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Tag: Shrikant Bhasi

  • Carnival Cinemas and MovieTime form strategic alliance

    Carnival Cinemas and MovieTime form strategic alliance

    Mumbai: Multiplex chain Carnival Cinemas on Monday announced a strategic partnership with MovieTime Cinemas.

    As part of this alliance, Carnival will offer business management services to MovieTime for operating their existing portfolio of 65 screens and also other upcoming screens as and when they start running.

    Carnival will bring in its expertise to tap the synergies between both the exhibitor brands for strengthening their market standing in the cinema exhibition space.

    Carnival Cinemas is accelerating towards its ‘Vision 1,000 screens’ in the next two years and this scaling up will further help it to carve a win-win for all partners involved, said the statement.

    Carnival Cinemas is currently present in 120 cities at 162 locations with 450+ screens. With this tie-up, Carnival will now be managing the operations of about 525+ screens across India, it added.

    “We are very happy to join hands with MovieTime and explore various ways of value addition for both the entities. We are also looking at synergy in other fields where we both can operate in spaces such as food business,” said Chairman Carnival Group, chairman, Shrikant Bhasi.

    “We are pretty confident that, this association will help both of us enhance each other’s operational efficiencies,” MovieTime Cinemas, chairman, Anil Kapoor.

    MovieTime Cinemas presently operates in Maharashtra, New Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, J&K, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Punjab, and Telangana under the owned and leased models.

  • Seenu Kurien joins Carnival Cinemas as VP sales and marketing

    Seenu Kurien joins Carnival Cinemas as VP sales and marketing

    MUMBAI: Carnival Cinemas, a motion picture exhibitor, today announced the appointment of Seenu Kurien as VP- sales and marketing. At Carnival Cinemas, Kurien will be heading sales and marketing functions and will be responsible for ad sales – off screen and onscreen, marketing, branding, alliances and PR.

    Commenting on her new innings with Carnival Cinemas, Kurien said, “I have long admired Carnival Cinemas for its commitment to its vision and excited to be a part of making this vision a reality. I am delighted and look forward to working with the teams to further the brand.”

    Kurien has over 13 years of work experience in sales, strategy, branding and operations. She has worked across industries including media and construction in various functional roles in emerging (India) and developed markets (USA). Before joining Carnival, she was national head – exhibitions with Bennett Coleman (The Times of India) and was responsible for creating joint exhibition IPs, and driving ad revenues via exhibitions to all print products across all markets nationally & internationally.

    Prior to becoming national head for exhibitions, she was a regional sales head and was responsible for advertising space sales, developing partnerships, agency relations, providing integrated marketing solutions and identifying new business opportunities. She also had stints in corporate strategy and branding.

    Speaking on the appointment, Carnival Group founder and chairman Shrikant Bhasi said, “We are incredibly pleased to welcome Seenu to our Carnival family and executive leadership team.The entertainment business is seeing huge growth and we are confident that Seenu’s experience will help the company build the next phase of growth. Her extensive experience in media will be extremely useful as the group moves towards leadership position in the film exhibition sector.”

    She has also spent a considerable amount of time working in the real estate and construction sector in the US handling project management, contract management & operations.

  • Carnival Cinemas launches MoviEcard; unlimited films for 30 days at Rs 149

    MUMBAI: It’s a marketing tactic that could probably result in some executives skipping work or getting out of their offices earlier and into the cinema halls between Monday and Thursday. Some home bound ladies who stay glued to their TV sets could also join the queue outside the theatres. Exhibition chain Carnival Cinemas has announced the introduction of India’s first movie subscription service called ‘MoviEcard: Haqq se dekho’ from 22 May which can be used in its cinemas in 60 select cities across India. The card allows them access to unlimited releases in Carnival Cinemas over 30 days. What makes the card appealing is the sticker price of only Rs 149.

    Carnival Cinemas reasoning: in the last few years, the biggest of the films with bankable stars have seen only 2 to 4 per cent of the total population watching the film on the big screen. The ticket prices have compelled the majority to stay away from the big screen and await the premiere of their beloved movie stars’ films on television. The choice of watching a grandeur on 5-inch phone screen or satisfying the urge to see the latest movie’s pirated version may be available, but it can never replace the experience of the 70 mm screen.

    With this visionary outlook, Carnival Group promoter & chairman Shrikant Bhasi, aims to‘democratize movie viewing experience’ by making it accessible to all movie lovers across the country. The intent is to be able to offer month long cinema entertainment at the cost of a single movie ticket.

    Says Bhasi: “At Carnival Cinemas, MoviEcard fits in perfectly with our vision of making movies accessible to every Indian. Over the years we have noticed that while people would like to enjoy a great film at the nearest Cinema Theatre, the regular ticket prices have always acted as a deterrent. Our endeavor with this MoviEcard is to break the entry barrier and allow all our patrons to enjoy as many movies as they wish to watch at the cost of one movie ticket. In order to be able to give this benefit to patrons all over the country, we are increasing our footprint rapidly and aim to reach 1000 screens by 2018.”

    Adds MoviEcard Sales spokesperson Dina Mukherjee: “MoviEcard is a one of a kind program, that intends to shift the audience from 5” screens to the real magic of 70mm silver screens. Today only 2% of the overall population actually visits movie theatres. We intend to democratize the way we watch new movies or look forward to original content. Our intent is for every movie to get 60-70% occupancy, every Indian to be able to watch all new releases and every movie lover should carry a MoviEcard to enjoy their favorite stars in their full glory. The card has been designed to integrate all aspects of entertainment including F&B with nominal costs so that everyone can enjoy an enriching experience.”

    Customers can purchase and renew the MoviEcard within no time either by logging onto www.moviecardindia.com or visiting the nearest Carnival Cinemas. One can also obtain the card by calling at toll free number 1800 102 5060 and mobile number +91 7710097900, Carnival’s helpline numbers.

  • Reliance MediaWorks sells multiplex business to Carnival Cinemas

    Reliance MediaWorks sells multiplex business to Carnival Cinemas

    MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks (RMW) and Carnival Cinemas have announced the signing of definitive agreements for sale of RMW’s multiplexes business to Carnival Cinemas in the largest ever deal in the sector in India.

    The proposed transaction will catapult Carnival to the ranks of the top three multiplex operators in the country, with over 300 screens nationwide, and set the company firmly on its path to achieve leadership in the business.

    Carnival Group chairman Shrikant Bhasi said, “I am thankful to Reliance Group chairman Anil D. Ambani for his support to a first generation entrepreneur like me, and in facilitating this transaction with Carnival Cinemas in preference to other leading cinema chains. We are targeting to achieve 1,000 screens by the year 2017, and look forward to the continued support of Reliance Group in our future growth.”

    Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh added, “We are delighted to begin a long term relationship with the rapidly growing Carnival Group, through the sale of the multiplexes business of Reliance MediaWorks to them. We look forward to supporting the Group in their future growth initiatives in India and overseas.”

    “The proposed transaction is in furtherance of Reliance Capital’s stated objective of focusing purely on its core financial services businesses, significantly reducing exposure to non-core investments in the media and entertainment sector, and reducing overall debt,” added Ghosh.

    The transaction will reduce Reliance Capital’s leverage by approximately Rs 700 crore, through a combination of transfer of debt of RMW and infusion of cash proceeds.

    The deal excludes real estate owned by RMW at IMAX Wadala and other properties, which are intended to be separately monetised for an approximate value of Rs 200 crore.

    Reliance Capital will have the option to acquire a pre IPO minority stake in Carnival Cinemas at an appropriate discount, upon eventual listing of the Company.

    “We are very serious about exhibition business and are moving in an organic way also. Carnival Cinemas will not only make their presence in tier I but would lay emphasis for strong presence across tier II & III cities. We want to make Cinemas synonymous to Carnival” added Bhasi.

    The proposed transaction is subject to necessary statutory and other approvals and is expected to be closed within the current financial year.

     EY are deal advisors to Reliance Group, and KPMG are acting as deal advisors for Carnival Group.

     

  • Carnival Cinemas opens its first multiplex in north India

    Carnival Cinemas opens its first multiplex in north India

    NEW DELHI: The Carnival Cinemas have launched a three-screen multiplex in EuroPark Mall of Sahibabad near Delhi with the screening of Akshay Kumar’s Entertainment. 

     

    The Carnival Group had earlier acquired HDIL’s multiplex chain Broadway Cinemas.

     

    Following the strategy of ‘Vision 300’ (launching of 300 screens by 2015), Carnival Cinemas has spread its footprints in metros and pan India with an aim to offer better and enhanced quality movie watching experience across the nation.

     

    Carnbival Group Chairman Shrikant Bhasi said, “After tapping metros, this is another step towards growth of Carnival Cinemas in tier II and III cities. Our mission and vision is to provide quality service and an excellent movie watching experience to our viewers. We are sure that Carnival Cinemas will become a major hub for entertainment with providing best facilities to our customers in the coming year. As competition, we plan to achieve our mission of phase one, as we see space for us to operate 300 screens”.

     

    CEO PV Sunil told indiantelevision.com that this takes the total of Carnival screens to 40, and the Sahibabad theatre is the first in north India owned by the group.

     

    Equipped with best technologies, Carnival has tapped the Europark mall in an area which is densely populated with major educational institutions and other industries. The connectivity of the locality with rest of Ghaziabad is another plus point to gear up the beginning.

     

    Carnival Group is a Mumbai-based corporate with diversified business in hospitality, media and entertainment fields. It has already established its brands in movie production, distribution and exhibition along with food courts, events, equipment rentals as well as a music label. Carnival is currently present in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.                  

  • Carnival Group buys out Broadway Cinemas, aims to target 300 screens

    Carnival Group buys out Broadway Cinemas, aims to target 300 screens

    NEW DELHI: HDIL’s multiplex chain Broadway Cinemas has been bought over by Carnival Group for around Rs 110 crore.

     

    Both the firms had been in talks with each other for a few months and the deal was concluded on 2 July.

     

    Carnival Cinemas (A division of Carnival Group) is gearing up to accomplish “Vision 300”, which is launching of 300 screens across India by end of this financial year. After having a strong hold in Kerala and other southern states, Carnival Cinemas now aims to give diverse movie watching experience by laying more emphasis on providing quality entertainment experience to citizens all across the country.

     

    With this acquisition, Carnival Cinemas has plans to become a major player in multiplex business segment with an investment plans in the coming years.

     

    Speaking about this acquisition Carnival Group chairman Shrikant Bhasi said, “Our journey began from Kerala but this step of acquiring HDIL’s Broadway Cinema is one more step towards achieving our aim of Vision 300 (launching of 300 screens across India). With the integration of Broadway, we plan to boost and draw audiences to cinemas keeping in mind the Carnival experience all across.”