Tag: Puneet Issar

  • You may not know Bharat Connect, but you trust it with your bills

    You may not know Bharat Connect, but you trust it with your bills

    Mumbai — NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL), the bill payments arm of the National Payments Corporation of India, has rolled out a sharply observed campaign for its flagship platform, Bharat Connect. The line? ‘Aap Humein Jaante Nahi, Par Maante Hain’ — a nod to how millions use the system daily without ever knowing its name.

    Conceptualised by DDB Mudra Group, the campaign focuses on the platform’s omnipresence in everyday digital transactions — from electricity bills and EMIs to insurance and credit card dues — while operating quietly in the background. Bharat Connect is the digital workhorse running through bank apps, fintech interfaces, websites and even assisted channels, powering both recurring and one-time payments with minimal fuss.

    Featuring familiar faces such as Puneet Issar, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Sharib Hashmi, Chandan Roy and Gopal Datt, the films unfold through everyday scenarios — slice-of-life moments where the real star is seamless, secure and trustworthy digital infrastructure.

    The campaign, which goes live across eleven Indian languages, will hit television, digital, print, radio and out-of-home touchpoints in a full-bodied media blitz. It’s as much about emotional connection as it is about tech prowess.

    Speaking about this campaign, NBBL MD & CEO Noopur Chaturvedi said, “Bharat Connect stands as a trusted and inclusive digital infrastructure for bill payments that touches the lives of millions every single day. With this campaign, we aim to make our purpose visible and assure every Indian of ease, safety, and reliability when managing their essential payments. Through relatable instances in this campaign, we aim to reaffirm Bharat Connect’s role in enabling India’s digital future.”

    “The insight driving this campaign stemmed from a simple truth: while Bharat Connect powers millions of daily bill payments, its name remains unfamiliar to most. This gap between utility and awareness became the foundation of our narrative — highlighting how a trusted service can be deeply embedded in people’s lives, yet remain invisible,” said DDB Mudra Group Group creative directors Gagandeep Bindra & Rahul Arcot.

    With this move, NBBL hopes to bring Bharat Connect out of the shadows and into public consciousness — not by rebranding, but by reminding users that trust is often built silently, swipe by swipe.

  • COLORS acquires rights to air epic Mahabharat

    COLORS acquires rights to air epic Mahabharat

    Mumbai: Iconic mythological show Mahabharat is set to air on COLORS starting Monday, 4 May 2020, every day from 7-9 pm.

    Starring Nitish Bharadwaj, Mukesh Khanna, Rupa Ganguly, Gajendra Chauhan, and Puneet Issar, Mahabharat is directed by Ravi Chopra. Mahabharat was first aired between 1988-90. Back in time, watching the show used to be a morning ritual and the streets would go silent as the entire nation would tune in to watch the episodes with their families. Decades later, the show is still deemed cult for its rich storyline, grandeur, and fine performances and holds a memorable place in our lives.

    Manisha Sharma, chief content officer, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18, says: “Due to the nationwide lockdown, the television landscape is changing quite significantly. The popular classics and erstwhile shows have found a renewed interest amongst the audience as they provide relief and induce nostalgia. We, at COLORS, are constantly and very closely evaluating the viewership trends and designing our programming to give our audience the best content. In a similar move, we are elated to air Mahabharat on television to give our viewers another opportunity to relive the golden times.” 

  • Barkhaa…Who?

    Barkhaa…Who?

    MUMBAI: Barkhaa is an old fashioned story revisited. It is about a city lad on a visit to a picturesque location where he falls for another visitor. As a modern version, the theme is about one sided love, an obsession and about his love ending up in a dance bar.

     

    Taaha Shah, a reputed and wealthy lawyer’s son, is on a visit to Haryana, where he spots Sara Loren and falls in love with her. She is not aware of his feelings or scrutiny. But, soon, Sara has vanished from the scene and Tahaa does not know where to look for her.

     

    Back to routine, he is asked to run an errand for his lawyer father, Puneet Issar, to meet a dance bar owner client of his. Taaha is invited by the bar owner to come visit his bar. When Taaha does so, he gets an unpleasant surprise. Sara is one of the bar dancers at the joint. Now, Taaha may be obsessed with Sara but, for a reputed, traditional Tahaa, son of a renowned lawyer, a bar girl is not supposed to be an ideal object of romance.

     

    Since Taaha is in a quandary as his love for Sara is overpowering, he is drawn to the bar constantly. He lands up there and takes to drinking. He drowns his sorrows and shock of his love being a dance bar girl by just looking at her every day without communicating.

     

    Sara is not a mere bar girl, she is talented too and has penned a book, which Taaha is invited to inaugurate. After reading the book, Taaha learns the story of Sara’s life, her betrayal by Taaha’s own friend and her having been left with a child out of wedlock.  The book mentions no author’s name but Taaha somehow connects it to Sara.

     

    It is time for the old-fashioned melodrama. Taaha is summoned to his hospitalized mother. Meanwhile, Issar is plotting to get Sara out of Taaha’s life. As a reputed lawyer, he can’t have a bar girl as his daughter in law. But, such films are all about happy endings. So be it.

     

    Sara acts well and has a good presence. Taaha does well. The direction is fair and the film has a pleasant musical score.

     

    But with no face value and a lack of promotion, Barkhaa will only add to numbers, nothing to box office.

     

    Producer: Shaban Hashmi.

    Director: Shadaa Mirza.

    Cast: Sara Loren, Taaha Shah, Puneet Issar.