MUMBAI: Talk about a reality check! Rise and Fall, Amazon MX Player’s latest digital blockbuster, has done everything but fall. The show has stormed into the record books as the most-watched series ever on the platform, amassing over half a billion views and holding its ground in India’s top OTT reality charts for six straight weeks.
Produced by Banijay Asia, Rise and Fall threw 15 familiar faces including Pawan Singh, Dhanashree Verma, Kubbra Sait, and Kiku Sharda into a 42-day showdown of power, ambition, and strategy. Hosted by Ashneer Grover, the series saw audiences cast more than 11 million votes before crowning Arjun Bijlani as the ultimate winner.
But the show’s real victory played out online, sparking over 10 billion social media views and a flood of memes, reactions, and fan edits. Hindi cinema and cricket stars from John Abraham to Ishan Kishan jumped on the bandwagon, amplifying the frenzy and turning the series into a cultural talking point.
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Rise and Fall aired daily on both Amazon MX Player and Sony Entertainment Television, bridging the gap between traditional TV and digital fandom. The result? Record-breaking engagement and a prime showcase for brands like Lux Cozi, Haier, and McDowell’s, which integrated into the narrative through clever placements and sponsorships.
“The success and cultural impact of Rise and Fall have been phenomenal,” said Amazon MX Player director and head Karan Bedi. “It’s proof that entertainment and brand storytelling can converge powerfully to capture the nation’s imagination.”
Banijay Asia founder and group CEO Deepak Dhar added, “This show redefined the scale and storytelling potential of Indian reality television. We wanted to blend ambition, strategy, and emotion in a format that feels fresh and globally resonant, and audiences have embraced it wholeheartedly.”
Licensed through All3Media International and originally created by Studio Lambert in the UK, Rise and Fall has cemented itself as more than just another reality show, it’s a pop-culture phenomenon and a symbol of India’s evolving entertainment landscape.
MUMBAI: Streaming is going prime time. Amazon MX Player, Amazon’s free video service, has joined hands with Sony Entertainment Television to take its buzzy new reality series Rise and Fall to a wider audience.
In a first-of-its-kind distribution pact, episodes of the show will drop daily at noon on Amazon MX Player before hitting Sony TV at 10:30 pm, giving viewers the choice of mobile-first streaming or traditional appointment viewing.
The gamble seems to be paying off. According to Ormax Media, Rise and Fall was the most-watched show in its launch week. Hosted by Ashneer Grover, the show packs 15 celebrities from across entertainment, sports and music into a towering set split between extremes: a penthouse for the “Rulers” and a spartan basement for the “Workers.” Contestants shuffle between privilege and hardship, testing their wits in a battle of ambition, survival and strategy.
Amazon MX Player, director & head of content, Amogh Dusad called the partnership “a cultural moment,” adding that the bold and disruptive format deserved the widest possible reach. Akshay Agrawal of Sony Pictures Networks India said the tie-up reflects Sony TV’s mission to bring “unique and compelling” formats to millions of households.
The show has also lined up big-brand backers, with Lux Cozi, Orient Electric, Haier, Pintola and Avvatar Whey Protein among its sponsors.
New episodes of Rise and Fall stream daily for free at 12 pm on Amazon MX Player, available via the MX app, Amazon shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV and Airtel Xstream and air at 10:30 pm on Sony Entertainment Television.
MUMBAI: When it comes to branding, Brandsjar has found the perfect recipe shake well, add creativity, and serve with a dash of personalisation. In just six years since its founding in 2019, the digital integrated creative agency has worked its way onto the radar of some of the biggest names in business, from Clean Slate Filmz and Monginis to Tourism New Zealand, Swiggy Packaging and even Maserati.
What started as the brainchild of Shlokh Sanjay Sangtani and Sidhant Sanjeev Kakar has grown into a two-city operation, with branches in Mumbai and Pune, and a portfolio spanning branding, social media marketing, performance marketing, SEO, UI/UX design, and website development.
The agency even managed to impress the notoriously tough panel of Shark Tank India with Ashneer Grover, Namita Thapar, and Aman Mittal praising Brandsjar’s smart and budget-friendly design for Inacan, a crafted canned cocktail brand. For a young shop competing in a crowded creative market, that sort of applause is worth more than a marketing award.
“Our journey has just begun, but we’re delighted with the overwhelming response from partner brands,” said Shlokh Sangtani, pointing to the firm’s insistence on tailoring every campaign so brands achieve top-of-mind recall.
Brandsjar co-founder Sidhant Kakar added that value for money and distinct brand appeal remain the agency’s guiding principles. “Being praised on Shark Tank India was a sign we’re on the right track,” he said, noting that the agency now wants to scale its formula for success to even more industries.
For a company that prides itself on shaking up conventional brand storytelling at a time when attention spans are shrinking and engagement matters more than ever, BrandsJar has managed to create something rare, a blend that works for both start-ups and global giants. And if its trajectory so far is any indication, this jar is only just being opened.
Mumbai: Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of financial technology firm BaharatPe has resigned from the company’s board as managing director and chief executive officer on Tuesday.
In his resignation letter, Grover said that he was forced to resign from the company by its investors.
Grover, in his resignation letter, wrote, “I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately I have been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect.”
“From being celebrated as the face of Indian entrepreneurship and an inspiration to the Indian youth to build their own businesses, I am now wasting myself fighting a long, lonely battle against my own investors and management. Unfortunately, in this battle, the management has lost of what is actually at stake – BharatPe,” he added in his letter.
Grover’s resignation came a few days after he lost an arbitration that he had filed against the company’s investigation against him, with an emergency arbitrator held that there was no ground to stop governance review at the firm.
Earlier in January, Grover went on a two-month leave of absence following allegations of using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank staff and fraudulent practices, had filed an arbitration plea with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) claiming the company’s investigation against him was illegal.
Last week, Madhuri Jain Grover, the former operations head of BharatPe and wife of Grover was fired from the company.
NEW DELHI: From Bollywood to cricket. That’s the path fintech brand BharatPe is taking. Bharat Pe, which is positioned as the one stop shop for the payment as well as capital needs of India’s large retailer network, has signed up 11 top cricketers as its brand ambassadors. Among them figure: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and Suresh Raina.
The 11 cricketers will be featuring in an ad campaign which is being directed by a top Hindi film director. The purpose: build BharatPe’s brand identity, apart from explaining its unique features, positioning and thought process to merchants. The sportsmen have been banded under a group which has been called BharatPe XI. The ad campaign is set to be unfurled closer to the festival period and will encompass TV, radio, OOH, digital, as well as print media.
The company, which is heavily funded by top investors like Sequoia, Beenext, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital management, Ribbit Capital, Coatue and Amplo, had earlier roped in Bollywood A-lister Salman Khan for its launch campaign #AbDukandarJitega.
BharatPe group president Suhail Sameer, who got on board the fintech firm as recently as August 2020, points out that the Salman association helped the brand get noticed, and connect with the merchant community who were loathe to use digital payment options.
“We decided to go ahead with cricket this year as it is one sport that brings Indians together, irrespective of their region, religion, or financial status,” he explains.
Co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani, BharatPe’s mission is to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants, especially across tier 1, 2 and 3 cities. BharatPe, since its launch, has been empowering shop owners with a single zero MDR UPI based QR code which allows them to accept payments from any app – like PayTm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM and 150+ other UPI apps – at no cost to them. The cash goes directly into the retailer’s bank account and he or she can earn interest on it and even take loans if the need arises.
Sameer shares that the initial task for BharatPe was to create awareness amongst the merchant community and educate them about how digital payments work. Says he: “We have invested time and effort to educate the merchants and built trust with them. We offered them the convenience of accepting digital payments, irrespective of the consumer’s preferred choice of digital payment.”
The Salman campaign helped the company on board merchants in tier-1 and tier-2 towns and cities. As of early 2020, it had managed to rope in close to three million retailers. Average transaction values which were Rs 500 earlier rose by 60-65 per cent in early 2020.
SAMEER THINKS BOLLYWOOD
AND CRICKET ACT AS UNIFIERS
Covid2019 and the lockdown hit BharatPe hard, with transactions dipping in the first few weeks. But with the country unlocking, these have been picking up pace. Even merchant signups have ballooned to five million, and the target is to take that number to six million by end this fiscal. BharatPe is present in 35 cities and processes five crore plus monthly UPI transactions.
“In September, we are already at 50 per cent above the pre-Covid2019 levels in the value of the transactions we process (at $4 billion annually). We aim to close the year at a run rate of $5 billion in annual total payment value,” reveals Sameer.
Currently 15-20 per cent of the total transactions come from tier-2 areas and the next wave of growth will come from tier-2 and 3 markets, Sameer reveals Covid2019, which accelerated digitisation in the country has benefited BharatPe, like many other digital first brands, as consumers are choosing to go in for contactless transaction with the pandemic still raging.
The company is on an expansion spree even on the lending side – an activity which was kickstarted a year ago. So far, it has disbursed loans in excess of Rs 250 crore, despite the Covid2019 related slowdown. It has set a target to disburse around Rs 700 crore in the next six months. “We did consciously slow down on our lending during the lockdown months, but have scaled well since July 2020,” highlights Sameer. “We are confident we will surpass Rs. 700 crore for the rest of the year, and are internally gearing for higher numbers.”
He is also sanguine that the cricketer-led advertising campaign will redefine how fintech marketing can be done. In the process, it will help BharatPe get closer to its goals.
NEW DELHI: BharatPe has further fortified its leadership team by appointing Suhail Sameer as group president. Suhail along with CEO & co-founder Ashneer Grover will have overall responsibility for building the organisation, merchant network, business, and revenue.
An IIM Lucknow and DCE alumnus, Sameer is the first Group President at BharatPe and will have all the CXOs report into him. Winner of Economic Times Most Promising Leader of Asia Award, Sameer has extensive experience of working with companies from the Consumer (FMCG, retail) and consumer technology sectors, and with Institutional investors. He has built businesses from scratch, as well as helped turn around and grow existing companies.
Featured as Business World 40 under 40 in the year 2019, Sameer at RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, launched and scaled the multi-brand FMCG business for the Group. He also set-up and led their consumer VC fund, RPSG Ventures. Additionally, he drove growth and portfolio decisions across many group companies. Sameer is also the managing partner at OTP Venture Partners, which invests in early-stage companies across consumer, consumer tech, and SaaS spaces.
In his early career, Suhail led McKinsey’s clean-tech practice for south Asia and the Power practice for India.
BharatPe co-founder & CEO Ashneer Grover said, “I am super excited to welcome Suhail Sameer in his new role as the Group President. Suhail is a top-class professional operator and has remarkable track record of delivering – whether it is building businesses ground up or managing conglomerates. The Founders and the Board are extremely excited to entrust Suhail with building the business and revenue on back of BharatPe’s brand and network, that has been created over the last 2 years. Look forward to him leading us to 10X growth from here on.”
BharatPe group president Suhail Sameer said, “There is hardly another startup better positioned to solve merchant’s capital and payment requirements in the country than BharatPe. I have been in touch with Ashneer and the team for over a year now, and I have immense conviction in the mission of the company. BharatPe has emerged even stronger from the current COVID scenario, doubling its market share, which is truly remarkable."
Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment
