ITV

Tag: Rajkumar Rao

  • Enjoy Alt Balaji entertainment as you ride in Ola

    MUMBAI: Alt Balaji and Ola’s connected car platform for ridesharing Ola Play have joined hands to provide entertainment on the go.

    Through this collaboration, a preview of Alt Balaji’s original and exclusive shows will be available to Ola Play customers across the country. The users will be able to access a vast collection of original shows produced and curated by Alt Balaji through an immersive and personalized experience which customers can seamlessly control through their smartphones as well as a device mounted at the back of the seat.

    Present in cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, Ola Play presents Alt Balaji with the opportunity to engage with hundreds and thousands of Ola customers. Alt Balaji aims to create 250+ hrs of original content this year for its viewers all over the world.

    Alt Balaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “Oia is the only ridesharing app in India that links mobility to an unparalleled in-cab experience, providing a great platform for content creators like us with a unique opportunity to reach out to a wide customer base. With an average ride time of 45 minutes or more, travellers are usually deprived of options. But through Ola’s unique connected experience for travellers, Ola Play users can now access an assortment of Alt Balaji’s shows from multiple genres, and beat traffic woes. All new shows will be available on Play, and for more content, users can download the Alt Balaji app through Ola’s free in-cab Wi-Fi connectivity. We look forward to our continued association with Ola Play to create the best possible experience for Ola customers.”

    Ola Play Head and senior director Ankit Jain said, “Content partnerships such as Alt Balaji play a huge role in enhancing the unique customer experience that 0/a Play as a pioneering innovation has to offer. The strategic tie-up aims to provide fresh and exclusive content to our customers who can control the entire experience and engage with the content. With partnerships such as these, Ola is well on its way to transform the consumer’s ride experience, building an experience that is intelligent, contextual, and unique.”

    Alt Balaji was launched on 16 April 2017 with five original shows and the app will unveil shows every fortnight for its viewers to binge watch. The platform recently launched The Test Case’ directed by Nagesh Kukunoor starring Nimrat Kaur as the first female officer in a combat role. The content has been created by some of the best talent in the Indian entertainment industry, including critically acclaimed directors and actors.

    The illustrious list of artistes also comprises Juhi Chawla,Rajkumar Rao, Hansal Mehta,Sakshi Tanwar,Ram Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Sameer Soni, Yudhishtar Urs, Dipannita Sharma Atwal, and many more. Alt Balaji now has the widest payment options amongst SVOD on services in India.

  • Titan’s Celestial Time campaign features actor Raj Kumar Rao

    Titan’s Celestial Time campaign features actor Raj Kumar Rao

    MUMBAI: Titan Company’s new moon phase watches – Celestial Time – will see versatile actor Raj Kumar Rao featuring in the ad campaign.

     

    Titan Company watches and accessories CEO H G Raghunath along with Rao unveiled the collection.

     

    The ad shows Rao as a young, successful entrepreneur meeting his ex-boss. Through their conversation, we learn of the young entrepreneur’s success streak and that he is looking for a CEO for his company. The young entrepreneur says he has someone in mind but is unsure of how to make an offer for the post. His ex-boss says it’s no big deal; all he has to do is go up to the person and say, “You’re the guy for the job.”

     

    The young man looks down at his treasured Titan Celestial Time watch and gathers the confidence to look at his ex-boss and tell him – “You’re the guy for the job,” taking the senior gentleman by surprise. The film ends with a splendid shot of the Celestial Time watch and a resounding message: Your time has come.

     

    Remarking on the thought behind the commercial, Titan Company general manager – Titan Rajan Amba says, “The new ad immediately strikes the core idea behind Titan’s new range of moon phase watches. It is carved for young men in their twenties, who dare to be creative and start their own business, who raise multi million dollar funds through their start ups. This watch embodies that spirits and the Rajkumar’s character in the ad film is the representative of these young CEOs and entrepreneurs.”

     

    According to Amba, the total spends on the ad campaign was around Rs 10 – 13 crore.

     

    Conceptualised by Ogilvy and Mather, the 70 second ad was directed by Vivek Kakkar, a close friend of Rao under the production house Curios.

     

    “India is home to a rapidly growing number of entrepreneurs.  We wanted to weave this in a story that would reflect the values of the brand in a very honest, charming and an intimate way,” says Ogilvy and Mather Bangalore executive creative director Steve Hough, reiterating Amba’s words.

     

    With a price ranging between Rs 12,000 – 14,000, Celestial Time is expected to be crucial to Titan plan of premiumisation of the brand. Powered by Titan’s state of the art technology in coming up with their own patent of moon phase dial, the watch didn’t fail to live up to the ad campaign’s hype.

  • ‘Dolly Ki Doli’ a hit in Pakistan; earns 50 lakh on Day 1

    ‘Dolly Ki Doli’ a hit in Pakistan; earns 50 lakh on Day 1

    NEW DELHI: The film Dolly Ki Dolly starring Sonam Kapoor with Pulkit Samrt, Rajkumar Rao and Varun Sharma has become a major hit in Pakistan earning Rs 50 lakh in its opening day on the big screen.

     

    Produced by Kinesis Films and Arbaaz Khan Productions, the film also did good business in the United Arab Emirates.

     

    The hilarious comedy was screened at 35 cinemas on 65 plus screens (68-70 screens approximately in total including e-print and DCP) in cinemas nationwide.

     

    The success of the film in Pakistan could be due to the wholesome family entertainment quotient and the song “Mere Naina Kafir Ho Gaye” by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan- a hightlight in the film.

     

    Malaika Arora Khan’s item number and Saif Ali Khan’s guest appearance all add to the Bollywood masala the film has to offer.

     

    Kinesis Films director Samir Gupta said, “The film has performed very well in Pakistan in week 2 despite the other releases and is continuing in 30 cinemas even in week 3. While Khoobsurat had the advantage of the popular Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, this has been a super effort by Sonam and the rest of the cast to bring in family audiences and keep them entertained.”

  • ‘Citylights’ …Dark and drab…

    ‘Citylights’ …Dark and drab…

    MUMBAI: Citylights is a pretentious film which attempts to depict the plight of a migrant family in a metropolis like Mumbai! The film is actually a crime story but is touted as a poor migrant’s travails in a major city.

    Rajkumar Rao is an ex-army man turned sari trader in Rajsthan’s Pali district. He fails to pay his liabilities and is thrown out of his shop by his creditors. After some deliberation, he decides to migrate to Mumbai with one contact number of a relative. He decides to do this with his wife and daughter, a move that you don’t see a sensible person make.

    In Mumbai, where a newcomer ceases to be so within minutes as the city takes him into its embrace, Rao’s start is not good. His contact is not traceable on the number he has, and with just a name and no address to go on, Rao doesn’t make much progress. Next, someone offers him a one-bedroom home against Rs 10,000 deposit and rent to be paid later. The house is actually in the hands of painters who are giving it a fresh coat of paint. Rao has been duped of his money. Finally he finds shelter in an under construction building for Rs 100 a night.

    From then on starts his struggle to find a job, which he lands eventually as a driver for a security company’s armoured car. These cars deliver sealed boxes to various clients and contain cash or stuff worth crores of rupees. Out of a horde of applicants, Manav Kaul, the supervisor, chooses Rao with a design in mind. Rao’s wife, Patralekha, meanwhile, finds a job with a dance bar.

    Producer: Mukesh Bhatt.

    Director: Hansal Mehta.

    Cast: Rajkumar Rao, Patralekha, Manav Kaul.

    Kaul gradually cultivates Rao and plots to involve him in an earlier foiled robbery. Kaul had managed to save the box from that robbery and now he needs Rao’s help to get the key lying in the security company’s locker room. The boxes can’t be forced open as doing that can detonate a bomb inside killing the one who attempts. Kaul shifts Rao to the house where he has hidden the box before telling him about his plan. Rao is livid but Kaul has trapped him from all sides. While on one assignment, the robbers catch up with Kaul and kill him. Rao is suspended for not saving him. He is now jobless and broke. Patralekha has kicked her job too. Exasperated, Rao decides to make a sacrifice for his family. He decides to execute the plan Kaul had made.

    The direction is fair. Music has no place yet is forced in. The original simple script has been complicated here. Performances by Rao and Patralekha are very good. Kaul makes an impact.

    A black film with no relief, Citylights is hard to take; all it can hope for is an award or two.

    ‘Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi’…Same to you…

    This is one more film with Delhi flavour and locales. It is about a middle class locality of Delhi where two friends have grown up together. They are inseparable and the most clandestine thing they do is to indulge in fruit beer once in a while. And, lest the audience not believe it is truly a Delhi story, the inevitable statue of Bajrangbali of Jhandewalan/Karol Bagh does not fail to make its appearance like in all Delhi centric films! And, of course, the title, Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi, is a local colloquial having little to do with rest of the country.

    Producers: Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Bejoy Nambiar.

    Director: Aman Sachdeva.

    Cast: Sidharth Gupta, Ashish Juneja, Simran Kaur Mundi.

    Siddharth Gupta (Kuku) is an average student who fails to get admission to a college after high school. He, like all boys of such age, has agendas they dare not open up about. Siddharth attends the English tuition class only because the girl living in the house opposite the class, Simran Kaur Mundi, has caught his fancy. He is motherless, responsible for looking after and cooking for his younger sister and father, a government servant. But cooking is something he relishes doing. His dream is to own a restaurant some day while his father wants him to become a NASA scientist.

    Kuku’s best friend, Ashish Juneja, is a little better off, hailing from a trading family. His family runs a sari shop and decides to set up a matching centre for him next to the sari shop so those who buy saris may go next door to his shop to buy matching falls and blouse pieces. While Ashish gets busy selling matching blouse pieces, Siddharth manages a job as a spot boy with a Haryanvi film unit. Here, at the shooting, just about everybody humiliates Siddharth. He snaps when his best friend too insults him.

    Siddharth is seething with anger when his cousin from Kanpur enters the scene. The cousin is as foxy as they come and, as a way of taking revenge on Ashish, suggests to Siddharth that they burn down the Sari godown owned by Ashish’s family after stealing all the goods which could be sold to another trader to finance Siddharth’s dream of starting a restaurant.

    Siddharth is now a successful eatery owner. Things change, he now has a car and, finally, also starts dating Simran who never noticed him in the seven years that he pined for her. But, the Kanpur cousin proves destructor for the family; his father gives up on his job while his sister is talked into leaking exam papers, both on the cousin’s advice.

    Siddharth’s conscience begins to bite him for his crime. He decides to meet Ashish and own up to his crime. Eventually, crime does not pay but friendship does.

    It is tough to understand the title of Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi to care enough to watch it. It was explained to me by the director as the generally used term ‘Vaat lag gayi’ in Mumbai. That is the most likely fate of this film at the box office.