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Tag: Gurmeet Singh

  • Mirzapur Season 3 sparks ‘#NationalBingeWatchDay’ trend with major brands

    Mirzapur Season 3 sparks ‘#NationalBingeWatchDay’ trend with major brands

    Mumbai: The wait is finally over! Prime Video’s fan-favourite franchise, Mirzapur is all set to return with its third installment after a hiatus of four years and the excitement among fans is palpable! Not just Mirzapur loyalists, but even the corporate universe has eagerly anticipated the series’ premiere on Prime Video. Ahead of the show’s launch, individuals and corporates actively joined the chatter, leaving no stone unturned to catapult the premiere day into a historic and unforgettable event. Fans are flooding social media platforms with raging enthusiasm, using the hashtag ‘#NationalBingeWatchDay’.

    Prime Video recently launched a petition to mark the release day of Mirzapur season 3 as  National Binge Watch Day. This unique campaign aimed to show gratitude and boost anticipation among fans eagerly awaiting the new season on the streaming service. As the trend gained momentum,  corporates too joined in the excitement,  sharing their favourite matches. Renowned brands like Google India, Rapido app, Zepto, WOO heal, AJIO, Redmi India, Swiggy Instamart, Bombay Sweet Shop, WOW Skin Science, Cantabil and Cars24 among many others, are hopping on the trend and sharing their version of #NationalBingeWatchDay. The launch of Mirzapur Season 3 is set to be celebrated with interesting collaborations involving influencers, meme pages, and celebrities, all coming together to highlight their favourite #NationalBingeWatchDay and adding to the excitement surrounding the series’ release.

    Created and produced by Excel Media and Entertainment, Mirzapur Season 3 is directed by Gurmeet Singh and Anand Iyer. This season boasts a stellar ensemble cast, including Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Rasika Dugal, Vijay Varma, Isha Talwar, Anjumm Shharma, Priyanshu Painyuli, Harshita Shekhar Gaur, Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chadha, Meghna Malik, and Manu Rishi Chadha. The ten-episode series is streaming now exclusively on Prime Video in India and across 240 countries and territories worldwide. 

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  • Star Sports to telecast Global T20 Canada League in India

    Star Sports to telecast Global T20 Canada League in India

    MUMBAI: Star Sports has inked a deal with Cricket Canada to telecast the Global T20 Canada League in India, a source close to the development told Indiantelevision.com. The network will broadcast the matches on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD. Fans can also tune in to the action on Star India’s OTT Hotstar.
    The Global T20 Cricket League, which kick starts on Thursday, will be aired in Canada on Asian Television Network (ATN).  

    Global T20 Canada has also announced TV deals in other countries like the UK (FreeSports), Australia (Fox Sports), Pakistan (Geo Sports), Middle East (Orbit Showtime Network), Bangladesh (Ghazi TV) and the Caribbean (Sportsmax).

    The 22-match tournament opens with the Toronto Nationals taking on the Vancouver Knights and runs through July 15.

    Toronto and Vancouver will be joined by the Winnipeg Hawks, Edmonton Royals, Montreal Tigers and a Cricket West Indies B team. All matches will be played at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ont., just north of Toronto.

    The Global T20 Canada is the brainchild of the Mercuri Group, an India-based media company whose affiliate Mercuri Canada has signed a 25-year deal with Cricket Canada.

    The tournament has drawn 96 players from some 20 countries including Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Daren Sammy, Lasith Malinga, Steve Smith, Sunil Narine, David Miller and Dwayne Bravo.

    In an official statement Global T20 Canada website, the league’s chairman Gurmeet Singh said, “The schedule reveal is another symbolic step towards bringing the excitement and spectacle of pro Twenty20 cricket to Canada, and making cricket and Canadian sport history. With the calibre of talent coming to Canada, fans will see top international stars in every match from the opener through to the final.”

    Former Australian skipper Smith, along with vice-captain David Warner, made headlines recently for their role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. They were given 12-month bans by Cricket Australia but are allowed to play abroad.

    Smith will play for Toronto while Warner was drafted by Winnipeg.

    Also Read:

    Star to share select IPL matches with DD with an hour’s delay

    Star India beats Sony, Jio to win media rights for BCCI’s home matches

  • Hitachi positions itself as brand accessible to all

    Hitachi positions itself as brand accessible to all

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has launched a new campaign for Hitachi, positioning it as a brand accessible for all.

    The brand, though considered premium, has also been facing a challenge of being perceived as an expensive brand.

    Its new campaign, “Kabhi Kabhi Zyada Ke Liye, Zyada Nahi Chaiye Hota” builds on the brand’s core of premium yet accessible. It communicates that superior technology Hitachi ACs are within reach. Developed by Dentsu Impact, the TVC is now on air, across all popular channels.

    The objective of the campaign was to break this perception of inaccessibility, while keeping the premium-ness of the brand intact and build a strong connect with the Southern market. 

    The approach was to establish the fact that to experience the unmatched superior technology, cooling and peace of mind offered by Hitachi’s products, not much is required. The idea was to bring alive the thought that sometimes it doesn’t take much to get much more. 

    To communicate this, in a category that highly relies on features and offers, Hitachi chose to come from an insight that stems from real-life, everyday situations. Leading south Indian actress Samantha Prabhu was roped in to play the protagonist in the ad commercials to build affinity in the South.

    Both the TVCs capture everyday moments that bring the idea alive. The first film has Prabhu portraying the role of a girl-next-door, getting ready in front of the mirror. While she can go for an over-the-top look, she chooses a simple black ‘bindi’ instead to enhance her beauty. Her smile in the end conveys that even a small gesture can make a huge difference.

    In the second film, we see Prabhu coming back home extremely tired. As she sits on the sofa, her husband sitting right next to her pushes the centre table towards her, so she can keep her legs on it and relax communicating that little gestures of our loved ones can make a lot of difference.

    Hitachi Air conditioning India chairman and managing director Johnson Controls Gurmeet Singh says, “Hitachi aims to reach every Indian household and become India’s leading air conditioning brand by 2021. With its innovative product range, best in class indigenous manufacturing facilities, world class R&D facility and a continuous endeavour to give its customers a better post sales service experience.”

    Dentsu Impact chief creative officer Soumitra Karnik mentions, “Hitachi faces a unique challenge in the market. And it’s always exciting to work on such challenging briefs. Our idea was to bring alive the campaign thought by beautifully capturing those simple, everyday moments which are truly priceless. As it’s the little things that make all the difference.”

  • ‘Warning’: Nothing to be scared of

    ‘Warning’: Nothing to be scared of

    Warning is an attempt to make something different in that it chooses an underwater theme with 3D effects. However, trying to be different does not amount to being original. Thus, the film borrows heavily from an English film, Open Water 2: Adrift.

    A bunch of friends decide to go mid-sea for a break and celebrate their reunion. These seven friends decide to go for a swim and sure enough all of them jump into the sea leaving only a year old toddler aboard. While they are having fun they don’t realise they have no way of getting back on the yacht because, in their joyous mood, they have forgotten to lower the ladder to board the yacht again.

    When they realise, they try to devise ways to climb back while they ward off sharks and struggle to stay afloat. Meanwhile, the little baby is alone on the yacht and crying. As would happen in any reunion, the past incidents catch up with the group. Past enmity too resurfaces. To add some tense moments, one of the girls forced to jump into the water suffers from aqua-phobia.

    There is no suspense in the film as such except how many will be sacrificed while efforts are being made to climb back aboard and how many will make it out alive. In fact, the film takes recourse to the original source in plotting its sequence of events.

    Producer: Anubhav Sinha, Parag Sanghvi, Sunil A Lulla.
    Director: Gurmeet Singh.
    Cast: Santosh Barmola, Suzana Rodrigues, Manjari Fadnis, Varun Sharma, Jitin Gulati, Sumit Suri, MadhurimaTuli.

    The film is well endowed with good photography and background score but despite a readymade subject and 3D effects to play with, it is the treatment that is seen to be wanting. The film fails to scare or even cause anxiety in any sequence. Performances range from average to passable.

    Warning 3D will prove to be one of those also ran films.

  • Kolkata MSOs racing against time to meet DAS deadline

    Kolkata MSOs racing against time to meet DAS deadline

    KOLKATA: Multi System Operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) in Kolkata are busy collecting the consumer application forms (CAF) and feeding in details for the complete implementation of the Digital Addressable System (DAS).

    “There’s a huge increase in workload, and everything has to be collected quicker and reported quicker,” says a Kolkata headquartered MSO. While a LOC says: “It’s very tiring to go home and get called back in again, and go home and get called back in again for clarifications and further clarifications.”

    With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) confirming last week that it will strictly adhere to the 23 August deadline for implementation of subscriber management system (SMS) rollout in Kolkata, the MSOs and cable operators are collecting the know your client (KYC) form details and subscribers’ choice of channels swiftly and are racing against time to feed the data into their systems day and night.

    So far 30-35 per cent of the subscriber management system (SMS) data of cable consumers in Kolkata is completed as per the TRAI data.

    SitiCable which controls a substantial share of cable TV users in Kolkata said the call centers would update the details overnight. “We will work overnight and plan to achieve as much of the work before the deadline,” said SitiCable (Kolkata) director Suresh Sethia.

    SitiCable has set up around 11.5 lakh digital addressable systems (DAS) here.

    While for Manthan Broadband Services there are no holidays and Sundays. “We have 6.5 lakh to seven lakh subscribers. The CAF rate was around 25 per cent for us last week,” said Manthan Broadband Services director Sudip Ghosh.

    “The operators connected with Manthan are working 10 times faster than before,” added Ghosh.
    While Manthan Broadband Services director Gurmeet Singh, said: “With the regulation, we have to collect 100 per cent details. We have no other choice than asking the operators to work and achieve the target.”

    DEN Networks CEO SN Sharma said the CAF collection rate for it’s close to three lakh STBs in Kolkata is nearly 40 per cent-45 per cent.

    “Before the deadline, we aim to achieve 85 per cent -90 per cent work,” said Sharma with assurance.

    “The operators are so lethargic that the customers have not yet got the forms and we are getting calls from frantic TV viewers now,” said a MSO. “We have asked them to download the form from the website and fill it up, scan and mail it to us if possible so that their TV screens do not go blank,” he added.

    With just five days in hand to meet the switch-off date, other MSOs and LCOs said that they have deployed more personnel on shift and temporary basis.

    “Consumer Application Form (CAF) collection rate is expected to be around 70 per cent-75 per cent altogether in Kolkata by 23 August,” assumes Sethia.

    “Achieving 100 per cent target by 23 August is next to impossible. Kolkata will miss the deadline,” said Association of Cable Operators, Cable Operators Digitalisation Committee convener Swapan Chowdhury. “But the cable TV industry people are toiling hard now,” he expounded.

    On the other hand industry sources on the condition of anonymity said it is not possible to give authentic data in just five days. “Filling up more than 18 lakh CAFs is not a matter of joke. The LCO may tick mark the preference of the users themselves,” he said. “For not providing genuine information, the MSOs may face dreadful consequences,” he hinted.

    If around 5,000 local cable operators and 14 MSOs, which provide service in DAS areas do not abide by the deadline of submitting the CAFs, TRAI may file a case against any MSO, concluded a source.

    With the clock ticking and TRAI not willing to give any leeway, the MSOs and LCOs have their work cut out.

  • Manthan goes online with Irdeto for Cas

    Manthan goes online with Irdeto for Cas

    MUMBAI: Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) Manthan Broadband Services has integrated its enryption system using the Irdeto system and has gone totally online with it.

    Manthan is deploying the Irdeto Digital TV solution as part of its analogue to digital migration project in Kolkata and outlying areas. “We have totally gone online with the Irdeto system,” says Manthan director Gurmeet Singh.

     
    Irdeto will provide Manthan with it’s newest smart card, the Irdeto Zeta Card. The Zeta Card contains advanced security functionalities like Irdeto’s patented FlexiFlash technology for the rapid, secure deployment of new functionalities and security upgrades, as well as an advanced DRM feature that can be used to enforce business rules for content stored on personal video recorders.

     
    Says Irdeto CEO Graham Kill, “Irdeto is providing a next-generation digital TV solution and support services to help Manthan expand the digital era in India.”

  • Cable operators black out Star chnls in Kolkata

    Cable operators black out Star chnls in Kolkata

    MUMBAI: A majority of cable networks in Kolkata have blacked out the Star group of channels, protesting against a seven per cent rate hike. Another contention is the forcing of the second bouquet which includes channels like Star One.

    The Star channels including Star Plus are not available to most viewers in the city since Saturday midnight. The decision was taken by the last mile operators (LMOs) who also blamed Tata Sky, in which Star is a 20 per cent joint venture partner, for approaching housing societies with the offer of a central dish antenna through which individual installations could be provided for direct-to-home (DTH) service.

    Indian Cable Net (which was bought out by Siticable) and Manthan Cable Network, the two big multi-system operators (MSOs) in the city, are not having the Star channels on their cable systems. “We were asked by the last mile operators not to carry the Star channels,” says an executive in Indian Cable Net.

    Earlier, Star had switched off signals to Manthan after claiming outstandings of over Rs 20 million. “Manthan owed us money and we switched off signals on 15 March after giving a month’s notice. There is no reason for the other cable operators blacking us out as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has allowed a seven per cent hike,” says a Star India spokesperson.

    Manthan director Gurmeet Singh admits Star was off the network from 15 March, but says the case regarding dues is pending in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

    The protest against carriage of the Star channels was led by the Forum of Cable Operators and Cable Operators Sanjukta, two association bodies of the last mile operators in the city. “Star was asking for a hike, which we couldn’t have passed on to the consumers. Besides, Tata Sky, where Star is a partner, is wanting to grab subscribers by offering housing societies free cabling from a single central antenna,” says Cable Operators Sanjukta spokesperson Papi Banerjee.

    Star channels are, however, available on Cablecom and Purvalaya Communications. “Star is also supporting some operators by issuing decoder boxes,” says a last mile operator in Kolkata.