FM. There was never a serious radio or anything equivalent of radio where you paid to hear good content" he mentioned.

    A new wave is taking over big screens

    Rather than relying on big B-Town stars, new-age directors, writers, scriptwriters are focusing on delivering messages through stories. At the panel ‘The role of writers and directors in developing the magic script’ at The Content Hub 2020, the panellists agreed that the audience wants new stories in a familiar way.

    Screenwriter, script consultant and advisor Anjum Rajabalia, film director, writer and producer Hansal Mehta, screenwriter and director Hitesh Kewalya, film director, writer and producer Om Raut, dialogue writer and director Sumit Arora participated in the panel.

    The panellists opined that not only we have opened up to social issues but the crucial thing is that it is being led by good writing. He also added that people have begun realising the importance of a good script. The panellists also agreed that storytelling needs to be relooked at and constantly evolve. According to them, if the most politically, socially relevant and taboo topics can be told in a manner that can touch hearts, then stories will travel far. 

    Decoding new-age content

    The last couple of years have seen a huge evolution of content with the shifting paradigm. At The Content Hub 2020, the creators who are at the forefront of the change discussed the way forward and what are the new initiatives they are taking.

    Actor and creator Mallika Dua said she is looking at long-format content as well. She has been more into short format content. She also added that spending quality time online should be the focus rather than random scrolling. Pocket Aces founder Anirudh Pandita, who in a lighter note said that their mission is to solve boredom in India, mentioned that he is looking at two new segments.

    OML Entertainment chief executive officer Gunjan Arya said that working with creators and growing platforms have opened up more opportunities. OML is looking at making Comicstaan in Tamil. It is also working with OTT platforms to get content outside India.

    YouTube partnerships director Satya Raghavan said that while there is the platform’s traditional advertising-driven business, now it is also looking at subscription business including YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, etc. He also added that some partners can sell their own inventory on the platform which is another revenue stream. TVF content and business global head Rahul Sarangi spoke about the creator’s new focus in vernacular languages and output deals with major OTT platforms.

    Fireworks India CEO Sunil Nair said that it would not depend on influencers-based content. He also added that it’s not necessary for short-format apps to do cringy content.

    Digital content, self-censorship and more 

    Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair took the stage with House of Cheer founder Raj Nayak to discuss the realm of TV and OTT content. Nair said that this trend of pushing everything to digital-first will not allow enough revenue to come through. Instead, we must follow the US approach of first releasing movies in the theatre and then giving them out on DVD or digital.

    When it comes to series-based content, Nair said that digital benefits in giving the user the power to decide rather than the broadcaster deciding for them. That's why international content is being consumed with subtitles. TV, though it was successful, it was a one-way street.

    Nayak posed a question on the need for self-censorship and whether it will kill creativity. To that Nair responded that self-regulation is a tricky area and people are finding innovative ways to tackle that. He also added that people realise that if they don't self-censor, they will face repercussions.

    Movies and their success

    The success of a film is never planned, it happens. This was the unanimous response of the panel moderated by Talkietive Content Creators co-founder Priyanka Sinha Jha, with panellists Reliance Entertainment group chief executive officer Shibasish Sarkar, Azure Entertainment chief executive officer Sunir Kheterpal and Zee Studios chief executive officer Shariq Patel.

    The panellists were of the view that the emotions embodied in the story of the film resonate with the audience then it definitely creates a market for itself. And, this is the biggest reason why Dangal and Bahubali both part one and two received huge success in the foreign markets like China.

    Moreover, the panellists also echoed the same view that the cost of talent is never sustainable. However, there is also value related to the face and that eventually ends up generating more revenue.

    There’s a market for everything and the business of films and content is here to stay no matter what platform it is released on.

    Stay tuned with us for more updates from day 2 of The Content Hub 2020.

    Day 1 Highlights

    The Content Hub 2020: An enriching and engaging first day

    The Content Hub 2020: Creators emphasise on importance of content quality over formats

    Check out the gallery from Day 1 of The Content Hub 2020