ITV

Tag: Breathe

  • Amit Sadh unveils Ethnix by Raymond’s flagship store at Viviana Mall

    Amit Sadh unveils Ethnix by Raymond’s flagship store at Viviana Mall

    MUMBAI: Ethnix by Raymond, the ethnic wear arm of the century-old Raymond Group, has opened its flagship store at Viviana Mall, Lake Shore, Thane: a fitting tribute to the city where the brand’s journey began.

    The grand launch was headlined by acclaimed actor Amit Sadh, best known for Breathe and Kai Po Che, who cut the ribbon in style. Flanked by 18 models dressed in Ethnix ensembles, Sadh turned heads in a soft pink embroidered Indo-western look from the brand’s cocktail collection.

    With over 140 exclusive outlets across 70 cities, Ethnix by Raymond continues to champion traditional Indian wear for every occasion: weddings, festivals, poojas, and beyond. The collection spans regal sherwanis, bandhgalas, kurtas, bundis, Indo-western hybrids, and accessories designed for grooms and their entourages alike.

    Speaking at the event, Raymond Group, chief business officer, Vipul Mathur, said, “Ethnix by Raymond is a cultural statement. Our vision is to make ethnic wear aspirational and accessible, while staying true to heritage. This store represents not just fashion, but a celebration of India’s traditions reimagined for the modern man.”

    Adding his perspective, Amit Sadh noted, “Ethnix by Raymond strikes the perfect balance of tradition and modernity. Every man will find something here that reflects his personality, whether it’s for a grand wedding or a festive occasion.”

    The evening featured a live guitarist, exclusive media interactions, and photo moments that sealed the launch as both a fashion spectacle and a proud milestone for the Raymond legacy.

  • Amazon Prime Video announces ‘Breathe’ S2

    Amazon Prime Video announces ‘Breathe’ S2

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video today announced that it has commenced the production of an all-new season of the Prime Original Series, Breathe. Created by Abundantia Entertainment, the second season of the show also marks the digital streaming on-screen debut of Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan. The show will continue to be directed by Mayank Sharma while Bhavani Iyer, Vikram Tuli and Arshad Syed are writers of the show. Actor Amit Sadh returns in his award-winning role as Kabir Sawant.

    In its first season, the gritty psychological thriller won the hearts of Prime viewers across multiple geographies with a gripping storyline, bold narrative, and impactful performances by the cast led by superstar R Madhavan and Sadh. Now, the second season of the show has gone into production.

    Amazon Prime Video director and head of content Vijay Subramaniam said, “We received a phenomenal response from customers for the first season of Breathe. It was a disruptive, genre-defining show and our audiences loved it! We are now excited to commence work on the second season of the show and have secured Abhishek Bachchan as a lead cast who has effortlessly portrayed diverse & complex roles through his career and will be a great addition to the show. Our customers can expect another exciting face-off between the two leads as season two brings back the thrill and edge-of-the- seat drama.”

    Breathe executive producer and Abundantia Entertainment CEO Vikram Malhotra said, “Season one of Breathe pushed the boundaries of conventional story-telling and created a compelling Indian show that connected with the world. We are humbled by the success of the show and I’m very excited that Abhishek has joined the series in a lead role. With Amit continuing in his award-winning role, and an engaging new narrative, I am confident that season two will raise the bar even higher.”

    Actor Abhishek Bachchan said, “I am very excited to be a part of Breathe. As an artist, I have always liked to challenge myself through portraying unique characters and by being a part of genre-breaking stories. Content streaming and original digital series are the way of the future and I could not resist being a part of this new wave. I had seen season one of Breathe and when Mayank shared where the story progresses to in season two, I knew I had to do this! I look forward to this new dimension in my career.”

    Continuing in season two, actor Amit Sadh said, “Breathe has been an amazing ride for me! The love and recognition from fans all over the world has made all my hard work worth it. The new season of Breathe will take the story above and beyond the debut season; I can’t wait to return as Kabir Sawant.”

    Breathe is a gritty psychological, thriller series that follows the lives of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances. How far will you go to save the life of a loved one? Breathe explores this very question. This emotional and psychological series was recently renewed for a second season.

  • Amazon Prime blends East, West in ‘The Remix’

    Amazon Prime blends East, West in ‘The Remix’

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video wants to hit the right chords with the music lovers of India. Its latest and third Indian original prime show The Remix wants to grab the eye of the music-loving spirit of the nation.  It is a spin-off challenge between DJs and singers to blend Indian and western music beats including regional songs. The Remix will launch as a 10 episode series starting 9 March 2018, with two episodes launching together followed by one every week.

    Till now, music reality shows were restricted to the television but this time it will be a digital-only appearance. The show is created and produced by Greymatter Entertainment while T-Series is the music partner. The success of previous showsInside Edge and Breathe gave Amazon the spirit to come up with a new one in a short time.

    In the new show, according to Amazon Prime Video India director-content Vijay Subramaniam, popular music will be re-imagined by singers and DJ duos, which has never been attempted in the space of reality. He said, “With The Remix, we’ve taken two things that Indian customers have told us they love – reality TV and Bollywood music and made a unique show that we hope will appeal to the whole family. With the launch of this show, we are set to give 10 dynamic musical duos an opportunity to present their unique talent to a global audience.”

    He goes on to say that today is the era of fusion and music was the perfect medium to launch an unscripted original series. “With ambient sound and Indian instruments coming together we feel The Remix as a show will perfectly reflect the blend,” he highlighted.

    Amazon will follow the same release format like Breathe. The strategy of releasing Breathe on weekly basis has worked out well with Amazon according to Subramaniam. “The staggered release allows more consumers to come in and engage over a period of time versus binge watch,” he said.

    The multimedia marketing campaign will soon commence but Subramaniam believes that since the show is about music, there will be much activity on social media.

    The contestants of the show will be judged by popular singer Sunidhi Chauhan, national award winning music composer Amit Trivedi, and king of the DJ console Nucleya, while the element of humor will be added by Karan Tacker as the host of this digital reality series.

    The contestants of the show are a mix of singers and DJs. Among the singers, they have Anirudh Bhola, Rashmeet Kaur, Sreerama Chandra, Rupali Jagga, Thomson Andrews, Prakriti Kakar, Akasa Singh, Sonam Topden, Yash Narvekar and Manasi Scott. And, in the talented DJs, they have Megha Kawale, SuReal, Candice Redding, Nawed Khan, NSG, Kiran Kamath, Skip, Rink, Kryll and Akhil Talreja.

    The competition features fusions of multiple genres of music from trap mixed with bhangra, to future bass mixed with East Asian sounds, from blues to desi beats and much more. The contestants explore different themes like ambient sounds, retro remixes, live instrumentation, sounds of India, global beats and more in each episode. Over the course of ten episodes, one team will be crowned the winner who will walk away with a booty of Rs 50 lakh.

    The Remix is the second original releasing in 2018 after Breathe and Amazon is planning to launch 10 originals in all this year.

    Amazon is keen to creep into every aspect of what makes an Indian viewer tick and it is leaving no stone unturned for it.

    Also Read :

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV

  • Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

    MUMBAI: Edgy and fresh, web content has made its mark in India, breaking free from staid television formats and rules. No time frames, no censorship issues, and women don’t turn into snakes. The west has been bingeing on shows on the internet for long, whereas India has just woken up to the concept recently, thanks to better connectivity and high-resolution video streaming. But, has launching all the episodes, together, caught on as a trend? The answer is both yes and no.

    One of the most talked about series under binge watching section is Amazon Prime Video’s first India original Inside Edge. The Bollywood-cricket web series garnered a tremendous buzz before and after its launch. The most amusing thing is the staggering figure of Rs 40 crore spent by Amazon on the show, speculated as half of it for marketing and the rest for production.

    Amazon Prime Video India director content Vijay Subramaniam said, “When we launched a little over a year ago, we realised there is a clear expectation and desire from our customers to have access to gripping storytelling, high-quality and compelling content. With the customer being at the center of everything we do, we are committed to bringing the best of content for our audiences, supported by immensely talented content creators matched by the most innovative ways to bring them to our audiences.”

    However, Amazon Prime, while releasing its second India original, Breathe, experimented with a new strategy where half the series can be binge-watched and for the rest, you have to wait a week for every new release. The first four episodes of the series were out on 26 January and the remaining four will release every Friday until 23 February. Being a thriller, the strategy is to leave viewers in suspense at a certain point.

    The marketing budget to promote Breathe is around Rs 20 crore. Amazon rolled out a robust, 360-degree campaign across India including highly engaging TVCs, print, digital, cinema, mobile, outdoor campaigns and activations for Breathe. Subramaniam called it a ‘path-breaking digital content in India’. Amazon is tight-lipped about the marketing plan for the last episode.

    Interestingly, India beats the rest of the world in binge watching a series. 71 per cent Indians in 2017 watched more entertainment in a public place than year 2016, according to the study released by Netflix. It was one of the first platforms to start the concept of releasing all episodes at one time for binge watching and others like ALTBalaji, VB on the Web, Voot, SonyLiv etc, followed suit.

    Binge watching has found popularity because Indians are alien to the idea of waiting a whole week for the next episode. They are ready to gulp their favourite series back to back, a trend that rose from the daily saas-bahu serials on TV too. Some OTT players allow paid subscribers to binge watch and unpaid ones have to wait a week. Viu released Spotlight 2 for binge watching, whereas all other series are released on weekly basis.

    SurveyMonkey found that 52 per cent Indians binge watch most at cafes and restaurants, and 37 per cent in waiting in line. Indians binge watch in parks, on the way to work, while shopping and at the gym. The study says that Indians took three days to devour an entire TV series on average, while the global average is four days.

    But the weekly episodic trend is also catching up. Since 2011, YouTube has worked with regional studios to help them get a wider distribution. In 2014, content creators from Mumbai including The Viral Fever (TVF) and AIB were making waves on YouTube and gaining traction while releasing episodes on weekly basis. TVF is said to be the pioneer of Indian web series and still release episodes on a weekly basis on their app TVF Play.

    Despite the fact that binge watching or releasing all episodes at one go attracts more audiences, Amazon took a risk with Breathe. Although, releasing shows in parts have the chances and risk to lose the viewership but weekly releases enable the audiences to keep guessing. Which side will platforms sway in the near future will be an interesting scene to look out for.

    Also Read :

    Amazon Prime Video announces a new original series, Skulls and Roses

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV    

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

     

  • Amazon India to launch 10 originals in 2018

    Amazon India to launch 10 originals in 2018

    MUMBAI: With the advent of digital and data cost coming down, there is a cut-throat competition among digital players to grab as many eyeballs as they can. Amazon Prime Video is set to launch 10 original shows in 2018 for India.

    These include unscripted shows like Remix which is nearing its release, Comicstan which will be a hunt for the next stand-up comic and two more shows where the titles are in the final stages. This will later be followed by director Zoya Akhtar’s premier striped fiction – Made in Heaven along with Mirzapur and 4 More Shots. While calling the shows a pure labour of love, Amazon Prime Video India director content Vijay Subramaniam says, “We are very clear that we want to give our customers high quality and the process of setting that up takes a really long time. For every story we create, we make sure it gets the amount go time it deserves to be put together.”

    E-commerce website amazon.in helps prime video in a great deal to penetrate into smaller markets as people already have a relationship with the brand. Subramaniam is of the opinion that young consumers in India like unscripted content and Amazon Prime Video and although the platform is only a year old, they want to get to a place where they will know what the right mix between scripted and unscripted is.

    With a solid set of content on its platform and an equally aggressive attitude like Netflix and Hotstar, the platform banks on creative content marketing for the promotions of its shows. Amazon chose a funny path to promote American comedy web series The Tick with Indian comedian Jose Covaco who created hilarious videos about what the audience can expect from the show. 

    José Covaco‏

    With digital changing the way brands communicate with audience, Amazon Video uses social media in a large way to connect with the consumer and as a marketing tool but also leverages out of home (OOH) in a big way to promote the shows and the platform itself. But it wants to restrict its OOH only to metro cities as that is where the majority of viewership comes from. 

    Amazon Video was launched in 2006 but came to India only in December 2016. Launched with an initial offer price of Rs 499 for free and faster delivery of goods bought on Amazon, free content viewing, and free music streaming, the subscription cost is expected to go up to Rs 999 this year. The move might come as a bad news for several subscribers as they might not be willing to pay the extra buck resulting in a drop of subscribers. 

    Although the platform had a lukewarm beginning when it began operations in India, its original show – Inside Edge became a game changer for the player as the show went out to become one of the most successful property for the platform. The OTT player marked the new year by announcing its new scripted thriller show, Breathe which has the quality of cinematic television. With the availability in over 200 countries, the show will be available in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

    In order to expand its reach, Amazon Video recently tied up with Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel to offer one year of free subscription. Amazon Prime India director and head Akshay Sahi opines that the move enables seamless access to Amazon Prime for Airtel postpaid customers, providing a world of new video streaming content and more.

    But the player faces stiff competition from global giant Netflix that also entered the Indian market in January 2016. Netflix in India comes with three different subscription plans – basic, standard and premium where the basic subscription plan starts as low as Rs 500. With data becoming cheap and smartphones become more accessible to a large part of Indians, it will be interesting to see how the digital and OTT space shapes up and how players create content for consumers. 

    Also Read :

    Guest column: Ads that didn’t work!

    The ins and outs of femvertising

    Industry applauds Sam Balsara as he turns 67

    Going from clicks to bricks