ITV

Tag: Shah Rukh Khan

  • Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan to inaugurate 18th Kolkata Film Festival

    Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan to inaugurate 18th Kolkata Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh will inaugurate the 18th Kolkata Film Festival (KKF) on 10 November.

    The festival will screen as many as 189 films from 60 countries. Iranian film Nader and Simin: A separation, directed by Azgarh Faradi, will be the opening film of the eight-day festival ending 17 November.

    During the festival, tributes would be paid to ex-superstar Rajesh Khanna who died earlier this year. On the occasion, Anand, the evergreen film of the star, would be screened.

    Bengali film star Koel Mullick will be the thali girl for the second consecutive year at the inaugural ceremony, said her father and KFF chairperson actor Ranjit Mullick.

    “The festival has a budget of Rs 30 million,” said state information and culture secretary Nandini Chakraborty. However, she remained a mere spectator when asked about the contribution of the state government and the sponsors.

    Centenary tributes would be paid to Italian movie director Michelangelo Antonioni, 13 of whose creations – five features and eight documentaries – would be showcased at the festival, the country‘s second oldest.

    It is the second time that the regime of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is organising the film fest.

    Like last year, the festival will kick off with a gala inaugural ceremony at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

  • Discovery integrates brand in YRF film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’

    MUMBAI: Infotainment channel Discovery Channel and Yash Raj Films have entered into a brand association for the forthcoming film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’.

    Releasing this Diwali on 13 November, the film will have one of its lead female characters, Akira, played by Anushka Sharma, portrayed as an employee of Discovery who wants to make a documentary on the male lead of the film – Shah Rukh Khan.

    In the film, Akira’s goal is to work for Discovery. She chances upon the opportunity, in the form of Shah Rukh Khan, employed with a special unit of the forces. She goes on to convince the Discovery team to produce a documentary on him – ‘The Man Who Cannot Die’. The audience will discover the entire story of the film through Akira’s eyes.

    Discovery senior VP, GM South Asia Rahul Johri said, “We are honoured to have associated with one of India’s foremost film stalwarts – the late Shri Yash Chopra.”

    “This association reflects the immense popularity and credibility that Discovery Channel enjoys in India and around the world where this film will be released”.

    Yash Raj Films VP Ashish Patil said, “We wanted to associate with the leading non-fiction channel and we are happy to partner with the world renowned Discovery Channel. We are certain that viewers will enjoy Anushka’s refreshing character as a Discovery Channel employee.”

    Besides shooting in various locales, Sharma also shot at the Discovery’s office to make the experience as real as possible for the viewers.

    In real life Discovery in the past had made ‘Living with a Superstar’, a special series that featured Shah Rukh Khan which was aired on the lifestyle channel TLC.

  • Kansai Nerolac launches campaign to encourage healthy homes

    NEW DELHI: Kansai Nerolac has launched a new brand campaign, ‘No VOC No Gadbad’, that aims at educating consumers on the side effects of the VOC (volatile organic chemicals) in paints.

    The threefold brand campaign that comprises TVCs, Print ads and direct outreach to the customers was unveiled this month and features brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan, highlighting the importance of healthy living.

    The campaign ‘No VOC No Gadbad’ was launched with the unveiling of the first of the two series TVC with brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan saying there is more to look while choosing paint for your home – not just colours , designer looks and attractive designs.

    The first part released on 10 September briefs consumers about the harmful effects of VOC paints and the likelihood of paint companies hiding the ill effects from the consumers. The second part of the TVC released on 25 September further talks about the VOC emission from the freshly painted walls and need of monitoring indoor air quality.

    As a part of the campaign, Kansai Nerolac also introduced a nouvelle concept, where consumers and fans of Shah Rukh Khan could call him on 022 3310060 to seek details on healthier and safer paint and get connected to Nerolac home painting services and also acquire knowledge on the ill-effects of VOC. Consumers can also visit the website www.nerolachealthyhomes.com. Besides, Nerolac fans on the Facebook page will get regular posts on how to decorate their houses with healthier and safer paint.

    “We have always encouraged healthy and safer living and with this campaign, we aim at educating the need for checking about VOC content while choosing paints, VOC in paints can be harmful. Also paints are not just choosing a colour or design it is a lot more than just beautification. This innovative concept aims at reaching out to the end consumers across strata be it the painters, Architect, Interior decorators and consumers. This further strengthens our brand commitment towards creating a safer environment and encouraging use of paints,” said Kansai Nerolac VP of marketing & sales (Decorative) Sukhpreet Singh.

    During the painting process VOC get evaporated in the air causing health risks such as headaches, nausea, respiratory disorders, dizziness, and chest congestion, lung irritation, and burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat amongst others.

    Kansai Nerolac has been a pioneer in developing healthy and safer paints by introducing lead free paints and further making them low to zero VOC. Their water based emulsion products with NO VOC helps in safeguarding from ill effects of VOC,” the company said.

  • Lux ONN brings Orchard on board as creative partner

    MUMBAI: Leo Burnett group‘s advertising agency Orchard Advertising has been awarded the creative mandate for the innerwear brand from the Lux stable.

    The agency‘s Mumbai branch will handle this account. Meridian Communications (Ogilvy‘s second agency) was the incumbent on the account.

    ONN is the Men‘s Premium inner wear brand offering a range of products that include men‘s premium vests, briefs, boxers, men‘s sport wear and leisure wear. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan is the brand endorser for the LUX ONN brand.

    Orchard won the account on the basis of a robust communication strategy and plan presented to the client, according to an official statement. The agency is developing a new campaign scheduled to be released later this year.

    Orchard Advertising vice president and branch head Partha Sarkar said, “Orchard won the account on the basis of the strategy we presented. We looked at the brand with our HumanKind approach and arrived at a communication plan for the brand which will help establish a better connect with its core audience. We are currently developing the campaign in partnership with the client.”

  • Saina enters big league with Rs 400 mn endorsement contract

    MUMBAI: Saina Nehwal has added another feather to her cap. After becoming the first Indian badminton player to break into the Rs 10 million endorsement bracket, the badminton sensation has inked a multi-million rupee deal with Delhi-based sports management company Rhiti Sports, which also manages the lucrative endorsement contract of Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni.

    As part of the three-year endorsement contract valued at Rs 400 million, Rhiti Sports will now manage Saina‘s endorsements and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images and all other commercial rights exclusively.

    The deal will catapult the world number 4 ranked badminton player into the big league of celebrity endorsement market dominated by the likes of Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

    Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures (DCSV), the sports vertical of crisis-ridden Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), was the incumbent agency managing Nehwal‘s sponsorship. DCSV had in 2009 signed a three-year contract with Saina which ended on 1 September.

    According to Indian Express, the deal will make Saina the highest earning badminton player in the world ahead of top badminton players like Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei who earn Rs 128 million and Rs 87 million respectively.

    “I am very happy to be associated with Rhiti Sports and look forward to starting a working relationship with them. With Rhiti‘s background and credibility, they know how to balance things and that is a big plus point,” said Saina.

    “The strides Rhiti has taken in the Sports industry in recent times made it an easy choice for me. I would like to also thank, Mr Vinod Dhawan, Vice President Badminton Association of India, who played a key role in helping form this association,” she added.

    Currently, Saina has nine endorsements in her kitty which includes Airtel, Yonex, Fortune oil, Indian Overseas Bank, Whisper, Emami Fast Relief, Herbalife, Jaypee Cements and Top Ramen noodles.

    Rhiti Sports President & MD Arun Pandey said: “We are delighted to have Saina on board, who has brought great pride to the nation with her exploits. We are proud to be associated with someone who is not only a youth icon for women in the country but has also done a lot for Badminton as a sport.

    “She has placed India on the World Map for Badminton and changed the outlook of people in India towards the sport. We will use all our knowledge and expertise, and make this partnership a very fruitful one indeed,” he added.

    Rhiti Sports had in 2010 signed a Rs 2.1 billion three year endorsement contract with Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni which took him ahead of batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who had signed Rs 1.8 billion deal with Iconix, which has since then become a part of World Sport Group.

  • Shah Rukh Khan shoots promotional film for West Bengal

    Shah Rukh Khan shoots promotional film for West Bengal

    MUMBAI: In order to keep up to his promise that he had made when the TMC government appointed him as the brand ambassador of West Bengal, Shah Rukh Khan recently shot a three-minute promotional film for the state.

    A first-of-its-kind initiative taken by the state since Independence, the three-minute long film titled Beautiful Bengal will be released in the second week of September.

    According to reports, the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who saw the film, has and suggested a few changes in the film. The film, which has been made in English and Hindi, will have Khan speaking in Bengali. The film will be used to promote Bengal‘s tourism sector, reports said.

    Through the film, directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, viewers will be able to see several important landmarks and places of the state including Digha, Sunderban, Dakshineswar and St Paul‘s Cathedral Church.

  • ‘BCCI rights great opportunity to build Star’s sports biz’ : Star India CEO Uday Shankar

    ‘BCCI rights great opportunity to build Star’s sports biz’ : Star India CEO Uday Shankar

    Just over a year old, UTV Stars is banking on revenue growth from advertising, syndication and distribution to achieve operational break even this fiscal.

     

    The launch of UTV Stars last August has expanded the Bollywood lifestyle TV genre, created by Zoom and E24. The core target audience of the channel is upscale youth in the age group of 15-24 years.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Javed Farooqui, UTV Stars business head Nikhil Gandhi talks about the channel‘s progress, its differentiated content and the challenges in the space.

     

    Excerpts:
     

    Does UTV Stars get a competitive advantage by being the child of Disney-UTV?
    We definitely have an edge as we have got a thriving motion pictures business. This allows us to do that much more compared to our competitors. Our access to the big Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor or a Hrithik Roshan is much easier. If you see the kind of news content that we create, we are credible.

     
    Since UTV Stars‘ sister arm also produces movies, doesn‘t that also present a conflict of interest while covering Bollywood news?
    Once you have established yourself as a credible player in the space, I don‘t think any star or film producer would think that there is a conflict of interest. They, in fact, would want to promote their films that much more. Moreover, our editor is Manish Dubey who was with Aaj Tak and has credible bondage with the movie stars. Also, our correspondents as well as special features editors have professional relationships with all the big superstars.

     
    Isn‘t differentiation very thin in this kind of genre?
    When we started, we positioned UTV Stars as the official channel of Bollywood. We were also known as being the intimate insider to Bollywood. We got all the big stars to endorse and that reflected in our launch campaign. We did a big chat show with Priety Zinta. We also did a show called ‘Live My Life‘ which is coming up for its second season after the channel‘s first anniversary on 19 August. Our channel is also available in High Definition, taking the viewing experience to a whole new level.

     
    How is your content mix different from other rival channels?
    On a daily basis, we have three and half hours of original content while the others offer three hours. So we have half-an-hour of additional content. This is largely because we have original long format shows, giving our channel a differentiated value. You won‘t see big ticket reality shows on other channels.

     

    We run Bollywood music and movies but news and shows form a large portion of our prime time content. We play music in non-prime time because the TG loves it and because Bollywood music lends itself well with the channel. 

     

    ‘On a daily basis, we have three and half hours of original content while the rival channels offer three hours. So we are half-an-hour of additional content‘
     

    How would you define your target group?
    We are in the youth space but have a definite skew towards Bollywood. In terms of demographics, our core target group is 15-24 SEC AB. Bollywood stars influence the youth of India a great deal. In that sense, the kind of content that we have created caters to the Indian youth. So even though Bollywood content cuts across age groups, we are going to focus on youth particularly after the kind of success that we have seen online.

     
    Could you elaborate on the online growth?
    We have almost half a million fans on Facebook. We are also the largest content provider for Bollywood content on YouTube and have already got 30 million views. We power the UTV group content engine on YouTube per se including UTV Motion Pictures. We have got 10,000 hours of content that we had shot last year. All this gives us a cutting edge.

     
    What is the break even period that you have set for yourself?
    We are looking at an operational break-even next year (FY‘ 13). With the kind of control that we have on our costs and if the markets start improving, we should be able to reach that milestone.
     

    What impact did ad slowdown have on your revenues?
    We experienced a bit of a volume loss but our big shows also get a premium. The advertising community is also appreciating the kind of content that we have been able to create and they are now talking to us for annual deals going forward.

      
    Who are your big advertisers?
    We have all the top advertisers that occupy the youth space. Like in FMCG, we have Hindustan Unilever, P&G and L‘Oreal. We run about 10 minutes of commercial in one hour of programming, which can go up to 12 minutes. 

     
    What are the major revenue streams for UTV Stars?
    Currently, ad revenues contribute 60-75 per cent of our overall revenues. But we would like to bring this down to 50-55 per cent and with digitisation we are hopeful that this shift will happen. We are also looking at syndication opportunities overseas as well as in India. We are already syndicating in-flight entertainment across big airlines. Our business model includes distribution, syndication, video on demand, ad revenue and on-ground events.

     
    You have been quite aggressive with on-ground properties?
    So far as ground connect goes, we have been able to rope in partners who are in the lifestyle and Bollywood space. So we had partnered People magazine to do the ‘People Best Dressed‘ show; we had also partnered Cosmopolitan to do ‘Free Fearless Awards‘. Besides, we also did ‘F1 After Parties‘ with Arjun Rampal.

     

    However, the biggest property we did was ‘Walk of the Stars‘ at Bandra Bandstand (Mumbai) where we had the biggest stars giving their hand impressions. It‘s like the Hollywood Walk of the Fame. We got the Walk of the Stars branded as UTV Walk of the Stars as a permanent structure and it has also got statues and benches of legendary stars from Raj Kapoor to Shammi Kapoor and now Rajesh Khanna. We are taking it to Delhi next year and it‘s going to be available at Kingdom of Dreams. We tied up with IIFA Awards this year and took this property to Singapore. 

     
    What big shows are on the anvil?
    There is ‘Nirma Lifestyle‘ season 2 that is coming up in the quarter beginning October. We have another show called ‘Gods of Style‘ coming up where we are going to showcase top 10 style icons in Bollywood. We have four more shows in the pipeline about which I can‘t reveal much at this stage.

     

  • Asset Management Ventures to manage Yuvraj Singh’s entire portfolio

    MUMBAI: Asset Management Ventures, a new venture of the Sanjay M. Lal-led Assetz FZC, has bagged the rights to manage cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s entire brand portfolio. This will include the Yuvraj Singh Foundation, Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence as well as his personal time for endorsements, ambassadorship and appearances. Cornerstone was earlier managing him.

    Lal said, “Asset is a key initiator of the Celebrity Business Creation & Management Category in India. It is a matter of privilege that Yuvraj has awarded us the mandate for his entire portfolio and I am sure that with our vast experience and reach asset will become an asset for him.”

    Lal, who set-up PDM International at Dubai in partnership with Percept, started Assetz FZC and Asset Communications to offer 360 degree innovative brand solutions and through the line
    communication consultancy. Asset Communications stands for activation, sports, services, entertainment and talent.

    Lal, in a career span of close to two decades with Percept D’Mark and later with PDM International, has managed and marketed cricketers like Sourav Ganguli, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, to name a few. He has also handled numerous deals with some of the biggest Bollywood artists like Shah Rukh Khan, Hritik Roshan, Rani Mukherjee, Preiti Zinta, Priyanka Chopra and Daler Mehndi.

    The International & Indian ventures, in a short span, have positioned him and asset as the region’s leading Sports, Entertainment and Brand Consultancy Expert. The asset team has developed a Talent Market concept with a library of over 22,000 artists from across the globe and every form of talent is accessible through the Dubai office of asset.

    Asset Management Ventures is focused on managing and marketing a celebrity’s commercial time and to establish and nurture their career paths beyond their current professional commitments. The vision is to start initiatives with celebrities that intertwine their core competencies with their passions and run and manage the ventures professionally for them on an on-going, long term basis.

    A sports marketing expert feels that Yuvraj‘s comeback to the Indian cricket team after cancer will be key in terms of what endorsements he brings to the table.

  • Big B to lead Indian film delegation for MIFF

    MUMBAI: Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan will lead the delegation of Indian artistes and filmmakers for the 12th edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, Morocco.

    While the exact dates for the event has not been finalised, the festival will be held in November-December.

    The list of the attendees to the festival also includes Bachchan’s wife and actress Jaya Bachchan, besides son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

    The delegation also boasts of the Khan trio Shah Rukh, Saif and Aamir Khan, former minister and Congress leader Shashi Kapoor, ace film-makers Yash Chopra and Shekhar Kapur, Nandita Das, Preity Zinta and Aparna Sen.

    The festival will have events dedicated to Indian cinema including screening of Indian films and felicitation of Indian talent. Every evening the festival will be invited to the Jemaa el-Fnaa Square of the city to watch outdoor screenings of a selection of recent films from India.

    The Marrakech International Film Festival held under the patronage King Mohammed VI is run by a foundation headed by Prince Moulay Rachid.

    The festival had in the past promoted Indian cinema, which is celebrating its centenary year this year.

  • YRF in 3-film deal with South Africa’s Avalon Group

    YRF in 3-film deal with South Africa’s Avalon Group

    MUMBAI: South Africa’s oldest and largest independent cinema exhibition and entertainment company, Avalon Group, has signed a three-film slate deal with Yash Raj Films.

    Both Avalon CEO AB Moosa and Avtar Panesar, head of the international distribution arm of YRF, said the films will feature Bollywood star power.

    Moosa said the movie slate will be blockbusters. “We are having Salman Khan in the first release, Shah Rukh Khan in the second and Aamir Khan in the third,” he added.

    The treaty enables productions from both territories to qualify for the incentives available in each country for homegrown content producers. It is designed to enable collaborations between producers from both countries.

    “The slate agreement with Avalon was concluded at the right time when South Africa strengthens their relations with Ireland,” commented Panesar.

    As far as the treaty with Ireland is concerned, South Africa has attracted recent international productions as Chronicle, Safe House and Dredd. It already has similar arrangements with Canada, Germany, Italy, the UK, France, Australia and New Zealand.

    Signing the treaty on Sunday were South Africa‘s minister of arts and culture Paul Mashatile and Irish arts minister Jimmy Deenihan.