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Tag: T-Series

  • T-Series ties up with Friday Filmworks and Crouching Tiger for Neeraj Pandey’s next

    T-Series ties up with Friday Filmworks and Crouching Tiger for Neeraj Pandey’s next

    MUMBAI: T-Series has entered into an alliance with Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures and Friday Filmworks to jointly produce acclaimed director Neeraj Pandey’s up-coming film starring Akshay Kumar. The deal will enable T-Series to market and distribute the film across the globe.

     

    The currently untitled film will see the super-hit combination of Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey coming together after 2013’s ‘Special 26’ – a film that not only met with significant box office success but also remains one of the most liked and talked-about films of recent years. In his second outing with Akshay, Neeraj takes the reigns of an action-thriller shot across multiple foreign locations. Shooting has already commenced and the film is set to hit theatres worldwide on 23 January 2015.

     

    T-Series managing director Bhushan Kumar said, “I am extremely proud and happy to partner with Friday Filmworks and Crouching Tiger for Neeraj’s upcoming film. At T-Series, we have believed in backing genre-breaking content and films that connect with today’s audiences. We have always loved and respected Neeraj’s work and I look forward to him and Akshay creating magic for their fans yet again.”

     

    Shital Bhatia of Friday Filmworks added, “It is imperative for good content to be projected well and we are delighted with T-Series coming on-board. I am confident that this relationship will take the film farther and wider to its audiences.”

     

    “This alliance symbolizes the synergies that define cinema of the future in India – high quality content, impactful marketing and audience connect. We are confident that under Neeraj’s creative vision, this film will set new benchmarks for the action-thriller genre in India,” concluded Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures’ Vikram Malhotra.  

  • I am scared of not living up to the audiences’ expectations: Amitabh Bachchan

    I am scared of not living up to the audiences’ expectations: Amitabh Bachchan

    NEW DELHI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has one fear: “I am still scared of not living up to the expectations of the people,” he says.

     

    Now in his early seventies, the star says box office figures do not affect him so much as what people say about a film in which he has enacted a role since the expectations from him have grown over the years.

     

    Bachchan also denied that he overawes other stars on a film set and he has confidence in his fellow stars. However, he admitted that he does help them feel comfortable, even as he denied ever giving tips to directors or interfering with their vision of a film. He said he liked working with children as he found them very ‘uninhibited’. “It is a wrong premise that I direct other directors or stars,” he reiterated.

     

    The star was speaking at a press meet about his latest film, ‘Bhootnath Returns’ directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar of T-Series and Abhay Chopra, Kapil Chopra, and Renu Ravi Chopra of BR Films.

     

    Being released on 11 April, the film has been presented in the name of the late B R Chopra and the late Gulshan Kumar. Others in the film are Boman Irani, child actor Parth Bhalerao, and Usha Jadhav, though there are guest appearances by Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan.

     

    Although the story to a large extent deals with elections, Bachchan denied that it was in any way made to capitalize on the poll season, adding that the story had been related to him more than eighteen months earlier. He also said the same actors could not be taken as it was a completely new story.

     

    Tiwari said he had taken up the film as a sequel to the first film as ‘Bhootnath’ had captivated the audiences even as it left a strong message-oriented impact. “I cannot give any assurance about a sequel of ‘Bhoothnath Returns.’ There was a lot of pressure working with Amitabh Bachchan, and two big production banners but they really made me feel comfortable with them.”

     

    Bachchan particularly praised Yo Yo Honey Singh who had sung a song in the film. “You do not need to put a lot of efforts working with him,” Bachchan added.

     

    Bachchan said the film takes off from where the first film ended, when Bhootnath lands in heaven but is a butt of humour as he could not frighten even a child (Banku in the earlier film) so he is sent to earth again in the slum colony Dharavi where he meets Akhrot who is the only human who can see him. The film then goes on to comment on elections and Khan and Kapoor make appearances to encourage people to exercise their franchise.

     

    While reiterating that he had retreated from politics as that was not his arena, Bachchan said “every vote makes a difference, and it is in any case the democratic right of citizens.”

     

    Bachchan said in answer to a question that AB Corp was still in the business of making films, but did so in collaboration with other filmmakers. Insisting that he was doing films that could be seen by the family, he was also doing a series with Sony which is being overlooked by Anurag Kashyap, apart from coming for another season of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’.  

     

    Bhushan Kumar said he had been very excited when he heard the story and had immediately agreed to come on board as producer as it had been his dream to do a film with Bachchan.

     

    Parth, who is a child star from Marathi cinema, said he had been frightened at first when told he would have to act with Amitabh Bachchan. But later he enjoyed working as he had a lot of fun with him.

  • Yaariyans Baarish gets over a million hits

    Yaariyans Baarish gets over a million hits

    MUMBAI: When Bhushan Kumar, son of T-series founder, late Gulshan Kumar, entered in the business, nobody was sure if he would be able to create the same musical magic that his father created. But it seems he is rising above his father’s shadow. After creating ripples with the melodious music of Aashiqui 2 earlier in the year, now even T-series’ second venture Yaariyaan seems to be getting a lot of attention, especially from the youngsters.

     

    One of the songs, Baarish from the film that was launched earlier this week already seems to be popular among the masses. Reports suggest that the song that features lead actors Himansh Kohli and Rakul Preet, has already got 1,138,752 hits in just four days. Despite a fresh cast, such an overwhelming response is really surprising.

     

    The film is being directed by Divya Khosla Kumar and is based on the life of college-going youngsters. It is scheduled to release on 10 January 2014.

  • Big B to do Bhushan Kumar’s 102 Not Out

    Big B to do Bhushan Kumar’s 102 Not Out

    Good news for all Big B lovers. Amitabh Bachchan began the shoot for Bhoothnath Returns on 9 October, at Filmcity, Mumbai. Producer Bhushan Kumar is very excited with his very first association with Bachchan that he has showed his eagerness to work with Big B again. Even before starting Bhoothnath Returns shoot in full force, Bhushan Kumar announced his next project with Amitabh Bachchan.

     

    On the special occasion of Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday, Bhushan announced his new project with him. After listening the story, the shahensha of Bollywood has given a nod to star in T-Series’ next production being directed by Umesh Shukla.

    Titled 102 Not Out, the movie is about an old man who decides to break the world record of longevity. With Bachchan playing the lead role, the movie shows us how to live a life as opposed to merely existing. This Amitabh Bachchan starrer will also have Paresh Rawal is a pivotal role.

     

    102 Not Out will be directed by Umesh Shukla and will be his second movie under the T-Series exclusive five film deal. Big B was last seen in Prakash Jha’s Satyagraha.

  • Rakul Preet is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Yaariyaan

    Rakul Preet is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Yaariyaan

    MUMBAI: Many Southern actors have started making their debuts in Bollywood flicks these days such as Prithviraj Sukuraman, Dhanush, Sudeep and Shriya Saran. The new name in the list is Rakul Preet.

    The southern actor Rakul Preet is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Yaariyaan; the film will also be the directorial debut by Divya Khosla Kumar (T- series head Bhushan Kumar’s wife); which is set to be released around September 2013.

    Preet made her first debut in 2009 with Kannada film Gilli. The actor has already signed two films titled Rough and another untitled film with another South Indian actor Sundeep Kishan (Shor In The City fame).

    She has won four titles at beauty pageants such as Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face, Femina Miss Talented, Femina Miss Beautiful Smile and Femina Miss Beautiful Eyes.

    The actor has been an active golf player and played at the national level.

  • How T-Series hit a Billion views on YouTube

    How T-Series hit a Billion views on YouTube

    It’s India’s No 1 music company. Now it has also got the nametag of becoming a YouTube billionaire. T-Series‘ Youtube channel crossed the billion views milestone in just a span of two years since it took the digital route. Some 2.3 million subscribers helped it get there.

    So what is it with T-Series’ YouTube initiative that has struck a chord with the digital generation? Let’s take a look:

    It’s content, content, content

    For starters, its got the most massy content – music of the biggest films out there on its mainstream Bollywood Channel, Take a look at what visitors get to consume on the T-Series home page: the music, trailers of Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Fukrey, Lootera, Chennai Express, Policegiri and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobaara. Can you get more popular content than that?

    India‘s music king Bhushan Kumar has a billion reasons to celebrate

    T-Series has over the 30 years of its existence spent top-dollar to acquire the rights to the music of some of Bollywood’s biggest blockbusters. The music of this huge catalogue has also been ported on to its YouTube channels, making for a treasure trove for music lovers.

    Then the T-Series Youtube presence is marked by many sub-channels like Apna Punjab for Punjabi Pop, Hamaar Bhojpuri for Bhojpuri content, Bhakti Sagar for spiritual music, Pop Chartbusters for Indipop videos, Shabad for Punjabi Devotional content, Bollywood Classics for 1980‘s and 1990‘s content, regional music channels and channels dedicated to full length Bollywood movies and Indian classical music.

    Though some of these channels don’t get humungous views, they go to service the long tail of consumers and cumulatively add up to large numbers.

    “These are targeted at niche audiences and we are really happy the way they have panned out. Hamaar Bhojpuri has seen really exciting numbers and has been getting views from as far as Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Middle East,” explains T Series president Neeraj Kalyan who looks after the label’s digital initiatives.

    Ok, it’s not just the content, it’s what you do with it, that counts

    “We experiment with our content and try to learn from our audiences which in turn help us improve ourselves,” explains Kalyan. “Nothing is fixed like a normal brand page of a mobile company or a cosmetic product, our product is music which is very personal and has the highest level of emotional connect with the consumers. Content programming on social media is as important as it is for television or radio.”

    T-Series’ endeavor with YouTube has always been to improve consumer interaction and make it it more interesting and engaging. Hence, it has innovative concepts like Audio and Video Jukeboxes, Bollywood Twisters, Lyrical Videos, Song of the Day and Fan of the week, which lures consumers into coming back.

    What else does it focus on? “Metadata building, tags, annotations, SEO are all standard procedures and needs constant focus to succeed in this space,” says Kalyan.

    “These require tremendous perseverance and have to be build up step by step.”

    Ok, you have played with the content. Now you have to promote it like hell using other social media where you have diehard fans.

    T-Series has a strong presence on other social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and G+. Its official Facebook page has 608,436 likes and hundreds of thousands of visitors at any time talking about the channel and its music. On Twitter, T-Series has around 19,627 active followers. @TSeries is buzzing with tweets and re-tweets every couple of hours. The numerous fan-driven handles of its popular movies are busy re-tweeting and sharing every update, thus adding to the social buzz – and the traffic thereof. Then it has 1.5 million people in its G+ circles, a sizeable number no doubt.

    “Social media is not like old school media, it’s a more personal medium which is primarily driven by peer activities, their likes and dislikes and if one has to enter their personal space one has to become their friends instead of a brand page. The prime focus of our strategy is to make friends instead of likes, subscriber or followers on our social media accounts.” Kalyan reveals.

    Then the T-Series digital team changes its social messaging strategy as per its content offerings. And it uses the entire strength of its social media to promote each major piece of content. For example, for a Salman Khan film, the entire social plan revolves around Salman Khan. And the zillions of tweets, updates, pictures, videos all cumulatively work to create even more buzz adding to the views.

    Work with Youtube, and get it to push your content

    By virtue of its being one of the larger players on YouTube in India, T-Series content, from time to time gets the nudge from the latter’s content team led by Manan Singhi in India. What that means is that, when visitors log on to the YouTube home page they are given prompts to visit the T Series channel as it is listed as among the more viewed ones.

    Build a digital team

    Kalyan personally supervises T-Series’ dedicated in-house digital team – though small – of around eight to 10 people. The average age is about 25-26 years, while Neeraj is 44. Says he: “T-Series’ digital team has been the winning mantra for us and will always

    The T-Series digital team is constantly on the go to keep visitors and viewers of its social media outlets engaged

    remain at the core of this success. We have genre specific experts managing all our channels and are currently busy with audience building for the niche channels. Our team interacts with fans on an every day basis; gives regular response to their queries, accepts criticism. We reward fans and recognize them online, which adds to their pride and improves interaction and helps in building a strong brand – consumer relationship.”

    The one billion views achievement has already got him praise from an effervescent T-Series chairman & managing director Bhushan Kumar.

    T-Series‘ digital driver Neeraj Kalyan

    “I would like to dedicate this success to all our fans all over the world that have helped us reach this milestone. I would like to congratulate my entire in-house digital team and the YouTube team for this tremendous feat. We look forward to achieving greater heights with our dedication and passion to offer quality content and experience to our discerning consumers worldwide,” says he.

    Kalyan says the past two years of T-Series’ association with YouTube have been a great learning and he hopes to put those learnings to help T-Series leapfrog further. “We will get to our next billion in double quick time,” he says. “I am sure we will.”

    With that kind of confidence, he well might.

  • T-Series and Vishesh Films Aashiqui 2 to release 26 April

    T-Series and Vishesh Films Aashiqui 2 to release 26 April

    NEW DELHI: The Mohit Suri-directed ‘Aashiqui 2‘ musical produced by T-Series and Vishesh Films is slated for release on 26 April.

    While the musicial drama that released over two decades ago starred Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal in career changing roles, the new installment stars Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor in the lead.

    Says producer Mahesh Bhatt, "The franchise continues… the film is a completely brand new product with an extraordinary story. We will take the brand, not the story forward with an out-and-out love story."
     
    Contrary to the reports, ‘Aashiqui 2‘ is not a sequel to ‘Aashiqui‘, Suri clarified. "It‘s a new story. The only similarity is the music and the love story. There are seven to eight songs in the film. It‘s a musical."

    Talking about what can be expected from the film, producer Bhatt said, "It‘s a contemporary love story dealing with mature emotions. All three actors have extremely challenging dramatic roles. It is not a film about only looking good, singing and dancing. These are performance-oriented parts, and we are convinced that ‘Aashiqui 2‘ would do for Shraddha, Aditya and Shaad what the first ‘Aashiqui‘ did for Rahul, Anu and Deepak Taijori."

    Keeping with the brand of the film, the music will remain a highlight with the first song Tum Hi Ho already making waves. According to producer Bhushan Kumar of T-Series, "We have already recorded many songs for ‘Aashiqui 2‘ and we are confident that the audience will enjoy them. But people insisted we bring back at least one song from the original. Whatever the outcome, the music will not disappoint."

  • T-Series to co-produce super hero film with Saif Ali Khan in lead role

    T-Series to co-produce super hero film with Saif Ali Khan in lead role

    MUMBAI: T-Series and Milan Luthria’s Vertex Motion Pictures have signed Saif Ali Khan for a yet untitled super hero film.

    The co-production is slated to be a wholesome entertainer with a strong romantic angle that would appeal to all types of audiences.

    The film will be a character-driven story and a mix of comedy, action, drama and romance creating larger-than-life cinema for movie lovers.

    Though the leading lady of the film is still under wraps, the makers have said that she will be one of the top five heroines of the industry.

    “After Ready, my next film will be directed by Milan Luthria. As Ready did Rs 1 billion-plus business, we will continue to dabble in film production in a big way. We do not wish to make multiple films but would rather do a few good projects. No run-of-the-mill stuff for us,” T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar said.

    The filming will start in 2013. “Milan‘s film, for us, is a family entertainer. I am excited. We are very happy to have him on board. We wanted someone who could make people laugh and Saif is perfect. The film will have action, adventure, suspense, comedy and music. in short, it‘s a complete masala film,” Kumar added.

    Luthria is riding high after two back-to-back super hits in Once Upon A Time in Mumbai and The Dirty Picture. Talking about the superhero angle in the film, he added, “There are many superhero films out there but this isn’t one of them. Ours is a masala entertainer with a twist, that‘s all that I‘ll say at this point. Saif and I had always been talking about reuniting again for another film after Kachche Dhaage but somehow nothing materialised.”

  • Aashiqui 2 to release in December

    Aashiqui 2 to release in December

    MUMBAI: Even before the film has gone on the floors, Movie Mogul, T-Series and Vishesh Film’s Aashiqui 2, the sequel of the 1990 romantic musical Aashiqui, has been set for release in December this year.

    Despite having received a tremendous response from its highly publicised YouTube talent hunt contest that extended post its deadline, the creative team of the Mahesh Bhatt-Mukesh Bhatt enterprises were unable to find a perfect fit to match the demands of the unique script.

    Hence, after much deliberation, they have finally chosen the fresh onscreen pairing of Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor as the main leads of the film

    Aashiqui 2 is scheduled to go on the floors shortly.

  • T-Series signs Milan Luthria for next project

    T-Series signs Milan Luthria for next project

    MUMBAI: Going by the popularity director Milan Luthria attained after his 2011 film, The Dirty Picture,T-Series has signed on the director for their next venture.

    The project is anticipated to be a complete entertainer, a cinematic treat for all types of audiences and will reportedly star Bollywood’s biggest names in the main leads. This is will be T-Series’ next big ticket film after 2011’s Salman Khan-Asin starrer Ready.

    Luthria is the son of noted Hindi film director Raj Khosla and is most known for his films like Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010) and Taxi Number 9211 (2006).

    Luthria is currently working on Balaji Moption Pictures’ Once Upon A Time Again.