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Tag: Disney India

  • Disney India announces key appointments in Studios

    Disney India announces key appointments in Studios

    MUMBAI:  Disney India has announced some key appointments in its Studios business. The Studio has an eclectic line-up coming up with a mix of Hindi, Hollywood and south films which includes Heropanti, Filmistaan, Pizza, Raja Natwarlal, Khubsoorat, Haider, P.K., Jagga Jasoos and Fitoor in Hindi, Maleficent, Guardians of the Galaxy in English, Sigaram Thodu, Anjaan, Purambokku, Yatchan in Tamil and many more.

     

    Prakhar Joshi joins the Studio as a director and will head the India theatrical distribution. A veteran in the business with nearly 17 years of experience at PVR Cinemas most recently as head of programming, Joshi comes with diverse experience across verticals like film programming, movie distribution and cinema operations. He has been involved with the multiplex business in India since its inception and brings with him an in-depth understanding of the distribution and exhibition sector.

     

    Sandeep Kumar Das joins the dynamic and experienced marketing team at the Studio, as associate director, marketing from Viacom18 Motion Pictures, where he has handled the campaigns of films like Kahaani, Chashme Baddoor and Queen amongst others. Prior to his stint at Viacom 18, Kumar was part of the marketing team at UTV and was associated with the highly successful campaigns of films like Dev D, A Wednesday, Aamir and No One Killed Jessica.

     

    Lada Guruden Singh joins as head, Public Relations. Guruden was earlier in charge of Public Relations and corporate communications at Fox Star Studios, India. A published author, Guruden has been an entertainment anchor and journalist with the TV Today Network in Delhi and Mumbai.

     

    The new appointees report to Studios marketing and distribution VP & head Amrita Pandey.

  • Take a chance at love with ‘Love by Chance’

    Take a chance at love with ‘Love by Chance’

    MUMBAI: You see your parents bickering at one another, and yet not being able to see each other in pain. Rather confusing, isn’t it?! Makes you wonder, how did two people, who are poles apart, stumble upon one another only to have their “happily ever after”? Well, chance encounters do happen, and they do lead to ‘happily’, ‘ever’ and ‘after’ (not necessarily in that order!).

     

    Inspired by true stories of people who have found love through serendipity, Love By Chance, a new original 26-part anthology series to be aired on bindass is aimed to evoke just the type of ‘love’ly feeling that will pluck at heartstrings every week.

     

    Starting 31 May, the series will be telecast every Saturday at 7 pm, showcasing a ‘falling in love’ story between two young people who stumble into love just by chance!

     

    Disney India executive director – content group Indrajit Ray opines, “Since the success rate of most Indians in securing themselves a date is lower than you might think, we decided to create a show that will not only entertain these insecure hearts, but also provide them with a learning experience that will make these timid few let go the barriers they’ve created for themselves.” Let go and believe. Believe in your knees going week. Believe in that momentary stimulation in your nerves. Believe in love, by chance.

     

    To evoke the feeling of first love and chance encounters, bindass has roped in “a pool of writers” spearheaded by Vaibhav Modi of Bolt Media (a division of Balaji Telefilms). With a process that started 7-8 months ago, the network execs at bindass brainstormed on ideas circulating around the channel’s sole motto, “enabler of purpose of action” and pitched them to the production houses, which led to a script orders, and from those, a few pilots were ordered.

     

    The pilot of Love by Chance was shot a few months ago, and then screened privately across the country. Based on the optimistic audience reviews and early critical acclaim, Love by Chance was ordered for a 26-episode first season. The show is being used as a prototype by bindass soon to be followed by more scripted light-hearted romantic series that are just as entertaining as they are routed in reality.

     

    “We are aiming at the 15-34 year age group. Well, there are older people who want some nostalgia induced retrospective programme to reinvigorate their young spirit,” continues Ray.

     

    bindass’ marketing strategy for Love by Chance is a week long campaign starting from the series premiere with its off-air creative being by Marching Ants. The show also has a unique soundtrack to complement the anthology series. Composed by Abhishek Arora (Yeh Hain Aashiqui), the network has released a promotional music video for the series.

     

    Through its Facebook page/Twitter handle and Instagram account, bindass aims to push stories which will be all about chance encounters between two people. These will be in the form of Facebook posts in the Love by Chance template and further posted on Twitter. Approximately 15 such short stories will be pushed to generate interest and also to crowd source such stories. The aim is to get #LoveByChance to trend and all the tweets will be curated.

  • UTV Stars to don new look

    UTV Stars to don new look

    MUMBAI: UTV Stars is all set for a makeover. Come October and the music and feature based programming channel, will don a new look. Disney India, riding on the success of its youth entertainment channel-bindass, is all set to unveil a refreshed channel offering with a new brand proposition complemented with fresh packaging, new content and a new brand name, that will further fortify the bindass brand.

     

    The channel will continue in its present avatar till September 2014. The change is in keeping with Disney India’s long-term strategy of building a set of formidable brands in India.

     

     “Disney India is committed to serving audiences with differentiated multi-brand offerings in the television space. To that end, we are refreshing our product offerings in the youth genre, using brand bindass to create a new proposition for UTV Stars that is complementary to the bindass brand, and centered around themes and passions that drive Young India,” said Disney India vice president – content & communication, media networks Vijay Subramaniam.

     

    “In one of the most dynamic media industries in the world, it has been our constant endeavor to continually refresh our offerings to stay ahead of the curve and serve our audiences and stake holders with quality content that raises the bar on engagement and relevance,” added Disney India vice president – revenue, media networks Nikhil Gandhi.

     

    ‘bindass’ is one of the first homegrown youth entertainment channel in India that has gone from strength to strength in the past few years. The channel has delivered genre defining shows and campaigns that have mirrored the realities, dreams and aspirations of the Indian youth to garner a cult following. The channel’s most recent initiative, ‘b for change’ and new shows such as Yeh Hai Ashiqui, Halla Bol and Change Ayega, Hum Layenge as well as old favorites in their new avatars such as Emotional Atyachaar have successfully reiterated bindass’ philosophy of ‘Enabler of Purposive Action’ to its viewers.

  • Disney announces ‘ABCD 2’

    Disney announces ‘ABCD 2’

    MUMBAI: Post the success of India’s first ever 3D dance movie ABCD – Any Body Can Dance, a youthful and vibrant film which became a nation-wide phenomenon garnering critical acclaim and box office, Disney India’s studio business today announced its sequel ABCD 2, directed by Remo D’Souza.

     

    The second chapter of the movie promises to be even bigger in scale with the current heartthrobs Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead along with Prabhu Dheva. Inspired from the true story of an Indian dance troupe that participated in the world Hip Hop Championships, this movie is slated to be shot extensively in Las Vegas, with over 10 songs and extravagant dance sequences that will add grandeur to the exciting script

     

    The film will go on floors in July.

  • Siddharth Roy Kapur bags ‘40 Under Forty’ India’s Hottest Business Leader Award 2014

    Siddharth Roy Kapur bags ‘40 Under Forty’ India’s Hottest Business Leader Award 2014

    MUMBAI: Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur has been awarded The Economic Times – Spencer Stuart ‘40 under Forty’ India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award 2014. Kapur received the award from HDFC executive chairman Deepak Parekh, one of the doyens of Indian industry.

     

    Spencer Stuart and The Economic Times initiated the study by assembling a jury responsible for evaluation of all individuals under play in this category. A list of 2000 business leaders was drawn up and this was condensed on the basis of early market due diligence to a long-list. The assessment was done against criteria predefined by the jury, which shortlisted 80 business leaders in the interim meeting, who were taken to the final stage. The final 40 winners were identified based on a combination of quantitative business results (growth, margins and turnaround) as well as qualitative attributes (innovation, reputation, people leadership, and contribution to the ecosystem).

     

    The jury was chaired by Parekh, while the other members on the panel were Spencer Stuart India managing director Anjali Bansal, Tata Communications chairman Subodh Bhargava, Boston Consulting Group, Asia Pacific chairman Janmejaya Sinha, Hindustan Unilever non-executive chairman and Unilever COO Harish Manwani, PepsiCo India chairman and CEO D Shivakumar and Info Edge India CEO and co-founder Sanjeev Bhikchandani.

     

    Some of the other prominent names who received the honour included Zee Entertainment MD & CEO Punit Goenka, Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl, Parle Agro CEO Schauna Chauhan and Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal, amongst others.

  • UTV Stars launches ‘Yeh Hai Meri Kahani’ season 3

    UTV Stars launches ‘Yeh Hai Meri Kahani’ season 3

    MUMBAI: UTV Stars, is geared up once again to get its viewers up, close and personal with the biggest and hottest stars of Bollywood. The channel has returned with the third season of Yeh Hai Meri Kahani. While the previous two seasons chronicled the lives of legendary actors of the film industry, this season will explore the lives of the young actors, the superstars of today. Premiering on 12 April, Yeh Hai Meri Kahani will air every Saturday at 8 PM. The 13 episode series will feature actor Ranbir Kapoor, in the first episode.   

     

    Dedicated to the achievers in Bollywood, Yeh Hai Meri Kahani is a show that takes the viewers through the life of their favourite star and opens up their world, dreams, achievements and aspirations. It will bring forth the entire story, from struggles, support systems, worst phases and cherished moments that led these actors to become the stars they are today.

     

    The theme for the third season of the show is ‘Youth Icons of Bollywood.’ In the first episode, viewers can watch Ranbir Kapoor getting candid about various aspects of his life, beginning with the pressure of coming from an illustrious film family, his education which was a huge deal for his family and moving on to studying acting. Kapoor goes on to talk about his experiences in the film industry, the many directors that he has worked with; right from his first movie, which was not a runway success.

     

     “We at UTV Stars are continually working towards bridging the gap between stars and their fans by bringing them closer. Hence, with Yeh Hai Meri Kahani, we not only take an exclusive look into the lives of our favourite stars, but also give them a chance to tell their own story. And after the previous two seasons that featured the legends of Bollywood, this year we will bring to our viewers the life stories of the young guns, the entire slew of new age stars who have already proved their mettle in the industry at a young age”, says Disney India director, content UTV Stars, Media Networks Manish Dubey, who will also be seen as the sutradhaar on the show.

     

    While, these young actors speak their heart out – about their struggle story to their victorious moments, Dubey, as a sutradhaar will be share some interesting take away from their lives.

  • Disney India sees senior level exits

    Disney India sees senior level exits

    MUMBAI: It was in October, last year, that the news of Ronnie Screwvala deciding to step down as the managing director of Disney India (then Disney UTV) broke.

     

    Screwvala, since then, has pursued his entrepreneurial goals and invested in various companies and Siddharth Roy Kapur has taken over the company’s India operations, effective 1 January.

     

    Nonetheless, the move has lead to many other changes in the company. In the recent past, many at the senior management have left the company.

     

    The first one to leave after this change was the Disney UTV Media Networks managing director MK Anand. He is currently the managing director and chief executive officer at Times Television Network.

     

    Anand had joined UTV Global Broadcasting in 2009 as CEO and after the Walt Disney acquisition in 2012, he was appointed the managing director of Disney UTV Media Networks.

     

    He was followed soon by others. Two of its employees left to join Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainments. Gaurav Verma joined the production house as its new chief revenue officer while Manish Hari Prasad joined it, after being instrumental in getting the (Disney) studio its most successful film, ‘Chennai Express’, on board.

     

    Verma , as Disney executive director theatrical distribution, handled worldwide theatrical distribution, while Prasad was the creative director of UTV.

     

    The latest to move on from the network is Shikha Kapur. Kapur who was heading marketing for Studios, Broadcasting (youth and movie) and the Interactive business and served as the vice president of the company has joined Fox Star India as chief marketing officer.

     

    As per industry sources, this isn’t the end of top management leaving the company. Many more will be soon following in biding goodbye to Disney India.

     

    The sources blame Ronnie’s exit and Kapur’s elevation behind these exists.

     

    We will have to just wait and watch what happens next.

  • Vodafone and Disney India collaborate for a gaming portal

    Vodafone and Disney India collaborate for a gaming portal

    MUMBAI: One of the leading telecom operators in India – Vodafone – is certainly looking to up its ante in terms of giving its subscribers the best in value added services.

     

    Vodafone India recently teamed up with Disney India’s Interactive business, to launch Vodafone Games & Apps. The announcement comes soon after the launch of Vodafone Music and Vodafone Sports by the company.

     

    “Vodafone believes that for data services to grow and get massive adoption, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide users a curated content experience for the popular categories like sports, gaming and  music among others,” explains Vodafone India chief commercial officer Vivek Mathur. “Vodafone is able to bring together the best content in the mobile entertainment space and provide an offering unlike anyone else. We believe this unique offering will drive data consumption and hence the focus on the mobile content space.”

    Vodafone Games & Apps powered by Disney India’s Interactive business is aimed at offering the customers premium games and apps on both feature and smartphones. Through this association, Disney India will furnish the complete content catalogue along with the portal for this offering.

     

    “Our endeavour has always been to provide engaging games to existing and new users in India through multiple digital access points and in turn cultivate an active gaming culture in the country. Our association with Vodafone is a step forward in our strategic relationship with them and creates an additional destination for exciting games and apps for their users,” says Disney India VP & head – Interactive Sameer Ganapathy.

    Via the Vodafone Games & Apps portal, subscribers will gain access to well-known Disney games such as Where’s My Water?, Where’s My Mickey?, Where’s My Perry?, Toy Story : Smash It!, Brave and Chennai Express among others. There will also be Disney Utility Apps including Mickey Planner, Donald Photo booth, Goofy Weather and more.

     

    This is not the first such effort by a telco to distribute games as a service with subscription fee in India. Just earlier last month, Gameloft had entered into a similar deal with Idea to offer Java and Android games through its mobile website as part of Gameloft Club subscription. 

     

    Disney India (then DisneyUTV) and Electronic Arts had tied-up with Aircel to launch a new retail recharge card called ‘Aircel Pocket Internet Games’ in 2012. It was offering unlimited 2G data to those who subscribed to the plan that included over 1,500 games.

     

    These non-HD games are smaller in size so that even people with 2G connections can download them fast and offer similar gameplay as the original app sold via Google and Apple stores.

     

    Customers can avail Vodafone Games & Apps by visiting live.vodafone.in/games or sending a simple text message to 111. The HTML5 portal will apparently showcase the best content as per handset compatibility.

    The companies say Vodafone Games & Apps has support for all major platforms, namely Android, Java, Symbian and Blackberry.

     

    Having already forayed into music and sports (Star Sports), what encouraged Vodafone India to partner with Disney Interactive for gaming apps, Mathur expounds: “The response on music and sports services has been encouraging and we have seen healthy consumption of these services amongst our subscriber base. The gaming business is one of the largest drivers of revenue in the direct to consumer space and we believe that it has tremendous potential on our store as well. The TG is quite fluid and varied. We see all ages and genders play and download games and apps.”

    Vodafone Games & Apps also offers user ratings and reviews, along with smart recommendation. The portal is also offering loyalty points, where customers receive points for every rupee spent, which can be redeemed on further apps and games.

    If subscribers choose not to use credit cards to purchase the paid apps, carrier billing is available through the subscriber’s Vodafone account. Vodafone Games & Apps also features a ‘Try and Buy’ system, that lets customers sample content for free in two tries.

    Subscribers can also avail of special price plans on the Vodafone Games & Apps portal. These include the ‘All you can eat value plan’, and ‘Premium content plan’. The former will grant access to six different game bundles, priced at Rs. 20, Rs. 25, Rs. 30, Rs. 49, Rs. 99 and Rs. 150. The ‘Premium content plan’ gives access to the ‘latest games’ at Rs. 50.

     

    “We want to offer our customers the best gaming experience at various price points. Hence, we have various offers – Try and Buy, Free Games, Subscriptions, Full downloads and Value Packs,” reveals Mathur. “The user can sample the games on the free & try and buy model, then graduate into a value pack and then get initiated into subscriptions and full downloads as his gaming consumption and interest grows.”

     

    A premium game will generally be made available on a discounted pack only after two weeks of its launch. The portal will have content from the leading games publishers and not be limited to the Disney library, the telco reveals.

     

  • Disney junior reaches out to 26.5 million households across the nation

    Disney junior reaches out to 26.5 million households across the nation

    MUMBAI: Disney Junior, the globally acclaimed entertainment destination designed especially for the youngest members of the family, their parents and caregivers, will now be available on two of India’s leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms – Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV. The channel which showcases both classic and new Disney characters, will now reach out to all the subscribers of Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV with the same magical storytelling with a heart that generations of Disney fans have come to know and love.

     

    “Disney Junior is an engaging, learning-focused and unique Disney destination with elements that encourage early childhood development, wrapped in strong emotionally connected storytelling. Over the past year, we have been committed to bringing wonderful stories through shows such as ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’, ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’, along with recent additions such as “Sofia The First” and “Henry Hugglemonster”. These shows have not only been the hallmark of the Disney experience but have also served as a learning and development tool for our young viewers. We are very happy to bring Disney Junior to the Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV viewers”, said Nikhil Gandhi, Vice President and Head of Ad Sales, Media Networks, Disney India

     

    Disney Junior fulfills the parents’ expectations, blending unparalleled storytelling and beloved characters with learning components that encourage social and emotional development as well as cognitive skills. It’s globally acclaimed stories help develop skills such as early math and language as well as healthy eating and lifestyles along with building emotional connections with the iconic as well as new characters which form the most ‘fun’ aspect of growing up. The original series include ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’, ‘Doc McStuffins’, ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’, ‘A Poem Is…’, ‘Handy Manny,’ ‘Little Einsteins’, “Special Agent Oso” and more.

     

    The channel recently announced the availability of Disney Junior’s most popular iOS apps, “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School,” developed internationally on Android devices in Google Play and for Kindle tablets in the Amazon Appstore. Using “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School” App, kids can become completely immersed in Never Land, completing pirate-themed challenges such as Sailing, Pirate Band, Map & Spyglasses and Pixie Dust. The app also enables fans to capture or import a photo to create a personalized pirate face, and the Pirate School Captain’s Log tracks class levels completed and Badges of Honor earned so that kids can earn their official Pirate Certificate. The “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School” App is $2.99.  

     

    Disney Junior continues to be available across other leading DTH and digital players in India.

     

  • Disney India Announces Development of The Mahabharata

    Disney India Announces Development of The Mahabharata

    MUMBAI: Disney India’s studio business today announced plans to bring The Mahabharata, Indian Mythology’s greatest epic, to the big screen. The Studio is gearing up to recreate the magic of this remarkable story in live action at a scale never seen before in Indian cinema which will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor and written by renowned author Ashok Banker.

     

    “Indian mythology has a great wealth of stories which have inspired legions of creative minds and The Mahabharata unarguably is the most ambitious and all-encompassing of them all. We believe this epic which has engaged generations of Indians will translate into a magnificent silver screen saga,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, Managing Director – Disney India.

     

    “The Mahabharata expresses the universal truth; it has defined my understanding of spirituality and of all humanity. I aim to translate this onto the big screen, engage minds and deliver a world class cinematic experience,” said director of the film Abhishek Kapoor. “There could be no one better than Disney India, with its prowess as a creative and distribution powerhouse, to narrate this epic in the manner that befits it.”

     

    “It’s an epic as relevant and powerful today as it was millennia ago. Our attempt is to make the Mahabharata that brings alive the great human drama, the terrible conflict, and unforgettable characters, in a way you’ve never seen or thought of them before.” added Ashok K Banker.

     

    For the first time in Indian cinema, a single narrative will be told across two movies.  The film will go into pre-production post the completion of Abhishek Kapoor’s next venture with the studio, Fitoor, which goes on the floors in July.