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Tag: Manish Kalra

  • Zee5 unveils its content line-up for 2022

    Zee5 unveils its content line-up for 2022

    Mumbai: The video streaming platform, Zee5 has unveiled their blockbuster content slate for 2022 with 80+ titles spanning across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, and Bengali.

    The slate encompasses 40+ original shows and 40+ movies featuring an expansive gamut of genres, including cutting-edge thrillers, high-voltage action, gripping dramas, light-hearted comedies, and soul-stirring romances.

    In line with its content strategy, ZEE5’s vision is to narrate stories that mirror the viewer’s soul and cater to every consumer cohort across the country. As part of this approach, ZEE5 has also announced collaborations with leading creative minds like BBC Studios, Applause Entertainment, The Viral Fever (TVF), along with powerhouse cinematic talent like Vetrimaaran, Prakash Raj, Amitabh Bachchan and Nagraj Manjule amongst others.

    The slate of Hindi originals includes the riveting, TAJ – an epic tale of succession, the much-anticipated Forensic, Duranga – a romantic thriller, latest seasons of audience favourites like Abhay 3, Pitchers 2, Sunflower 2, Tripling 3, Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 and Rangbaaz 3 amongst many more.

    Amping up the ante, the platform will also feature the digital release of some of the biggest theatrical blockbusters like The Kashmir Files, Amitabh Bachchan’s Jhund and John Abraham’s Attack to name a few.

    The content slate also comprises a strong line-up of regionals, with the recently launched Anantham and Gaalivaana along with some of the most awaited shows and movies in Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, and Bengali like Nilamellam Ratham, Fingertip S2, Paper Rocket Recce Kinnerasaani, Yaar Anmulle Returns, Fuffad Ji, and Main Viyah Nahi Karona Tere Naal, Shikarpur, Raktakarabi and Swetkali.

    https://f.io/I3EUz9By

    Commenting on the announcement, Zee5’s chief business officer Manish Kalra said, “We are enthused by the response that Indian OTT viewers have given to Zee5, it has further encouraged us to curate a slate that caters and connects to the audiences across India. As a consumer-first brand, we have invested in expanding our creative pool bringing India’s diverse talents, creativity, culture, and stories closer to the people across the nation and to the global audience.”

    “The growth has been remarkable with a significant share coming in from the regional markets, as we bolstered our presence in South and Punjab. We have increased our investments with a concerted focus on regional content as we stand open to partnerships with global studios, independent creators, and premium content production houses across regions and languages. At Zee5, the vision has been to be the platform of choice and I am certain the 2022 slate will address the varied interests of today’s audience,” he added.

    Speaking about ZEE5’s content strategy and the new content slate, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, president-content and international markets, Punit Misra, said, “Over the last couple of years, the OTT ecosystem has undergone a significant transition due to constantly evolving consumer preferences and consumption patterns. At ZEE5, our #SoulToScreen approach continues to be a critical pillar in conceptualizing the content slate for various markets and designing our content strategy. We are proud to unveil our content slate for 2022 across languages and reaffirm our commitment of engaging viewers with premium quality content. Keeping in mind the dynamism of this ecosystem and our sharp insights into India’s diverse cultural preferences, we are confident that ZEE5’s extensive mix of new originals and movies will be successful in entertaining audiences in India and globally.”

    Zee5’s chief content officer Nimisha Pandey added, “At ZEE5, our endeavor has been to narrate real, authentic, compelling stories, and expand the canvas of entertainment; a strategy aimed to cater to our multiple consumer cohorts. We have already begun 2022 on a great note, with encouraging audience response for Mithya, Love Hostel, Abhay 3, and Bloody Brothers to name a few. At ZEE5, we are obsessive about new ideas, narratives and working with exceptional creators who are passionate about their craft. Our slate for 2022 encompasses all of this and much more, and we are confident of raising the entertainment quotient further as we move forward. We are certain 2022 will be a power-packed year for our viewers with intriguing, inspiring, and innovative storytelling.”

    Zee5 also has a robust slate planned for their Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Bengali-speaking audiences as well. The recently announced Tamil slate includes names like Valimai, Nilamellam Ratham, Anantham, Paper Rocket, Five-Six-Seven-Eight, Alma Mater, Ayali, Thalamai Seyalagam, Fingertip 2, Kolaigara Kairegaigal and Aindham Vedham. The Telugu slate includes titles like Gaalivaana, Kinnerasaani, Recce 2, ATM Prema Vinam ,Maa Neella Tank and Aha Naa Pellanta. The Punjabi content titles on the platform include Yaar Anmulle Returns, Fuffad Ji, and Main Viyah Nahi Karona Tere Naal, along with Bengali titles like Shikarpur, which marks the OTT debut of Ankush Hazra, Raktakarabi featuring Raima Sen and Vikram Chatterjee, and Swetkali. These titles will join marquee names like Radhe, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Break Point, Rashmi Rocket, Sunflower on ZEE5.

  • Zee5 announces content slate of 20 Tamil originals for 2022

    Zee5 announces content slate of 20 Tamil originals for 2022

    Mumbai: OTT streaming service Zee5 is all set to launch 20 Tamil original series in 2022, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief cluster officer – South (linear and OTT) Siju Prabhakaran told IndianTelevision.com. Zee5 Tamil and Telugu language content library is second only to Hindi language content.

    The content lineup was announced at a star-studded gala in Chennai ahead of the Tamil New Year. The event was attended by director, screenwriter, and producer Vetrimaaran who is releasing his first original series “Nilamellam Ratham” featuring Ameer and music by Yuvan Shankar Raja on Zee5.

    He was joined by Prakash Raj who will star in a drama series “Anantham,” veteran actor Radikaa Sarathkumar who will feature in the political drama “Thalamai Seyalagam” and Kalidas Jayaram who will appear in “Paper Rocket.”

     Zee5’s Tamil content slate includes director Vijay’s teen dance drama “Five-Six-Seven-Eight,” “Kolaigara Kairegaial” directed by SR Prabhakaran and the mystical thriller “Aindham Vedham.”

    The showcase included a sneak peek into upcoming titles such as “Alma Mater,” “Ayali,” “Fingertip season 2” and films such as “Yaanai” featuring Arun Vijay and Priya Bhavani Shankar, “Thamezharasan” starring Vijay Anthony, Suresh Gopi, Sonu Sood and Remya Nambeesan.

    The cast and crew for Zee5’s most-watched Tamil original “Vilangu” were present at the event as well as the lead cast and crew of their shows “Malaysia to Amnesia” and “Vinodhaya Sitham.” Recently, Zee5 premiered the film “Valimai” starring Ajith which recorded 500 million streaming minutes of watch time on the platform, it said.

    “It is encouraging to see the momentum Zee5 has gained in expanding entertainment exposure for the creators and consumers alike with real, engaging, and authentic multilingual storytelling,” said Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra. “Tapping into the hotbed of entertainment resulted in exponential success for us in the state of Tamil Nadu. Today, Zee5 has disrupted the Tamil industry with phenomenal response to content, bringing the best of Tamil talent to showcase their artistry across the globe. 2022 will see us double down on our focus for our viewers here and we have ensured the content lineup has something for everyone.”

    “We have been successful in creating a strong content repository for Zee5, offering a diverse range of content to viewers by leaning on our strong legacy and market expertise,” said Zeel’s Siju Prabhakaran. “The year is about to get more exciting as we bring to you over ten captivating original series and some of the most anticipated blockbuster movies, which will be available for our viewers in India and worldwide. The vibrant slate includes shows such as ‘Anantham’ featuring the prolific Prakash Raj, Vetrimaaran’s original series ‘Nilamellam Ratham’, new themes like Paper Rocket by ‘Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi,’ the return of a popular IP ‘Fingertip’ and many more to keep you captivated and at the edge of your seats. Besides, we are also keen to bring to fore stories which are the vision of promising budding makers and showcase fresh talent which may define the future of the Tamil OTT segment.”

    “We are delighted with the exponential growth of Zee5 in establishing itself as a prominent player in India’s exploding OTT ecosystem, especially our success with viewers across Tamil Nadu,” said Zeel’s head of content strategy business unit across TV and digital and international business Punit Misra. “We believe our clear design thinking and strategic approach to building a compelling slate along with our partnerships with the best of talent in Tamil Nadu and other key markets, will help accelerate the platform’s popularity further. What sets us apart is our approach to content design, which we call #SoultoScreen, which rests on an intimate understanding of the culture and people, creating stories and characters that are inspired from their life and crafted to stoke their imagination.”

  • Zee5 unveils ‘India Ka Binge-a-thon’ campaign to celebrate fourth anniversary

    Zee5 unveils ‘India Ka Binge-a-thon’ campaign to celebrate fourth anniversary

    Mumbai: Video streaming platform Zee5 has announced the launch of ‘India Ka Binge-a-thon,’ a three-day campaign to celebrate its fourth anniversary between 12 and 14 February.

    This initiative is aimed at the platform’s long-standing goal of entertainment inclusion where consumers will get access to the top premium web series and movies across languages for three days for free.

    Titles such as “Uri: The Surgical Strike” and “Abhay” in Hindi, “Mulshi Pattern” in Marathi, “Lalbazaar” in Bangla, “Geetha Govindam” in Telugu, “Ka Pae Ranasingam” in Tamil, “Madhura Raja” in Malayalam, and “Kalidasa Kannada Meshtru” in Kannada, amongst a host of others, will be freely available as a part of the celebratory offer.

    Also in store for the upcoming event is another offering called ‘Zee5 Spark,’ which in partnership with Indie producers and digital content creators, aims to bolster the platform’s AVOD content library. ‘Spark’ has been launched to attract new viewers, especially the youth, onto the platform for a long-term duration with short films and web series that are free to stream.  

    “With OTT growing in prominence, content consumption got democratised, paving the way for creators to explore and expand the narrative with newer concepts and genres that have led to several consumer cohorts consuming differentiated content on the platform,” observed Zee5 CCO Hindi originals Nimisha Pandey. “Factors such as the shift in demand for authentic stories, the success of women-centric narratives, growth of family entertainment, genre-bending shows and acceptance of characters with multiple layers and shades have ushered in many industry firsts in content.”

    In addition to popular series such as “Holiday,” “Ready 2 Mingle,” “Dude,” “The Great Indian Wedding,” and “Happily Ever After,” short films like “Baarish Aur Chowmein,” “Half Full,” “Khujli,” “Kheer” and others, starring popular actors Taapsee Pannu, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Jackie Shroff will be available for AVOD users under Spark.

    Over the past 12 months, Zee5 has become the highest growing OTT platform in India as per AppAnnie’s latest industry report. The platform claims to have 101.9 million monthly active users (MAU) and 9.6 million global daily active users (DAUs) as of December 2021. Zee5 users watched an average of 201 minutes of content per month during the last quarter, with the platform releasing 51 shows and movies, including 11 originals during the period

    “We are entering our fourth year with great enthusiasm and vigour, riding high on the last one year which has been a blockbuster,” said Zee5 India CBO Manish Kalra. “The response from the last four years of our operations has been phenomenal as we trotted into new markets, partnered with industry stalwarts, introduced many firsts and moved a little closer to our goal of deeper regionalisation and entertainment inclusion.”

    “This year is going to be even bigger and better as we expand our content library further with premium offerings, improve our user experience, activate more value-driven partnerships, and set new industry standards. As the multilingual storyteller of India and Bharat alike, we will continue to focus on entertainment inclusion by producing relatable and entertaining content, keeping our diverse audience in mind,” he further added.

  • Zee5 to exclusively stream Salman Khan’s ‘Antim: The Final Truth’

    Zee5 to exclusively stream Salman Khan’s ‘Antim: The Final Truth’

    Mumbai: Zee5 has announced that it will exclusively stream Salman Khan and Aayush Sharma starrer Bollywood film, “Antim: The Final Truth” on 24 December. This film is Khan’s third collaboration with Zee5, after “Kaagaz” and “Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai.”

    “We at Zee5 are focused on curating and creating good quality content to entertain the audience and bringing their favourite stars to their screens,” said Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra. “It gives us great pleasure to associate with Salman Khan and Salman Khan Films once again after the tremendous success of ‘Kaagaz’ and ‘Radhe’ on Zee5. We are proud to not only present ‘Antim: The Final Truth’ to fans, just before their most loved actor’s birthday. We are eagerly looking forward to the premiere and hope that all Salman Khan fans cherish this birthday gift”.

    “The audience gave an overwhelming response to the theatrical release of ‘Antim: The Final Truth’,” said a spokesperson from Salman Khan Films. “We are happy that they can now watch the film at their convenience and post the success of Radhe, what better platform than Zee5 to premiere it.”

    “The astounding response to Rahuliya has been overwhelming for the entire team of ‘Antim: The Final Truth’,” said Aayush Sharma. “It was heart-warming to see the response the film received in theatres after a long time, now as the film hits Zee5, we are glad that it would reach a wider audience.”

  • #Retrace2021: 30-40 per cent of our investments will be in regional content: Manish Kalra

    #Retrace2021: 30-40 per cent of our investments will be in regional content: Manish Kalra

    Mumbai: Outlining the vision for Zee4.0 at the company’s 39th AGM held prior to the Zeel-SPNI merger, CEO Punit Goenka had said that the roadmap for the next three years is going to be driven by digital. The focus on digital meant greater opportunity as well as challenges for team Zee5, particularly in terms of scaling up the content library and providing enhanced customer experience, as emphasised by Goenka.

    For Zee5 chief business officer Manish Kalra who leads the B2C business for India, the year 2021 was largely about aligning the platform’s content strategy with these tangible business outcomes. With rich experience in leadership roles at digital-first companies such as Amazon, Craftsvilla, and MakeMyTrip, he is now responsible for growing the overall revenue, viewership, and driving subscription numbers for Zee5.

    Kalra strongly believes that successful businesses are built by teams with a great understanding of customer behaviour, which explains his zeal for the ‘customer-first approach’. Under his leadership, Zee5 placed the bet on ‘deeper regionalisation’ and TVOD services in an SVOD and AVOD-dominated market to build an expansive and diverse library of content comprising over 150 web series and over two lakh hours of on-demand content across 12 languages.

    In Q2 FY22, Zee5 reported 93.2 million global monthly active users (MAUs) on the platform. On the back of the Punjabi content slate announced in the year’s second half, it witnessed 2X growth in active subscription numbers with the highest contribution from Punjab and neighbouring states like, Haryana Delhi NCR and Uttar Pradesh. The average watch time per viewer per month as on September stood at 186 minutes. Another significant development in 2021 was the launch of the Zee5 Intelligence Monitor – a fortnightly knowledge series for advertisers.

    In this interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Manish Kalra talks about all these developments, and other happenings in 2021, and shares his plans for the year ahead.

    Edited Excerpts:

    On the content strategy for 2021 and going ahead

    Content is one of the strongest pillars of Zee5’s growth strategy. 2021 has been a phenomenal year in terms of churning out compelling content as we endeavoured to develop a robust content slate that caters to the diverse needs of our consumers. Right from launching tentpole properties such as ‘Radhe’, ‘Friends: The Reunion’, ‘Break Point’, and ‘Rashmi Rocket’ to collaborating with TVF, and offering the Punjabi content slate ‘Rajj ke Vekho’, we’ve ensured having something for everybody at our content store.

    In fact, with a concerted focus on ‘Deeper Regionalisation’, and a primary objective to drive ‘Entertainment Inclusion’, we also launched two successful campaigns – ‘Any Time Manoranjan’ and ‘Dekhtey Reh Jaogey’. Both these initiatives were aimed at democratising access to bespoke Indian entertainment for all, especially for markets that are new or underserved.

    We foresee the next wave of growth coming from the Tier II and III cities that are looking for diversity in original content and genres. While the big cities will have a definite influence, the larger share of the pie will come in from smaller markets over time. Content will still be king across all, and the diversity of content is only going to grow. Regional content is our forte and we want to continue to be the multilingual storyteller for multiple entertainment seekers.

    On the opportunities in regional and sports content

    A major part of Zee5’s strategy is to convey realistic and original tales from the heartland. Coming from the legacy content powerhouse, Zee, we have established our dominance in the regional content space. Almost 50 per cent of our viewership comes from regional language content. In fact, we were the first home-grown streaming platform to have been launched in 11 Indian languages (Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi), offering access to one of the largest regional content libraries in the country.

    Going forward, around 30-40 per cent of our content investments will be in the regional space, and we expect this percentage to increase as we further cater to untapped regions. After the recent foray into original Punjabi programming, our aim is to double our Telugu and Tamil originals by early 2022. Bengali is on the radar post that.

    On the emergence of new business and subscription models

    The pandemic made us rethink the way we operated and accelerated the process of innovation. Since people were confined to their homes OTT adoption accelerated resulting in a surge in viewership and watch-time. Consumers’ willingness to pay has also increased, resulting in SVOD revenues growing at a higher rate than AVOD revenues globally for the first time ever in 2020. Zee5 being a hybrid video streaming platform saw an upsurge in traffic on both SVOD and AVOD. It was heartening to see how consumers sampled content on AVOD and further migrated to SVOD to enjoy uninterrupted content across genres and languages from our library.

    That being said, we had to continuously reinvent ourselves to give our viewers the best experience and value for their investment. With this thought, we introduced our pay-per-view subscription model ‘ZEEPlex’ to bring the box office home to Indian audiences. With digital consumption being at an all-time high we are positive that the TVOD subscription model will prove to be a success in the coming days. The concept of subscriptions was also once new, but it has picked up today. We expect TVOD to meet the same fate.

    On the evolution of movie business through 2021

    The pandemic-induced lockdown resulted in two trends – consumers stayed at home to enjoy movies and other forms of entertainment, while studios and filmmakers had to go back to the drawing board and rework their distribution strategy. Since the advent of streaming has fundamentally altered how the audiences consume content, OTT became the natural choice for filmmakers for premiering their movies – be it low-budget movies or blockbusters, giving birth to the concept of direct-to-digital. The TVOD (pay-per-view) model also emerged as a viable option. In fact, India also witnessed an industry-first, hybrid release of the magnum opus ‘Radhe’ on Zee5 and ZEEPlex.

    Now, even though the theatres have opened up, there are plenty of opportunities for both movie theatres and OTT platforms to leverage and co-exist in a profitable way. The way I see it is that movies will now first release in theatres and then come to our platform where viewers will have the flexibility to view them at their convenience. Both entities will have a synergistic relationship with each other.

    At Zee5 we are geared up for 2022 with our pipeline comprising both originals and acquired content including movies such as ‘420 IPCC’, ‘Bob Biswas’, among many others. Over and above this, we have a list of direct-to-digital releases lined up. It will be unveiled gradually in the coming days.

    On the road ahead; key focus areas for 2022

    Our customer is at the heart of everything we do. Hence, our focus has always been to enhance our technology prowess and provide high-quality video and best-in-class content viewing experience across devices.

    Moving forward, we want to focus on family entertainment along with regional content. Our aim is to make South-Asian content across languages popular, not only in India but also internationally. We aim to reach 50 per cent of the audience that is consuming content digitally. We will continue to offer differentiated shows and blockbuster movies and invest in content that is ‘real, relevant, and resonant’. These investments would drive our market share putting us in good stead going forward. In terms of content investments, it will be equally divided between original shows and acquisitions, primarily films and other shows.

  • Zee5 unveils its Bengali content slate for Durga Puja

    Zee5 unveils its Bengali content slate for Durga Puja

    Mumbai: Zee5 has launched #AamarPujoSobarPujo, a digital campaign for Durga Puja 2021 encouraging viewers to celebrate togetherness through the platform. As part of the campaign, a fresh slate of Bengali festive content comprising featured shows, web series, and direct-to-digital releases have been announced.

    During Durgotsav the platform will stream pujo special programming and new films every Friday in October along with popular TV shows like “Mithai,” “Amader Ei Poth Jodi na Sesh Hoy,” “Aparajita Apu,” “Dadagiri” (season 9), and “Uma,” and originals such as “Lalbazaar and Kaali” (season 1 and 2).

    The campaign video featuring people immersed in festivities on one side, and several workers such as a police officer, cab driver, sanitisation lady, and waiter selflessly going about their jobs on the other, celebrates the spirit of togetherness that marks Durga Pujo in Bengal.

    “With inclusivity at the heart of the brand, this campaign brings forth the recognition of those who have selflessly contributed to the community through the good and the tough times,” stated Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra. “With #AamarPujoSobarPujo we want to bring entertainment home to everyone and have an inclusive occasion by delivering our durgotsav specials hailing from the heartland of Bengal, extending the celebration across geographies and borders.”

  • Taapsee Pannu-starrer ‘Rashmi Rocket’ to directly premiere on Zee5

    Taapsee Pannu-starrer ‘Rashmi Rocket’ to directly premiere on Zee5

    Mumbai: Video streaming platform Zee5 is set to premiere Tapsee Pannu-starrer sports drama “Rashmi Rocket” on 15 October. The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya under RSVP and Mango People Media.

    “At Zee5, we have constantly strived to bring audiences richer experiences with versatile content that is not just entertaining but also a reflection of us as a collective society,” said Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra. “Rashmi Rocket is riveting, relevant, and will have you cheering, empathising, and questioning. It’s cinema that moves you.”

    Set in the salt marshes of Kutch, the film is about a young village girl who is an incredibly fast runner, nurturing the ambition of crossing the finish line some day. In the journey to fulfilling her dreams, she soon realises that the race is peppered with many hurdles, and what seems like an athletic contest turns into a personal battle for respect, honour, and identity.

    “Rashmi Rocket” is written by Nanda Periyasamy, Aniruddha Guha, and Kanika Dhillon and directed by Akarsh Khurana. The film also features Supriya Pathak, Abhishek Banerjee, Priyanshu Painyuli, and Supriya Pilgaonkar in pivotal roles.

    “So many immensely talented youth do not reach their full potential or even have opportunities owing to the obstacles the system and society throw at them. Rashmi Rocket is one such example of someone who faced those obstacles head-on and overcame them,” said RSVP’s Ronnie Screwvala on the film. “It’s a story of resilience, determination, and above all, the fighting human spirit.”

  • ZEE5 campaign promoting ‘Helmet’ garners 85 mn reach

    ZEE5 campaign promoting ‘Helmet’ garners 85 mn reach

    Mumbai: ZEE5’s 360-degree campaign called #HelmetOn promoting its latest release “Helmet” has reached over 85 million people through various ATL and BTL activations, according to the streaming platform.

    The campaign brought together celebrities and influencers like Ayushmann Khurrana, Sanya Malhotra, Rajkummar Rao, Sunny Leone, Anubhav Singh Bassi, RJ Anurag Pandey, and Ronit Ashra to encourage conversations around safe sex and condom usage through social activations, influencer outreach program, digital promos, and contests.

    The Twitter banter on #HelmetOn with prominent brands like Dunzo, Kamasutra, Bollywoo, News Nation, Fever FM and Ixigo drove positive sentiment around the film and generated quirky conversations to tackle stigma associated with the issue in India.

    As part of the campaign some high impact BTL activations were also launched to increase awareness on the widespread issue of resistance towards usage and purchase of condoms. These included Mumbai’s favourite auto rickshaws with “Helmet” top circling the city while giving out free condoms to the passengers, condom-shaped zebra crossings on busy streets in Mumbai, and distribution of free condoms in popular hotspots in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, said the statement.

    The star cast of the social comedy film also engaged with over 500 students across colleges in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bhopal, Orissa, MP, Pune and Bengaluru to educate them on the issue.

    “We are thrilled to have launched #HelmetOn that embraces social issues in a fun, engaging and healthy manner. With people still being reluctant to purchase condoms from a store, we aimed to drive awareness around this topic and encourage the use of protection through this campaign,” said ZEE5 chief business officer Manish Kalra. “Using a well-devised marketing strategy covering the digital landscape, social media, television and out of home space, the campaign has done exceedingly well and we hope to see more consumers engage with us through the campaign and give this social comedy a watch.”

    “Helmet is a project that is very close to my heart because it speaks volumes on a social issue which is the need of the hour, in a simple and sweet way. Team Helmet is proud to create awareness about safe sex and work towards alleviating the stigma around condom usage and purchase through engaging campaign,” added “Helmet” producer Dino Morea.

  • ZEE5 forays into Punjabi content with all-new lineup

    ZEE5 forays into Punjabi content with all-new lineup

    Mumbai: ZEE5 has launched an all-new Punjabi content slate under the ‘Rajj Ke Vekho’ initiative, in order to strengthen its footprint in Punjab and neighbouring areas in Northern India. The video streaming platform’s new content slate will address the demand of over three crore Punjabi native speakers in India, it said.

    The new offering consists of Punjabi films, web series, originals and shows including straight-from-the-theatre titles from Zee Studios including “Puaada”, “Qismat 2”, “Jinne Jamme Saare Nikamme”, and “Fufad Ji”, starring popular Pollywood actors Ammy Virk, Sonam Bajwa, Sargun Mehta, Binnu Dhillon, and Gurnam Bhullar.

    ZEE5 India, chief business officer, Manish Kalra said the ‘Rajj Ke Vekho’ initiative is an attempt to bridge the gap between the TV watching audience and OTT users, bringing everybody onto a common platform. “Punjab, today, boasts of over 70 per cent internet penetration, a telecom infrastructure density that ranks third in the country, with one of the highest GDPs and per capita incomes in India. Despite this, the content offerings in the local Punjabi language are not as diverse as a crucial market like Punjab deserves. While intent among the audience is high, the availability of options is low, which is precisely what ZEE5 is here to address with the initiative,” he added.

  • ZEE5 announces new original ‘Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’

    ZEE5 announces new original ‘Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’

    Mumbai: Taking the incident where ‘Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’ written on a currency note went viral across the country to the next level, ZEE5 has announced its next original film “Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai”, which will premiere on the platform very soon. The film is presented by Dr Jayantilal Gada of Pen Studios.

    Produced by Dhaval and Aksshay Gada and directed by Ssaurabh Tyagi, the film marks the Bollywood debut of TV actor Surbhi Jyoti opposite Jassie Gill. It also stars Vijay Raaz, Bijendra Kala, Atul Shrivastava, and the National Award-winning late actress Surekha Sikri in pivotal roles. The film has a couple of soundtracks which will be available on ‘Saregama’.

    Set in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, the romantic comedy follows a young man named Sintoo who falls in love with Sonam Gupta, the town’s heartbeat and a girl way out of his league. The story unfolds when Sonam reciprocates his feelings, leaving Sintoo all the more confused. What happens after is a series of comedy of errors where a line written on a note goes viral and starts a chain of events, the platform shared in a statement.

    ZEE5 India, chief business officer, Manish Kalra said, “There is a story waiting to be told in every nook and corner and we are glad to be picking on these stories and presenting it to a larger audience. ‘Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’ is based on a true incident but it picks up from there and completes the narrative. We are sure that people are curious to know why something written on a currency note was trending and we thought it would be interesting to tell a fictionalised story based on this viral incident. This movie is romantic, funny, and witty, and it has a message. It is a complete package, and we are excited for the premiere.”

    Pen Studios, chairman and MD, Dr Jayantilal Gada added, “The film’s script is very inspiring and interesting. Taking a viral incident that caught the nation’s attention and making a content-driven contemporary story out of it was something that caught our attention in turn. We at Pen Studios focus on strong content and this film has it.”