ITV

Tag: Bollywood

  • Raghav Bahl’s The Quint completes a successful one year

    Raghav Bahl’s The Quint completes a successful one year

    MUMBAI: Tracing its inception back in March 2015, The Quint, a leading digital content platform has completed one year in India. The platform narrates stories through a smooth blend of video, audio, graphics and text.

    Offering an edgy take on the world, the platform serves as a destination to the mobile-savvy ‘on-the-go’ audience. The platform provides information on various topics ranging from politics, entertainment, sports, business, food, issues faced by women, LGBTQ, etc.

    Announced first on Facebook in the month of January, the website went live from March.

    “In this exciting one year, we have experimented with content, formats, technology and different ways of engaging our readers meaningfully. Throughout this ride, we’ve broken news (and parameters) as well as our own expectations, but most importantly, we’ve broken the perception that only print or television can rule information,” asserted the overwhelmed The Quint CEO Ritu Kapur.

    The Quint has championed several impactful campaigns in its first year on its platform that have helped it cinch its popularity with Indian content consumers like the ‘Buri ladki’ poster which gave away its first taste of going viral while attempting to break gender stereotypes in India.

    Even during the Bihar elections, the portal covered the entire poll with a selfie stick and a smart-phone.  

    During the Jat reservation riots in Haryana, National chess champion Anuradha Beniwal posted a plea on the website. The video, messages against the violence in Haryana went viral.

    Besides hard news, the website also paved its way into the hearts of its consumers by doing fun and fearless. #MakeOutInIndia, omne of their earliest campaigns encouraged Indians to talk about sex, breaking perceptions and cleaning out the cobwebs of hypocrisy. T

    On 26 February 206, they started a #LetterToIndia campaign inviting everyone to throw bouquets and brickbats on their way. Everyone from Bollywood stars, politicians, social influencers, prominent voices from the film industry, theatre, educational institutions, LGBTQ rights activists, provided colour and dimension to a campaign that eventually took on a life of its own on social. The platform even got onto the #SayYesToWeed bandwagon.

    A compelling combo of content, tech and distribution, the website is high-value digital journalism, storytelling, and advertising at scale. Recently, the website also launched Quint Hindi which giving Hindi news coverage catering to its Hindi speaking target group.

     

  • Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

    Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

    MUMBAI: Eros International’s Trinity Pictures is now ready with its first slate of films across new and exciting genres. Also it has roped in five ace directors from the industry to produce films.  In what is said to change the way films are traditionally developed, Trinity’s first slate is all about creating character-driven franchises which will be leveraged across feature films, merchandising, digital and more.

    With a focus on creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Trinity is also one of the first Bollywood studio in India that has a dedicated in-house team of writers in the ‘Trinity Writers’ Room’ who have created over ten original franchises since the Division’s inception, out of which at least four films will go into production in fiscal year 2017.

    Trinity’s initial lineup includes a range of character-driven franchises across budgets, genres and languages – from a live action elephant film, to a kid’s action film and an Indo-China project to name a few. These will be helmed by acclaimed directors from across the country including Kabir Khan, Siddharth Anand, Amole Gupte, Telugu director Krish and popular Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

    The first feature to roll out under Trinity Pictures will be director Amole Gupte’ s favourite genre but with a difference – a kids action film, a big scale action film with a child secret agent at the centre of the story that will go on floor in the summer vacation.

    With Trinity’s launch, the studio is looking at expanding new film markets which includes opening of one of the biggest markets in the world – China. Two projects will be co-produced with a Chinese studio, based on stories organically weaving the socio-cultural worlds of India and China.

    Additionally, the films will be shot in both languages. The first Indo-China co-production to roll will be directed by Kabir Khan with A-lister cast from India and China,  a human drama exploring the central character’s journey from India to China. Other projects in the pipeline include a film by Siddharth Anand which will explore a fresh take on the spy genre in India. This genre is a global favourite with franchise potential.

    Multiple award winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon’s bilingual project will be an inspiration from the quintessential super hit animal film—Haathi Mere Saathi. The shooting will take place during the monsoons across India and abroad and will be mounted on a scale with never-seen-before visual effects in this genre.

    Ace director Krish’s buddy cop film will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, featuring popular lead actors from both the South and Bollywood. This film has been co-written by Shridhar Raghavan (mentor to Trinity writers), Dheeraj Rattan and K. Subhash.

    Commenting on Trinity plans, Eros International group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “With Trinity, we continue our endeavour to raise the bar in revolutionizing Indian cinema. As a leading film studio, we have peaked with three out of the top four and seven out of top fifteen films in Bollywood in 2015 being Eros films. Trinity strategy is all about conceiving breakthrough big content ideas and unlocking value from that intellectual property across various distribution platforms for a very long time. We are excited about the slate under development and hope we will have a few top ten films from Trinity”.

    Trinity Pictures  CEO Ajit Thakur added, “With Trinity, there is an effort to create something absolutely new for the Indian market, an effort in investing in creating characters that open a world of possibilities – films, digital games, comics, merchandise. We have writers for the first time creating characters first and then building scripts and projects around these characters. We are the first studio to have tied up with China for co-productions and will be creating new markets with films shot in multiple languages.  There are many firsts to Trinity and only Eros could have seen the merit in a franchise set up as this and taken the risk of making Trinity Pictures happen. We are very excited that the characters and franchises we are creating will hopefully entertain Indian audiences across platforms and well beyond the first Friday”.Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

  • Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

    Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

    MUMBAI: Eros International’s Trinity Pictures is now ready with its first slate of films across new and exciting genres. Also it has roped in five ace directors from the industry to produce films.  In what is said to change the way films are traditionally developed, Trinity’s first slate is all about creating character-driven franchises which will be leveraged across feature films, merchandising, digital and more.

    With a focus on creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Trinity is also one of the first Bollywood studio in India that has a dedicated in-house team of writers in the ‘Trinity Writers’ Room’ who have created over ten original franchises since the Division’s inception, out of which at least four films will go into production in fiscal year 2017.

    Trinity’s initial lineup includes a range of character-driven franchises across budgets, genres and languages – from a live action elephant film, to a kid’s action film and an Indo-China project to name a few. These will be helmed by acclaimed directors from across the country including Kabir Khan, Siddharth Anand, Amole Gupte, Telugu director Krish and popular Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

    The first feature to roll out under Trinity Pictures will be director Amole Gupte’ s favourite genre but with a difference – a kids action film, a big scale action film with a child secret agent at the centre of the story that will go on floor in the summer vacation.

    With Trinity’s launch, the studio is looking at expanding new film markets which includes opening of one of the biggest markets in the world – China. Two projects will be co-produced with a Chinese studio, based on stories organically weaving the socio-cultural worlds of India and China.

    Additionally, the films will be shot in both languages. The first Indo-China co-production to roll will be directed by Kabir Khan with A-lister cast from India and China,  a human drama exploring the central character’s journey from India to China. Other projects in the pipeline include a film by Siddharth Anand which will explore a fresh take on the spy genre in India. This genre is a global favourite with franchise potential.

    Multiple award winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon’s bilingual project will be an inspiration from the quintessential super hit animal film—Haathi Mere Saathi. The shooting will take place during the monsoons across India and abroad and will be mounted on a scale with never-seen-before visual effects in this genre.

    Ace director Krish’s buddy cop film will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, featuring popular lead actors from both the South and Bollywood. This film has been co-written by Shridhar Raghavan (mentor to Trinity writers), Dheeraj Rattan and K. Subhash.

    Commenting on Trinity plans, Eros International group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “With Trinity, we continue our endeavour to raise the bar in revolutionizing Indian cinema. As a leading film studio, we have peaked with three out of the top four and seven out of top fifteen films in Bollywood in 2015 being Eros films. Trinity strategy is all about conceiving breakthrough big content ideas and unlocking value from that intellectual property across various distribution platforms for a very long time. We are excited about the slate under development and hope we will have a few top ten films from Trinity”.

    Trinity Pictures  CEO Ajit Thakur added, “With Trinity, there is an effort to create something absolutely new for the Indian market, an effort in investing in creating characters that open a world of possibilities – films, digital games, comics, merchandise. We have writers for the first time creating characters first and then building scripts and projects around these characters. We are the first studio to have tied up with China for co-productions and will be creating new markets with films shot in multiple languages.  There are many firsts to Trinity and only Eros could have seen the merit in a franchise set up as this and taken the risk of making Trinity Pictures happen. We are very excited that the characters and franchises we are creating will hopefully entertain Indian audiences across platforms and well beyond the first Friday”.Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

  • ‘Taste The Feeling’ with Coca-Cola India

    ‘Taste The Feeling’ with Coca-Cola India

    MUMBAI Reaching out to millions of hearts every day, Coca-Cola has launched the local rendition of its new global campaign in India – “Taste the Feeling”. The campaign seeks to remind the consumers of the happy and joyous moments that a chilled and effervescent Coca-Cola bottle brings to their life. The new Coca-Cola TVC launched in India features Bollywood superstar Sidharth Malhotra enjoying the feeling of sipping on Coca-Cola.

    After the award winning “Open Happiness” campaign, the new campaign “Taste the Feeling” by Coca-Cola is the latest global campaign that hopes to capture the hearts and minds of the younger generation.

    Speaking about the campaign, Bollywood actor and Coca-Cola Brand Ambassador, Sidharth Malhotra said, “Everyone seeks refreshment for different reasons and nothing beats the delicious refreshment offered by a chilled bottle of Coca-Cola. Being the ultimate refreshing beverage, Coca-Cola has been an integral part of my growing up years and I will never forget how the simple pleasure of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola made so many moments more memorable. I am very excited to be a part of the new ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign, celebrating one of the many ordinary, day to day moments made special by Coca-Cola. I am sure the consumers will enjoy the ad and get reminded of their own special moments with Coca-Cola”.

    “Taste the Feeling,” campaign has rolled out in India on 11 March, 2016 at various platforms across key markets and will come to life through a number of elements, including a strong TV presence across Hindi and regional channels, integrations across IPL matches, thematic OOH campaign after 3 years on brand Coca-Cola across 10 key cities at different locations and seeding on owned social assets and conversations through brand advocates and influencers.

  • ‘Taste The Feeling’ with Coca-Cola India

    ‘Taste The Feeling’ with Coca-Cola India

    MUMBAI Reaching out to millions of hearts every day, Coca-Cola has launched the local rendition of its new global campaign in India – “Taste the Feeling”. The campaign seeks to remind the consumers of the happy and joyous moments that a chilled and effervescent Coca-Cola bottle brings to their life. The new Coca-Cola TVC launched in India features Bollywood superstar Sidharth Malhotra enjoying the feeling of sipping on Coca-Cola.

    After the award winning “Open Happiness” campaign, the new campaign “Taste the Feeling” by Coca-Cola is the latest global campaign that hopes to capture the hearts and minds of the younger generation.

    Speaking about the campaign, Bollywood actor and Coca-Cola Brand Ambassador, Sidharth Malhotra said, “Everyone seeks refreshment for different reasons and nothing beats the delicious refreshment offered by a chilled bottle of Coca-Cola. Being the ultimate refreshing beverage, Coca-Cola has been an integral part of my growing up years and I will never forget how the simple pleasure of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola made so many moments more memorable. I am very excited to be a part of the new ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign, celebrating one of the many ordinary, day to day moments made special by Coca-Cola. I am sure the consumers will enjoy the ad and get reminded of their own special moments with Coca-Cola”.

    “Taste the Feeling,” campaign has rolled out in India on 11 March, 2016 at various platforms across key markets and will come to life through a number of elements, including a strong TV presence across Hindi and regional channels, integrations across IPL matches, thematic OOH campaign after 3 years on brand Coca-Cola across 10 key cities at different locations and seeding on owned social assets and conversations through brand advocates and influencers.

  • IIFA 2016 to be held in Madrid,Spain

    IIFA 2016 to be held in Madrid,Spain

    MUMBAI: With America, Macau, Spain and Abu Dhabi bidding over hosting of the three day extravaganza of Wizcraft International Entertainment’s International Indian Film Award (IIFA), twitterati says that Madrid in Spain has been decided as the final venue. TV18 Broadcast’s Hindi GEC Colors that had clinched the award evening from Star last year, will yet again entertain its viewers by airing IIFA. The awards will be held between 23 and 26 June 2016.

    The International Indian Film Academy Awards (also known as the IIFA Awards) are a set of awards presented annually by the International Indian Film Academy to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood, the Hindi language film industry. Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year with the most recent one being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    The IIFA Utsavam is the South Indian segment of the annual IIFA Awards. The awards were introduced for the first time this year in 2016 and were around the films released in 2015. The 1st IIFA Utsavam was held on 24 and 25 January 2016 at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad, India

    Renowned actors like Hrithik Roshan, Sonakshi Sinha, Anil Kapoor are already spreading the ‘filmi’ fever in the city.

    Sonakshi Sinha

    Anil Kapoor

    Hrithik Roshan

  • IIFA 2016 to be held in Madrid,Spain

    IIFA 2016 to be held in Madrid,Spain

    MUMBAI: With America, Macau, Spain and Abu Dhabi bidding over hosting of the three day extravaganza of Wizcraft International Entertainment’s International Indian Film Award (IIFA), twitterati says that Madrid in Spain has been decided as the final venue. TV18 Broadcast’s Hindi GEC Colors that had clinched the award evening from Star last year, will yet again entertain its viewers by airing IIFA. The awards will be held between 23 and 26 June 2016.

    The International Indian Film Academy Awards (also known as the IIFA Awards) are a set of awards presented annually by the International Indian Film Academy to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood, the Hindi language film industry. Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year with the most recent one being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    The IIFA Utsavam is the South Indian segment of the annual IIFA Awards. The awards were introduced for the first time this year in 2016 and were around the films released in 2015. The 1st IIFA Utsavam was held on 24 and 25 January 2016 at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad, India

    Renowned actors like Hrithik Roshan, Sonakshi Sinha, Anil Kapoor are already spreading the ‘filmi’ fever in the city.

    Sonakshi Sinha

    Anil Kapoor

    Hrithik Roshan

  • ZEEL plans Germany foray; to launch FTA channel by mid-2016

    ZEEL plans Germany foray; to launch FTA channel by mid-2016

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is planning to foray into Germany with the launch of a free-to-air (FTA) television channel by mid-2016.

     

    The FTA channel will bring high-quality Bollywood films produced by the Indian film industry as well as popular Indian television series to German screens, 24-hours a day.

     

    The new channel’s core target group will be females between the ages of 19 and 59. Plans are to make the channel available on major satellite and cable platforms.

     

    The channel’s business operations in the German-speaking area will be handled by Friederike Behrends.

     

    ZEEL international broadcast business CEO Amit Goenka said, “Our foray into Germany is a major step as part of our international expansion strategy. The objective is to establish a lasting presence and grow in the German television market. With our highest levels of entertainment and new content, we are confident of being able to offer our German viewers an attractive enrichment to the existing range of television offerings.”

     

    Europe at Asia TV Ltd. (Zee TV) CEO Neeraj Dhingra added, “The launch of the channel will signify ZEEL’s entry into one of the world’s most important television markets, in which the Bollywood genre is still barely represented as yet. With 210,000 hours of programming and more than 3,500 film titles, our endeavour is to delight the German audiences with Indian content.”

     

    “We also welcome Friederike to the Zee family. She brings with her a rich experience and in-depth knowledge of media, broadcasting and TV content. Her extensive international and national industry expertise will help us not only to cement our presence in the German market, but take it to greater heights,” Dhingra added.

     

    Behrends said, “Bollywood content offers a much broader spectrum than is known on German television. The aim is to enhance Germany’s entertainment offerings by introducing an entirely new genre. We intend to capture the hearts of German viewers with Bollywood. We are currently engaged in intensive talks with German TV-platform operators with a view to expanding the reach as quickly as possible on a broad scale via all transmission paths.”

  • Audioboom partners ErosNow for India foray

    Audioboom partners ErosNow for India foray

    MUMBAI: Prepping up for its launch in the Indian market, audio content providing on-demand platform Audioboom has entered into an agreement with Eros International’s digital OTT platform  ErosNow. 

     

    The two companies will operate on an advertising revenue share arrangement.

     

    Under the deal, ErosNow will equip its 30 million registered users with access to exclusive Audioboom local and global podcasts and entertainment, comedy, sports, news and current affairs content.

     

    Through the partnership, ErosNow users will be able to personalise their own listening experience within the ErosNow app, with access to music and spoken word audio on-demand as well as films and TV shows. Eros will provide Audioboom with access to the very best of Bollywood acting talent for the creation and distribution of exclusive spoken-word audio content for the Indian market and beyond.

     

    A key element of the proposed partnership will see Audioboom responsible for all audio content curation (music and spoken word), ad sales and ad campaign delivery within the audio section of the ErosNow mobile and web applications. 

     

    Pending the signing of a long form agreement, the parties will work together closely around technical integration and ad sales implementation.

     

    Audioboom CEO Rob Proctor said, “I am excited to be partnering with Eros and continue our global expansion with the leading entertainment company in India. We’re delighted to bring Audioboom’s extensive audio content to Eros’ massive audience, and to be creating high-quality audio with some of Eros’ biggest Bollywood stars. The opportunity to create highly-sought after on-demand audio, along with the potential revenue opportunities that this brings, gives us significant first mover advantage in this very important and lucrative market.”

     

    Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh added, “We’re always looking for new ways to engage and connect our users to their favorite celebrities on ErosNow, offering behind the scenes exclusives and star cast interviews. With their focus on sharing content and social network integration, the Audioboom platform is the perfect partner for ErosNow, providing a new medium for our talent to connect with their fans.”

  • YouTube Rewind: What India watched in 2015

    YouTube Rewind: What India watched in 2015

    MUMBAI: 2015 has been an exciting year on YouTube in India. One saw more and more people consuming content on digital platforms, with YouTube leading the pack. YouTube has garnered a huge fan following not only in terms of the audience but also amongst original content creators in India. While YouTubers like All India Bakchod (AIB) and The Viral Fever (TVF) rose to superstardom, an array of new players also joined in to professionally create videos for YouTube. Even big screen celebrities were seen more open to experimenting with artists online.

     

    As per YouTube Rewind, the top trending YouTube video in India in 2015 was AIB: ‘Every Bollywood Party Song feat. Irrfan,’ followed by ‘Chhota Bheem – aur – Krishna Jodi No. #1.’

     

    In spite of the huge surge in original digital content from YouTubers, it is mainstream media, which still commands YouTube viewership. As per the data, six out of 10 in the list of top most trending videos on YouTube  belong to mainstream media, including television and film.

     

    The data also sheds light on the fact that in 2015, comedy ruled in India. This is evident as five out of top 10 most viewed videos on YouTube were of the comedy genre. 

     

    Grabbing the first spot is the amusing comic music video by AIB: ‘Every Bollywood Party Song feat. Irrfan,’ which redefined comedy and gave the video a very refreshing twist. AIB’s ‘Honest Indian Weddings (Part 1),’ ‘PK movie Spoof,’ TVF’s ‘Barely Speaking with Arnub | Arvind Kejriwal’ are amongst the other top trending comedy videos, which were placed in the list of top 10.

     

    2015 was also a good year for music with Honey Singh’s ‘Dheere Dheere Se Meri Zindagi video song (OFFICIAL),’ ‘Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan Video Song’ and ‘Badshah – DJ Waley Babu’ being the top most trending music video locally.