ITV

Tag: [V] Popstars

  • High fives for [V] Popstars’ chosen ones

    High fives for [V] Popstars’ chosen ones

    It was a countrywide search and a mega promotion that spread across all the channels in the Star Network, besides both print and public hoarding campaigns. Finally, after a 45-day, six-city search, Channel [V] announced yesterday its “chosen 5” to front the all girl Coke [V] Popstars band.

    GIRL POWER: (From left) Pratichee Mohapatra, Seema Ramchandani, Neha Bhasim, Anushka Manchanda, Mahua Kamat.

    The five girls who get a shot at fame as India’s Spice Girls are Pratichee Mohapatra, Neha Bhasin, Mahua Kamat, Anushka Manchanda and Seema Ramchandani.

    Future episodes of Coke Popstars the series will see the girls training in different areas like modulating their vocal chords, fine tuning their dance skills as well as a health and fitness regime. They will also undergo a complete makeover so that their looks fit their profile. 

    The name of the group is yet to be decided and model Noyonika Chatterji will manage the band. They will spend several sessions in a studio recording their album, which is due for release sometime towards the end of May. 

    Javed Akhtar is writing the album lyrics and the music is being composed by eight music directors including Jatin Lalit and Sandeep Chowta, an official release states. 

    Their first live performance takes place in Mumbai on 26 April.

    Pratichee is a Mumbai girl, 24 years old. She has been trained in Hindustani Classical music for over six years. 

    Delhi girl Neha Bhasin, 19, is a second year student doing her Sociology honors. Her hobbies include dancing and writing songs. 

    Anushka, is all of 18 and ‘dead serious’ about her career as a musician. She has had little formal training in music even though that did not stop her from learning to play several instruments like the piano, guitar, drums and at the moment she is trying to learn to play the flute! 

    Seema Ramchandani, 22, is from Pune and a postgraduate diploma holder in school psychology. She comes from a musically inclined family and likes all sorts of music from the romantic Kishore Kumar to the rocking Led Zeppelin. 

    Mahua Kamat, 20, from Pune and in her Second year B.Com, gave up a year to get into music. She has been training in Hindustani classical music for a very long time. She is greatly influenced by Alanis Morissette, the Cranberries, Tracy Chapman, Dido and lot of R&B, hip-hop, for their rhythmic beats. 

  • Popstars’ international rights holder potential takeover target

    Popstars’ international rights holder potential takeover target

    Star India may be pulling out all the stops to make sure that its glam-reality show [V] Popstars makes it big but the same can’t be said for the show’s international rights holder. Sportsworld, which holds the worldwide rights to Popstars is up for sale.

    The media group has announced its decision to sell itself after the company’s board decided that selling all or part of the business was the only way to stave off bankruptcy. Industry sources claim that the company has already received feelers from other sports marketing and media companies, as well as from venture capital groups eager to grab the group’s sports and entertainment rights.

    Apart from Popstars, Sportsworld has the rights to several big sponsorship contracts, including the Toyota formula one team, the England cricket team and perimeter advertising at Premier League grounds. Industry analysts say that the global recession, followed by the downturn in the sponsorship market has hit Sportsworld badly, as the company allegedly overpaid for many of its sports rights.

    Sportsworld’s troubles became known last month when the company announced that it was postponing its results and issued its second profit warning in as many weeks. The company’s share price nosedived as a result, from a high of almost five pounds to just three pence. The company has said it expects to announce its interim results by the end of this month, by which time it hopes to be in a position to announce a buyer. The company’s downturn has come as a jolt to many, particularly as it had a few months ago claimed that its 2001 results ‘show an impressive 192 per cent growth in pre tax profits – in a climate of declining ad revenues’.

    The company has regional offices in London, Sydney, Melbourne, San Diego, Toronto, Dubai, Auckland, Bangalore and Bangkok with 400 staff employed in 20 offices spread over five continents.