ITV

Tag: NSCI

  • Dome, NSCI to host yet another season of pro kabaddi league for the fifth consecutive year this july 2019 for home team U Mumba

    Dome, NSCI to host yet another season of pro kabaddi league for the fifth consecutive year this july 2019 for home team U Mumba

    MUMBAI: Dome, NSCI, India’s premier entertainment and leisure destination, is set to host all matches assigned to Mumbai team U Mumba for the seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi league, from the end of July 2019 onwards. Known for their incredible versatility, Dome is hosting the event for the fifth consecutive year, which is a testament to their expertise as a leading indoor sports arena.

    Supporting the indigenous sport of Kabaddi, the league is an initiative by Mashal Sports and Star India, to bring back the sport into the national spotlight. As the official broadcasters, Star India has brought Kabaddi into home audiences live from the arena. Showcasing their support to this ground-breaking initiative, Dome, NSCI, is the proud home turf of U Mumba, Mumbai’s very own team, and is gearing up to ready the arena for a number of exciting matches for the fifth consecutive season. Sports enthusiasts in the city are already in a hurry to book their seats for the league, with tickets now live on PayTM and Insider.in

    Mazhar Nadiadwala, Managing Director, Dome Entertainment, says, “With seven successful seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League, the sport has definitely become one of the leading sporting events in the country. It is a pleasure to consistently be able to deliver the best arena for an indigenous sport like Kabaddi to shine. Associating with Star India, the official broadcasters, this is our fifth time hosting the event, and it continues to be just as thrilling to host them as it was the first time. Partnering with USports, we are thrilled to watch our home team, U Mumba take the arena and fight for the trophy. We feel honored to have been chosen for the event yet again, and we hope to continue to be associated with them in the future, as well.”

    The venue has also previously hosted leading sports events like Matrix Fight Night, Brave India – MMA, IOS Boxing, and more. By hosting Pro Kabaddi League for the fifth time, Dome has definitely established themselves as one of the leading sports destinations in the country.

    Supratik Sen, MD & Co-Founder, U Sports says, “The team and the fans always look forward to U Mumba playing at home during the Pro Kabaddi League. We always try to give the fans maximum seating as they love to watch the match live. Not only that, the experience is also an important factor which Dome has. Even with the high costs, we spare no expense to give our fans the best!”

  • Mixed Martial Arts: Neo Sports acquires broadcast rights for Asia’s largest event

    MUMBAI: Brave Combat Federation, Asia’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded under the patronage of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa from Bahrain, is hosting its first MMA event in India on Sunday, 23 April, at Dome, NSCI in Mumbai.

    Neo Sports has acquired the broadcast rights for the event and the fights will be aired live between 8 pm to 10 pm. It will also be broadcast across 53 nations and streamed online live via bravefights.com. In addition to Neo Sports, the other partners for this event include Carnival Cinemas India (Multiplex & Publicity partner), Essence Transmedia (Event Partner), R City (Mall partner), Seven Hills Hospital (Medical Partner), Times of India (Media Partner) and Radio Mirchi (Radio Partner).

    Brave Combat Federation is the first global MMA promotion to organize an event in India. This is the fifth edition of Brave Combat Federation and the Brave 5 Fight card features renowned Indian and International athletes from 11 nations including Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, India, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Algeria’s Tahar Hadbi and England’s Carl Booth will compete at the main event. Indo-Canadian Gurdarshan ‘Saint Lion’ Mangat is moving two weight classes to compete with Abdul ‘Cutman’ Muneer in the Featherweight division, which is the co-main event.

    The line-up also includes Indian athletes such as Mohammed Farhad, Goa’s Nelson Paes, IMMAF World Championship medallist Hardeep Rai, former Indian champion Bharat Khandare, and Indian MMA pioneer Chaitanya Gavali and international athletes such as Paulo Gonçalvez from Brazil, TUF Latin America contestant Alejandro Martinez, Bahrain’s pride Hamza Kooheji and former Middle Eastern champion Aziz Julaidan. Brave 5 will kick-off with the Weigh-ins and Open Workouts on April 22, which will be held at R-City Mall, Mumbai 6 PM onwards. The event will be attended by key dignitaries including His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa and prominent Bollywood celebrities.

  • Official jersey of Jaipur Pink Panthers kabaddi team unveiled by owner Abhishek Bachchan

    Official jersey of Jaipur Pink Panthers kabaddi team unveiled by owner Abhishek Bachchan

    NEW DELHI: Pro-Kabaddi League  (PKL) franchise Jaipur Pink Panthers’ official jersey has been unveiled by the team owner, actor Abhishek Bachchan in Mumbai.

    While the players of the Jaipur Pink Panthers were recently introduced to the Jaipur media, they were officially introduced to the audience in Mumbai.

    PKL flags off today across eight venues in India, starting with the Jaipur Pink Panthers v/s U Mumba at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai.

    Bachchan spoke at length about his association with Kabaddi and the PKL. He said, “It’s a huge honor to be associated with the Pro-Kabaddi League and an even bigger honor to introduce to you the players of the Jaipur Pink Panthers. We have some amazing talent here today as the Jaipur Pink Panthers get ready to roar at the games”.

  • Uday Shankar’s take on social responsibility

    Uday Shankar’s take on social responsibility

    MUMBAI: This Independence Day saw the who’s who of the film and television fraternity come together in a unique initiative by Star India to support the victims of the Uttarakhand tragedy.

     

    Christened Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand, the seven-hour-long event held at the NSCI grounds in Mumbai was telecast live across the entire Star India network.

     

    In an exclusive interaction with indiantelevision.com, Star India CEO Uday Shankar spoke at length about the conviction behind this noble cause and Star India’s philosophy.

     

    “When such a tragedy occurs, there is a need to do something different. At Star, we have a very deep emotional connect with the audiences at large,” expresses Shankar. “Whether it is through our programming or by connecting with the film and television industry for this cause, we feel it is our duty to help people who are in pain there.”

    Star’s Uday Shankar says the network is not only number one in terms of content but it also has a very strong social conscience

     

    Shankar points out that the initiative helped reinforce another point that Star is not only number one in terms of content but it also has a very strong social conscience. “The endeavour was also born out of his sense of responsibility toward the large number of people that have made all the channels of the Star network successful,” he highlights. “People’s belief brings with it a huge responsibility, which we are continually aware of, and try and live up to. Doing this for the rebuilding of Uttarakhand is yet another acknowledgement of our responsibility.”

     

    So why I-Day? According to Shankar, Star India had wanted to do something big at the time the tragedy occurred but the logistics were daunting. That’s when he and his team started taking the creative community into confidence.

     

    “Obviously, an event on such a big scale takes time, as you have all the top stars from the industry and you need some time to bring all of them together. So, 15 August was very appropriate because both its symbolic and philosophical values were in sync with our objective,” explains Shankar.

     

    What was the idea of airing the event live? “Live has an element of intensity, immediacy and urgency. We wanted to share with the people how the creative community, comprising media, television and film has responded spontaneously to the disaster. We wanted to capture that intensity,” gushes Shankar.

     

    Are he and his team happy with the response the event garnered? “I was overwhelmed by the positive response from all the top stars and everybody from the film and television industry. Bringing together so many people is a challenge, but everybody was more than willing the moment we said it is for Uttarakhand victims. While some of them could not make it because of their own commitments, it was very satisfying to see them all so willing to lend their support to the cause,” exults Shankar.

    Star India has decided to encourage viewers from across the globe to donate generously toward the victims of the tragedy

     

    Have the network’s expectations been fulfilled, at least to some extent? According to Shankar, the immediate and material consideration was “to raise as much contribution as we can so we can play a more effective role in rebuilding Uttarakhand.”

     

    In fact, as a natural next step, Star India has decided to encourage viewers from across the globe to donate generously toward the victims of the tragedy.

     

    Donation lines will be open from 15 August to 7 September and the funds collected will be channeled to the People’s Science Institute (PSI) and Himmotthan society NGOs partners. How the funds are used will be overseen by a team of independent auditors.

     

    A large part of undertaking the initiative was about replying to the perennial question faced by the media as to whether it is living up to its social responsibilities or not.

     

    “Whether it is the political class or the rest of the country, this question is being put to journalists, people in the field of entertainment, TV, print, all of us, every day. To which we wanted to say, ‘Look, we are more alive! Doesn’t matter whether we are news or entertainment, we are there when society needs us’,” said Shankar.

     

    Before concluding the interview, Shankar bared his heart on what the country should do in such situations.

     

     “Within the creative community, there is a strong desire to be socially more relevant, more meaningful and contribute more effectively. Everybody – whether they are actors, directors, producers, technicians and many more – has that kind of desire. What we require is the leadership, and I think that is why we all came together so we could provide that leadership to channelise that urge and those emotions. If we can do that, I think the country can do a lot more.”

  • Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    MUMBAI: When Star India CEO Uday Shankar watched hundreds of innocent tourists and locals being swept away and buildings being flattened by the rising waters of the Mandakani river in June this year, he was at first horrified by the magnitude of the tragedy and then moved to action. He vowed to himself, that he would put in his best to help in the rebuilding efforts in the affected areas. He made a call to the two Bhatts of Bollywood- Mahesh and Mukesh and sought their support in putting together a fund-raising initiative which would involve the film and television fraternity.
    This is an opportunity for the entire Hindi film industry to stand by people who have showered them with unconditional love, says Star’s Uday Shankar
    He also connected with Wizcraft’s Sabbas Joseph, asking him to pitch in this with his mite. And he deputed Star India senior VP marketing Yogesh Manwani to go down to Uttarakhand to study and assess the situation and gauge the funds required to rehabilitate the afflicted areas with major NGOs working there.
    Come 15 August 2013, and Uday’s initiative will see the light of day at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI)’s spanking new stadium in Central Mumbai. On stage will be the biggest names from Bollywood, the Bachchan family – it’s quite likely that the Bachchan bahu Aishwarya will get on stage after a long hiatus, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, AR Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Ayushmann Khurana, Akshay Kumar, Pritam, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Prasoon Joshi, among many others.
    The event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand will be telecast live on a clutch of channels of the Star India network – Life OK, Star Plus, Star Jalsa, Star World, Star Utsav, Star Movies, Star Gold, Star Pravah, Movies OK, Channel V and Star Plus.
    So what’s so great about doing another multi-starrer event with film and TV performers? Have we not seen many of them and felt like going ho-hum? The difference this time is that this one has very noble intentions. Every paisa that Star India earns courtesy ad revenues and sponsorship during the telecast will be donated to NGOs working in the Uttarakhand. The telecast is slated to run for seven hours from 12 noon to 7pm. Estimates are that Star is likely to give away Rs 20-30 crore which it will rake in courtesy the telecast.
    The biggest names from Bollywood have been roped in for the event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand
    Amitabh will lend his mesmerising voice to recite couplets from Prasoon’s magical poetry that’ll be set to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music. The enthralling musical act will weave Prasoon’s event anthem – Mera Desh- into an enchanting song performance by acclaimed classical singer Shankar Mahadevan and a spellbinding poetic rendition by Amitabh. At the time of writing, several other stars like Rani Mukerji and Karan Johar were also approached.
    Says Star India CEO Uday Shankar, “Mera Desh is an invocation by India’s most revered artists with a simple and clear message to fellow citizens — to look at tragedy squarely in the eye and overcome it by joining hands. Star India is humbled to receive support from Hindi cinema’s biggest icons.”
    “The noble initiative is an opportunity for the entire Hindi film industry to stand by the very people who have showered us with unconditional love and have made us who we are,” says Bachchan. “We have come together to ease the pain of fellow men who suffered the agonising pain that this unprecedented calamity brought with itself.”
    All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand
    This apart, anchors will be rotated every hour. Among some of the names from the TV industry which are being talked about include: Deepika Singh (Sandhya), Anas Rashid (Sooraj), Karan Mehra (Naitik), Mahadev fame Mohit Raina and Pooja Bose. “The show will be loaded with entertainment,” says a source close to the production. Wizcraft has had the experience of raising funds through greenathons and long-format events. But they have left the fund-raising to Star which is setting up payment gateways online. All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand.”
    The main choreographer for the event is Sanjay Shetty who has become the darling of most live event organisers in recent times. The creative inputs will come courtesy Star India senior vice president programming Anil Jha. Wizcraft TV head Namit Sharma is the creative head and Asim Sen has been roped in as the TV director, Anurag Dingra will be the director of photography, while sets are being done by designer Varshai Desai. Wizcraft sound firm Performance Audio has been signed on for the sound while Atul Sonpal is responsible for the lights design with the help of lights from SFX and Ulhas will look after lights. Tech gear, cameras are being supplied by Real Impact.
    Technical and production crew disclosed that they were either working free of cost or at concessional rates for the event. “We are doing it for a cause,” says one of them. “Star has been reaching out to all who have been working with it on shows in the past to come in at really discounted rates.”
    Star India has emerged as one of the front runners on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) front amongst media firms ever since Shankar took over as CEO four years ago. This initiative should take the network even further still.