ITV

Tag: Varun Dhawan

  • Skybags appoints Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador

    Skybags appoints Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Skybags – the youth centric stylish luggage and backpacks brand from V.I.P Industries’ – has appointed actor Varun Dhawan as its new brand ambassador.

     

    Launched as an independent brand in 2011, Skybags makes trendy and contemporary bags for the youth.

     

    V.I.P Industries managing director Radhika Piramal said, “Skybags is the brand for today’s youth who are always on the go. The brand is full of energy and style hence Varun Dhawan’s association is perfect for the brand as he brings out the above promise perfectly. We are happy to be associating with Varun and look forward to a fruitful relationship with him.”

     

    V.I.P Industries vice president – marketing Sudip Ghose added, “With more young customers travelling at an early age, styling in the bags has become a necessity. And hence, newer categories like Polycarbonate luggage, backpacks and rucksacks are increasingly gaining popularity. From ‘Travel gear’ bags are moving to become ‘Travel wear’ today. Varun Dhawan, with his ‘real’ and ‘reel’ life image perfectly fits the brand. The idea is to make it brand appeal right from a 15 year old student for backpack to a 25 year old first time luggage buyer.”

     

    Dhawan, who will be the new face of the brand across all their communication, said, “I am thrilled to be associated with Skybags as the new face for the brand. The bag you carry is like an accessory; the style and the brand both are important to stay in vogue today! I am confident that this new association, I’ll help the brand go younger and more relevant for youth.”

  • Promodome bags Campus Shoes account; appoints Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador

    Promodome bags Campus Shoes account; appoints Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Promodome Communciations has bagged the account of Campus Shoes, the casual footwear brand from the Action Shoes group. 

     

    The group was looking to bolster Campus, and was looking for an agency to inject freshness into the brand through a new campaign led by a young brand ambassador. The client zeroed in on Promodome, which managed to sign on actor Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador.

     

    The print campaign with Dhawan has been released, and the TVC shall soon be seen on various channels as well in cinema halls and various activations/events planned all over India.

     

    The new line for the brand is – ‘We live in a campus called life’. 

     

    Promodome CEO Rajshekhar Malaviya said, “The intent behind this new line is the rising aspirations of youth, who believes that the limitations of yesterday can and will be challenged.”

     

    The agency has had a long association with the Action Shoes group, having done another celebrity led campaign for the brand a couple of years ago, with Emran Hashmi and Neha Dhupia as brand ambassadors.

  • Badlapur: Don’t Miss The Beginning….Noir has its limits

    Badlapur: Don’t Miss The Beginning….Noir has its limits

    MUMBAI: If the title of the film makes you wonder why the tagline is part of the name, it could be because similar titles are not allowed by the producers’ associations and their title registration committee (Badlapur Boys was a recent release). Or, it could be just a smart move because if you miss the beginning, Badalpur will make no sense to you. The cause of what follows relates to the events right at the start.

    Badlapur is a noir film where the hero is the anti-hero taking same route as the criminals who destroyed him. He blurs the line between good and bad. The story has a touch of James Hadley Chase and films like Ittefaq (1969) or the recent one, Ek Villain. 

    Varun Dhawan is a well settled ad agency executive. Having married his college beau, he has a cute son. His family is everything to him. He is just getting over a presentation for a campaign for a bra when shattering news reaches him. His son and his wife, Yami Gautam, were taken as shields by a bank robber duo, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vinay Pathak. This robbers had not planned on an escape vehicle and have taken Yami’s car along with her and their son. 

    As a traffic cop is an eyewitness, soon the police posse follows the duo. In the process, the child falls out of the car and not being able to control Yami, Nawazuddin shoots her. While Pathak makes a run for it with the money and gun, Nawazuddin is nabbed. Even while he keeps saying he is just a driver and the other guy killed Yami, he is read a sentence of 20 years in jail. Neither the police nor a private detective engaged by Varun can find out who his partner was. 

    Producers: Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla.

    Director: Sriram Raghvan.

    Cast: Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Huma Quereshi, Radhika Apte, Pratima Kazmi

    Varun now has no cause more important than to get the culprits. A one-minute scene with his family and in-laws fails to convince him to start anew. He shifts bag and baggage to Badlapur where Nawazuddin is jailed for twenty years. Also, he has to find the other culprit. This is a long-winded process which you traverse together with the narration. Nawazuddin is right in front of him but there is nothing Varun can do to get his hands on him; Pathak’s whereabouts are not known.

    Varun goes about it clinically, approaching Nawazuddin’s mother and prostitute girlfriend, Huma Qureshi, to glean any information he can. Nobody seems to know anything about the second criminal until a situation is created in the script when Varun helps Pathak’s wife, stranded on a deserted road one night with a flat tyre. The same liberty with the script could have been taken a bit sooner to keep the narration pacey. Varun is now on Pathak’s trail.

    As for Nawazuddin, Divya Dutta comes out of the blue to sort things out for Varun. She is a social worker who helps to resettle criminals. Nawazuddin has been in the cell for 15 years now, making futile attempts to escape time and again. He is now ailing with cancer with a year to live at best. Divya wants Varun to issue a pardon note in his favour so he is freed and can live a year the way he wants. 

    Nawazuddin’s mother also comes to Varun with same plea. He agrees in exchange for the name of the other culprit which happens to be the husband of the woman with a flat tyre he helped one night.

    Sriram Raghvan has based his film on a crime story by Italian writer, Massimo Carlotto, and he is in his element with his favourite kind of cinema. However, Nawazuddin seeking redemption rather than revenge in the climax may disappoint lovers of commercial entertainment. The film has excellent cinematography and the background score complements the proceedings. Music as far as songs go, does not work; the film could very well have done without them. Editing needed to be brisker.   

    As for the performances, Nawazuddin is outstanding and at his most natural. Varun shows he can deliver even while not playing a song and dance role. The girls, Yami Gautam, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte and Pratima Kazmi, though having little to do justify their apt casting. Vinay Pathak is fair.

    Badlapur: Don’t Miss The Beginning, being the genre it is, has limited its prospective audience. The film has opened to tepid response, too.

    Qissa: The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost – One for the festivals

    Qissa: The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost (Punjabi) is a film made to earn accolades from the world audience as well as the discerning audience and the student of cinema in India. The film’s genre can’t be easily defined as it moves from India’s partition to male desire for a boy child to supernatural to a story of two star-crossed girls. Since the story revolves around a Sikh family, the language used is Punjabi to keep the flavour of the narration natural.

    Producers: Heimatfilm, Augustus Film, Ciné-Sud Promotion, National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC).

    Director: Anup Singh.

    Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Duggal.

    Irrfan Khan is a de-stabilised Sikh who migrates safely to Punjab on the Indian side with his wife and daughters during the partition. He is an MCP who craves for a son this time when wife, Tisca Chopra, becomes pregnant again. He already has three daughters. 

    It has been four years since the partition but now Khan is a very successful timber contractor with a lavish mansion for his residence. The fourth child is born but an attempt has been made to keep the gender a secret from the viewer though it’s not tough to fathom this is a girl again. For a moment you are made to believe Khan will kill her. Not so. He decides to believe and pretend this is a boy and rears her as such. The girl, Tillotama Shome, is the apple of his eye as he enrols her for physical training as well as wrestling practice. He also takes her on hunting expeditions. His wife, Tisca goes along with the charade.

    The girl is now 12 and puberty knocks she spots blood on her bed. Khan wants her to keep mum about it! The pretence goes on till Shome and another girl, Rasika Duggal, get entwined. Duggal, a gypsy girls falls for Shome and so does Shome forgetting in her pretence that she too is a girl. Shome has molested Duggal and both their parents are witness. Khan suggests a marriage between the two. This is where the plot gets complicated. Shome is left to fend for herself in this situation. 

    But, Khan has an obsession with a male name bearer for the family and one night, he tries to force himself on Duggal to give her a male child, which Shome can’t. Shome adores her father but not enough to tolerate him forcing himself on Duggal; she shoots her father with the very double barrel he gifted her and taught her to use.

    The film enters a new chapter, it goes on to become a supernatural saga. Khan’s desire for a male heir does not let his soul rest; he is now a ghost haunting his old house. He somehow wants his ‘son’ Shome’s wife, Duggal to bear a son!

    Meanwhile, Shome suffers a lot as the woman in her wants to surface and she can’t keep up with the pretence anymore. She exhibits her femininity for the whole village to see. When the villagers want to hunt her down, Khan enters her body with a purpose to indulge Duggal and, finally, produce a male child. 

    The thing about Qissa is that, after a while, it may look bizarre and morbid. Good of the makers not to indulge in same sex scenes while there was ample scope or, at least, not in the Indian version (after all, NFDC is involved). 

    The film is excellent technically with international names in its credits. Director is gutsy to take up this subject but then such a film is all about making a name, not money. The technical aspects sure are a lesson for a student of cinema. 

  • Bollywood stars get together on CNN-IBN’s year ender chat show

    Bollywood stars get together on CNN-IBN’s year ender chat show

    MUMBAI: As we head towards the end of the year, it is time for India’s most awaited entertainment led chat series, Bollywood Roundtable – 2014 hosted by India’s biggest film critic Rajeev Masand. The 4 episode special series will showcase top Directors, Actors, Actresses and Producers for this year who have received both critical and box office appreciation.

    Watch actors like Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Abhishek Bachchan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and actresses including the Chopra Sister (Priyanka and Parineeti) Tabu and Alia Bhatt, as they talk about this year’s outstanding performances and what goes into delivering them. While producers such as Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Roy Kapur share their thoughts on the business of cinema; directors such as Rajkumar Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapur and Farah Khan, talk about the craft of filmmaking. Watch these stars get in a freewheeling discussion about their successes and failures – their roles, films and movie-making in the special series – The Bollywood Roundtable 2014.

    Each Roundtable will be an hour long episode and will see four popular faces from Bollywood discuss the nuts and bolts of filmmaking that results in the magic on-screen. The show kickstarts this weekend with the Producer’s roundtable where Rajeev Masand gets into a candid conversation with Bollywood’s leading producers – Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Roy Kapur.

    Don’t miss the exclusive telecast of this episode on 13 December, Saturday 12 PM & 10.30 PM.

     

  • Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor most searched emerging stars online

    Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor most searched emerging stars online

    BENGALURU: India’s crazy love for Bollywood stars, movies, and songs is a celebrated and known fact.  With the entry of fresh talent and dynamic performances over the last year, Bollywood buffs across the country have been extending their support to the stars of tomorrow. While some are new to film fraternity, the others hail from filmy homes and have grown up in Bollywood.

     

    Starry kids including the likes of Alia Bhatt, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Tiger Shroff are leading searches on Google. Although filmy background gives them a clear edge, the other non-filmy newbies on screen including Sidhartha Malhotra and Ileana D’cruz have made their way to fans’ hearts with their performances and talent.

     

    An analysis of recent searches on Google (Google Search trends) takes a look at the popularity of these stars among the fans online. 

     

    Alia Bhatt’s dream launch in Student of the Year followed by blockbuster movies including Highway and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania has gained a lot of interest online as she leads search interest among fans for emerging stars.

     

    Aashiqui 2 fame Shraddha Kapoor with her compelling performance in Ek Villian has also grabbed continuous attention from fans online. Interestingly their standing remains too close as the two continue to work hard to maintain their fast growing fan base.  Among those with no starry backgrounds, Ileana D’Cruz stood out of the crowd with high interest witnessed online.  

     

    Among the male stars, Arjun Kapoor is the latest on the block attracting huge search interest online. While he made his debut in 2012 with Isaqzaade, he took on the spotlight with his blockbuster hit 2 States this year.

     

    Sidhartha Malhothra’s journey with his charming performance in Student of the Year & Hasee Toh Phasee to the thrilling Ek Villian has been followed closely by his fans. The actor has shown steady and charismatic performances that are driving searches online.

  • ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’…Join the party

    ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’…Join the party

    MUMBAI: The title may sound confusing. Who is this Humpty Sharma? He is no legendary lover on whom tomes may have been written. It does not give away much except that the story/ scenario would obviously be set against the background of a Delhi Punjabi family. And perhaps that is something about the Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to it? Why not. After all, Dil Wale Dulhania… was an all-time hit, so what’s wrong with borrowing a bit from there?

    Varun Dhawan shyly confesses that he was a very fat child and that is how he was nicknamed Humpty. Not bad considering he could have been nicknamed Sweety or Dimppy, which could be gender defying. Varun heads a gang of three including himself in a Delhi college. The other two are Gaurav Pandey and Sahil Vaid. As in all filmy colleges, you only have a campus with a loosely hung signboard declaring that the premises is a college. He is popular with girls around for no apparent reason except that he is the hero of the story. Despite being in Delhi, for a change, he is not the son of a halwai but, as he says, the only ‘waris of the famous Vidhya Book Store’ which caters to college students’ requirements.

    For a change, Varun does not find his lady love from a college coed. She is an Ambala girl, Alia Bhatt, who is in Delhi to attend her friend’s wedding. Actually, no Punjabi love story can be told without involving a wedding. There she meets Varun who wants to date her, which she does not mind until she gets married to an NRI a few week hence. A little net practice never hurt anybody.

    This is the first man Alia has ever been exposed to. All her life she has been brought up to believe in following the family tradition: marry the guy dad chooses. Dad, Ashutosh Rana, himself has had a love marriage but since then, he has had a reason not to trust such a liaison. But apart from that, Rana is okay with giving his daughter all the freedom she wants. So she takes off for Delhi to spend time with her friend, Guncha Narula, who is due to marry soon as well as to buy a Rs 5 lakh wedding dress for herself—because Guncha has bought one worth Rs 2.5 lakh!

    Producers: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar.

    Director: Shashank Khaitan.

    Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana, Siddharth Shukla, Kenneth Desai, Gaurav Pandey, Sahil Vaid, Mahnaz Damania, Deepika Amin, Guncha Narula, Jaswant Daman.

    Varun, quite popular in college, sees this new girl in town and as is wont of any Delhi boy, piles on. Alia is the kind who can take a Delhi boy in her stride but quite enjoys Varun’s company. Varun, on his part, has fallen head over heels. The happy days are over and Alia has to return to Ambala as her NRI fiancé is due to arrive. That is when Alia also owns up to her deep love for Varun.

    Back in Ambala, Alia has only one option and that is to forget Varun and get ready for her marriage with this NRI doctor, Siddharth Shukla. Varun chases Alia to Ambala only to be beaten black and blue by her brother and his goons. Varun is unrelenting. Shukla is arriving and Rana decides to offer Varun a chance so as to avoid any tamasha during the wedding. It is five days till wedding, Varun’s job is to hang around Shukla and find some fault in him for Rana to call off Alia’s wedding with him. But, one look at the fiancé and Varun loses all hope. He is a perfect stud with no blemish at all. Since Gaurav and Sahil are also with Varun, the fun and repartees continue. 

    Despite the latter half of the film revisiting Yashraj Films’ all-time hit, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, it is all well done. The film’s writer/director deserve all the credit for coming up with a very plausible take on Dilwale…., with a taut script peppered with witty exchanges between characters. There are some loose ends like disappearance of Shukla from the scene suddenly! The film also has the advantage of some peppy numbers in ‘Saturday Saturday’…., ‘Lucky tu lucky me’…. and a melody in ‘Samjhawan’…albeit all with heavy Punjabi flavour.

    Varun along with Gaurav and Sahil make sure one stays entertained. Alia does well, not going overboard in dramatic scenes. Rana is good while Shukla makes an impact despite a brief role. The supporting cast is adequate.

    Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is a joyride for youth and an entertainer that also caters to other age groups. While its business may be affected to a degree due to Ramzan month, it is generally a moneymaker.

  • Jabong partners with Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania

    Jabong partners with Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania

    MUMBAI: Jabong, partners with the new upbeat movie by Karan Johar under Dharma Production – Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. A part of the tie-up, Jabong  will unveil an exclusive collection defining the new age fashion exuding elan, a range inspired by the movie and the looks of the lead star cast – Bollywood’s new heartthrobs  – Varun Dhawan  playing Humpty Sharma and Alia Bhatt playing Kavya Pratap at Crown Plaza, Okhla in Delhi.

    Jabong founder and managing director Praveen Sinha said, “We are highly elated to launch this stylish and chic Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania collection on Jabong. We are only growing strength to strength in the e-commerce sector, and this collaboration exemplifies the stature we hold in the market. When such magnum opus brand names show an inclination in getting associated with us, it exudes nothing, but power of e commerce and Jabong. The fashion industry draws heavily from Bollywood; we at Jabong cater to such eclectic needs of people. From international apparel honchos to the classic Bollywood fashion parade, Jabong.com now has everything under one roof.”

    Dharma Productions marketing head Siddharth Kadam said, “Movies and shopping are the two experiences people of India not only enjoy but also celebrate. Witnessing the boom in online retail, such associations are going to become more popular with a Bollywood style collection inspired by the movies. There is a huge market of young, fashionable buyers wanting to dress like film stars. We are happy to partner with Jabong for our film Humpty Sharma ki Dhulhania.”

    Bottomline Media managing director Tanaaz Bhatia said, “Our association with Jabong.com goes far back and it has been a wonderful experience to work with them. We believe the Humpty Sharma collection will create a new trend amongst the youth especially after the movie is proving to be a hit already! We look forward to create many such associations with Jabong.com and our upcoming films.”

    Click here for event pictures

  • Disney announces ‘ABCD 2’

    Disney announces ‘ABCD 2’

    MUMBAI: Post the success of India’s first ever 3D dance movie ABCD – Any Body Can Dance, a youthful and vibrant film which became a nation-wide phenomenon garnering critical acclaim and box office, Disney India’s studio business today announced its sequel ABCD 2, directed by Remo D’Souza.

     

    The second chapter of the movie promises to be even bigger in scale with the current heartthrobs Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead along with Prabhu Dheva. Inspired from the true story of an Indian dance troupe that participated in the world Hip Hop Championships, this movie is slated to be shot extensively in Las Vegas, with over 10 songs and extravagant dance sequences that will add grandeur to the exciting script

     

    The film will go on floors in July.

  • Tata Motors and COLORS Join Hands for Mission Sapne

    Tata Motors and COLORS Join Hands for Mission Sapne

    MUMBAI: Leading Hindi general entertainment channel, COLORS, today announced its partnership with Tata Motors for the channel’s upcoming show, Mission Sapne. Through this association, both brands will enhance their focus on societal welfare as they strive to present a unique CSR-led initiative that will appeal to viewers to synergize their efforts towards creating a better tomorrow for underprivileged individuals in the country. Mission Sapne is set to hit airwaves on 27th April, 2014, every Sunday at 8.00pm on COLORS.

     

    Produced by Sobo Films and hosted by Sonali Bendre, Mission Sapne is a pioneering programming initiative from COLORS which brings together celebrities from various walks of life and encourages them to leverage their fame for the benefit of the common man. As a part of the show, audiences will get an opportunity to see their favourite celebrities step into the shoes of the common man for a day and earn their daily wage.

     

    Season one of the show will see Top celebrities from across Bollywood, television, sports and music will be volunteering in this Mission including actors Salman Khan (Barber), Varun Dhawan (Pattiwala), Harbhajan Singh (Namkeen seller), Mika Singh (Chaiwala), Ronit Roy (Cosmetic Seller), Ranbir Kapoor (Vada-pav seller), Ram Kapoor (Taxi driver), Karan Johar (Photographer), Drashti Dhami (Nimbu-mirchi seller) and Siddharth Malhotra (Vegetable vendor). True to the person he is helping, the celebrity will move away from their comfort zone to drive a taxi, sell vegetables or become a door-to-door salesman and use their talent, wit and star persona to bring a change in their ordinary and tough life.  They will also witness the various difficulties faced by those who bring comfort to our lives.

     

    Speaking about the partnership, Ankush Arora, SVP – Passenger Vehicles Business Unit (Commercial), Tata Motors, said, “At Tata Motors, we have always believed in putting our customers first and through our association, with COLORS for Mission Sapne, we hope to ingrain this thought further amongst our audiences. The show’s focus on working towards the betterment of the society has struck a chord in our hearts and we look forward to contributing, in our own little way, towards this cause.”

     

    Speaking about their latest venture, Raj Nayak, CEO – COLORS says, “We’re very thankful to each and every celebrity who voluntarily joined us for this noble cause. They not only took out time from their busy lives but also whole heartedly committed to leading the life of a common man without any remuneration. We are extremely delighted to announce our partnership with a like-minded organization like- Tata Motors through this property.”

     

    Watch out as your favourite celebrities step into the shoes of the less fortunate and help them fulfill their dreams on Mission Sapne…
    Starting April 27, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. only on COLORS!

  • MTV’s goal: Make voting ‘cool’

    MTV’s goal: Make voting ‘cool’

    MUMBAI: It’s been a week since the Lok Sabha elections started, and since then social media has been flooded with ‘ungli’ pictures.

    Many believe that 2014 elections will see a better turnout than previous years. Thanks to not only the anti-incumbency votes, but also the 12 crore first-time voters who will play an important role.

    Political parties have left no stone unturned to put forward their vision and mission for the coming years, news channels are busy questioning and highlighting those motives. However, this time around, general entertainment channels (GECs) too have joined in to educate and urge people to go out and vote.

    With 12 crore first-time voters, the youth entertainment channels have taken upon themselves to make sure that youngsters go out and exercise their right. “We have more than 12 crore first time voters. It is not that they are unaware and don’t care about the nation; but, they do need a strong motivation to go out and vote,” says MTV marketing and insights head Sumeli Chatterjee.

    The channel started a ‘Rock The Vote’ campaign in December and will continue till the elections end. The channel’s seven-month long initiative’s ultimate objective is to make voting cool; so much so that a person feels embarrassed to step out without the voter-ink mark on the day of elections.

    MTV ‘Rock The Vote’ was created at the intersection of politics and pop-culture and was presented as an integrated media initiative that would drive conversations around elections. The campaign that sounds a wake-up call for the youth to vote drives on a simple philosophy – If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

    Based on the study done by the channel, even though youth has a comment and opinion on everything around them – whether it is the traffic, professor, food or even weather and they voraciously tweet, post and share their point-of-views. Yet, somehow their participation in voting process has been traditionally poor. The study states 97 per cent of the youth agree that they can bring about change, but only 15 per cent feel they have a say in choosing the government.

    To change this, the campaign was launched.

     

    But is the youth ready to listen? “We have kept the communication simple, direct and tongue-in-cheek; so that it resonates with the young, rather than sound preachy. We created a host of sharable assets like funnies and cartoons, music anthem, merchandise, crowd-sourced videos – that the youngsters can share with each other while engaging in a serious discussion on elections. Music, humour and Bollywood, are the three anchor points for MTV ‘Rock the Vote’ campaign,” answers Chatterjee.

    And since, youth is constantly in an attention deficit state, to sustain interest for more than seven months was a herculean task for the channel. In order to keep it alive and buzzing among the TG, it tried to keep every part of the initiative very interactive with crowd sourced videos, engagements across colleges integrating the college festivals, tongue-in-cheek cartoons, hashtag wars, voter-ink selfies etc.

    Social media especially Twitter played a lead role in driving the interactivity along with the on-ground college concerts with Mohit Chauhan, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian Ocean, Arijit Singh, Amit Trivedi etc. “We also launched a new mobile feature on Twitter that enabled offline users to listen to the conversations on #RockTheVote – this is the first time across the world, that this feature was made available to users. The best endorsement of a philosophy is when the fan wears the same. With Puma, MTV has launched a new t-shirt range promoting the messaging for voting this election,” she adds.

    The Twitter Townhalls included real time Q&A on youth issues like freedom of speech on social media, education system and reforms, job opportunities etc. On-ground activities included voter education/registration camps across 40 plus colleges along with live debate amongst student groups on elections and youth issues. An half an hour series was created on MTV that brings a funny and satirical take on these youth issues. It also brings in organisations / people from their respective fields to put out their views on the issues. For example, Greenpeace was invited as a spokesperson for the episode that dealt with environment issues on MTV ‘Rock The Vote’ series on Television.

    In-collaboration with young Bollywood stars like Varun Dhawan, Nargis Fakhri, Ileana D’Cruz, Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor, the channel has created short vignettes. Half an hour satirical bulletins with stand-up comedians on the state of various national issues that affect the citizens, an anthem and music video with Papon and Clinton Cerojo, have also been created to spread the word. The MTV t-shirt range with Puma is in retail already promoting the messaging for voting this election.

    Apart from this, the channel has also partnered with ‘Rock the Vote (USA)’, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation which pushes political awareness amongst youth across many countries including the USA, Canada and Chile.

    Although, media agencies handling political parties have signed special in-programming deals with some channels, MTV has association with political parties only from an awareness creation perspective. They haven’t included them in its regular programming schedule. But does the channel see the youngsters imbibing it in real life too? “The youngsters are really smart. Talk to them in their lingo, and they love to talk back. The Twitter Townhall and the Live Debates with leading political party spokespersons like Congress, BJP and AAP, saw a reach of 14 million plus on Twitter. So yes, we do see the youth making an effort to understand the process and the people involved. Once the interest is developed, the action will follow,” says Chatterjee optimistically.
     

    And with its social media buzzing with activities like selfies of the voter-ink marks, the channel feels it has won the battle, it had started in December.

    So, ‘Don’t be a Goat, go Rock the Vote’, MTV style.