Varun Dhawan to watch one of UFCâ’s biggest events in Abu Dhabi

One of the most anticipated sporting events of the year, UFCâ 242: KHABIB vs. POIRIER, will have a special guest from India in attendance. On the invitation of Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) and UFC, Bollywood actor and youth icon Varun Dhawan will visit the United Arab Emirates for UFCâ 242 taking place at The Arena, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi on 7th September 2019. 

Varun Dhawan, one of the most successful leading actors in Bollywood currently, has been lauded for his method acting and dancing skills. Apart from his deep-rooted passion for acting, Varun Dhawan has often spoken about his love for combat sports, especially UFC. A passionate follower of UFC for many years, he has even incorporated mixed martial arts (MMA) into his workout sessions. In the build-up to the mega event, Varun Dhawan will appear in a special on-air campaign for SPSN, “UFC – As Real as It Gets” where he will be seen showcasing his adulation for UFC with its real fights, real sacrifice and real glory on the SPSN channels. 

The viewership for UFC has been growing steadily over the years and last year it was the most watched combat sports property in India. In order to take the premier international property to a wider audience base in India, SPSN has announced its plans to telecast marquee UFC events in Hindi every month starting with UFCâ 242. This initiative will offer millions of viewers across India the opportunity to watch the best MMA fighters inside UFC’s world-famous Octagon in English on SONY TEN 2 channels and in Hindi on SONY TEN 3 channels. 

UFCâ 242 is among the most anticipated UFC events of the year and will feature a championship unification bout between undefeated UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov and the interim UFC lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier in the main event. The event will also feature top UFC athletes Edson Barboza, Paul Felder, Islam Makhachev and many more. Viewers can catch the high-octane action between these modern-day gladiators on SONY TEN 2 channels in English and SONY TEN 3 channels in Hindi on 7th September 2019, 11 30 PM IST onwards. 

Comments: 

Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head - Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited:

“We are delighted that India’s youth icon and known UFC fan, Varun Dhawan, is attending one of the biggest combat sports events of 2019, UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. The following for UFC has grown over the years and our objective is to reach out to every combat sports fan in the country through our programming initiatives. The launch of the live Hindi commentary will not only strengthen our reach across markets but also serve our viewers by giving them the option to watch the highly anticipated UFC 242 and other marquee UFC events in English or Hindi on Sony Pictures Sports Network.”

Varun Dhawan, Bollywood Actor:

“UFC 242 on SONY TEN 2 & SONY TEN 3 channels is an unmissable event for any combat sports fan featuring a dynamite fight card with some of the biggest names in MMA. Having been a huge fan of UFC for years, to watch the fights live, just a few feet away from the Octagon is going to be a mind-blowing experience that I am really looking forward to.”

Watch UFCâ 242: KHABIB vs. POIRIER live and exclusive on Saturday, September 7, 2019 on SONY TEN 2 (English) and SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) channels from 11:30 PM IST.

Saregama launches Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagavad Gita

After the successful launch of Carvaan Mini variants in spiritual genre like Bhakti and Gurbani, Saregama launches a dedicated variant of Carvaan Mini -  Shrimad Bhagavad Gita pre-loaded with 18 Adhyay, 700 verses and over 100 Krishna Bhajans. The verses play in Sanskrit along with translation in simple Hindi language making it easy for every generation to understand. All the verses are recorded in soothing and affirmative voice of Shailendra Bharti. Additionally, it also has more than 100 Krishna Bhajans sung by legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Hari Om Sharan, Jagjit Singh, Anup Jalota and many more. Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is one of its kind audio player at this price point.

Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is an ideal product for everyone who wants to understand the ancient preaching scripted in the book and its relevance in today’s life. The device is extremely simple to operate and can be used by people across different age groups. Like all Carvaan Mini variants, this too offers uninterrupted listening experience without any internet or ad breaks.

Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagavad Gita doubles up as an FM/ AM radio with the option to tune into local station anytime. The listeners can also enjoy their personal music collection on Carvaan Mini by plugging in a USB drive or by connecting their phones via Bluetooth. It comes with a long-lasting battery life and listeners can revel in upto 4 hours of uninterrupted music. Not just this, Carvaan mini also supports Aux/ Aux Out feature. It comes with 6 months warranty across India. 

Vikram Mehra, Managing Director, Saregama India Limited says, “Bhagwad Gita is relevant for all generations and age groups. Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagvad Gita is our attempt to bring the teachings of Bhagwad Gita to every home in simple Hindi language at just press of a button”

The Carvaan Mini Shrimad Bhagavad is reasonably priced at Rs 2490/- and is available on the Saregama website and your nearest retail outlets.

Cosmos-Maya secures coveted Diamond Button with 10 million subscribers for its anchor YouTube channel WowKidz

With individual videos clocking 100 million hits, the 26 million subscriber strong YouTube platform for kids is hitting the right notes and has surpassed the 10 million subscriber mark for its channel WowKidz

Cosmos-Maya, the frontrunner in shaping industry trends has added another feather in its cap. WowKidz, it’s YouTube network for kids now has more than 10 million subscribers on its anchor channel and is now a recipient of the coveted Diamond Button. It all started with this one channel and the brand diversified into several sub-channels catering to numerous geographies world over. The channel has seen a 6-fold increase in the number of subscribers in just 18 months.

WowKidz had humble beginnings and Cosmos-Maya saw it as a source of additional revenue. It was given a push by CEO Anish Mehta who envisaged a brand which viewers could bank upon for 24X7 quality entertainment. In just 18 months, it is now a full-fledged business entity raking in a substantial share of Cosmos-Maya’s revenue pie. The platform now has 10,000 odd videos of quality entertainment for the 3-14 year demographic produced in-house and acquired from top producers worldwide. Boonie Bears, Smurfs, Simba, Om Nom are only some of the big-ticket international shows that run on WowKidz. WowKidz also has the world’s largest Hindi language animation content catalogue today.

A jubilant Anish Mehta, CEO Cosmos-Maya said, “This is a great development. There are only a handful channels worldwide which have received the coveted Diamond Button and even fewer Indian channels. We are very grateful to our viewers for their love and appreciation. Our mission with WowKidz is to make it a two-pronged content window – showcasing the best Indian animation to the world and bringing the best of world content to Indian kids. This is a leap in that direction.”

This development comes on the back of Cosmos-Maya’s recent impetus on regional and vernacular content. Cosmos-Maya’s bouquet of 32 YouTube channels under umbrella brand WowKidz, which has more than 26 million subscribers and 12.5 billion views, now has its content available in all major languages, namely Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Nepalese.

Devdatta Potnis, SVP Revenue and Finance, further added, “Programming has played a major role in WowKidz’s success. We have videos which have clocked 100 million hits. Motu Patlu and ViR, two of our biggest IPs have garnered more than 6 billion and 4 billion views respectively. This when Motu Patlu is geo-blocked in India. We have a wonderful mix of homegrown and acquired content which viewers can watch anywhere anytime. Fresh content is added to the mix on a daily basis. Our creative prowess adds further zing to the localization of acquired international content.”

CULTURE MACHINE’S MOVIE AMOLI STARRING VIDYA BALAN, RAJKUMAR RAO, KAMAL HASSAN, NANI AND JISSHU SENGUPTA AS NARRATORS WINS THE 66TH NATIONAL FILM AWARD

The announcement of the most prestigious 66th National Film Awards took place at Rashtriya Bhavan - New Delhi for honoring the best films of 2018. Culture Machine’ a digital media company which runs some of India’s largest digital brands won the ‘Best Investigative Film’ award for its movie Amoli.

Starring the renowned stalwarts of the film industry - Vidya Balan, Rajkumar Rao, Kamal Hassan, Nani, and Jisshu Sengupta as the narrators, Amoli’ is a definitive documentary on the repulsive commercial sexual exploitation of children, a deep-seated and well-organized criminal industry.

Released in seven languages, the documentary is narrated in 4 chapters - Mol (Price), Maya (Illusion), Manthan (Internal conflict), Mukti (Liberation). Each chapter takes the audience on a journey that delves deep into the grimdark world of child sexual exploitation.

Speaking on the remarkable achievement at the 66th National Film Awards, Sameer Pitalwalla – Founder and CEO, Culture Machine said, “It is a proud moment for the company to have been honoured with such an esteemed award. Through Amoli, we tried to create an awareness among people on the scale and human cost of the sexual manipulation of children in India. We are glad to see the appreciation being showered on the documentary.”

The gorgeous and talented Vidya Balan, who narrated the English version of the movie said, “The film Amoli has a strong storyline and I am glad to have been associated with this documentary. It revolves around a heart wrenching story that exposes the ugly business of commercial sexual exploitation of children. I have narrated the English version of the movie. It gives me immense happiness to see it receive the prestigious 66th National Award, and this is definitely a proud moment for the entire team.”

Acclaimed documentary filmmakers Jasmine Kaur Roy and Avinash Roy who directed the movie, quipped on the spectacular win, “The award not only recognizes the hard work put in by the team but also celebrates the indomitable spirit of those who are fighting a constant battle to put an end to child sex trafficking. We hope that this National Award would further help to highlight these voices and bring a stronger law against this horrific crime.”

About Culture Machine: 

Culture Machine is a Digital Media company that uses technology and storytelling to build great digital brands that people love. By combining cutting edge technology with great content, it currently runs some of India’s largest digital media brands and also licenses its core technologies to advertisers, media companies and agency partner’s world-wide. 

Today, Culture Machine’s network includes several established digital media brands like Being Indian, Blush, Put Chutney, Viva and Awesome Sauce to name a few.

Tara from Satara actor Roshni Walia takes popular you-tuber Yes Theory on Mumbai Darshan

You-tube sensations are not rare in this world and while the list is full of people who came, rose to popularity and were suddenly lost, there are some who succeeded in building their names across the world. One such you-tuber channel is Yes Theory which has more than 4 Million followers from across the globe and while Sony Entertainment Television is coming up with a show Tara from Satara, the lead of the show Roshni Walia was recently seen roaming on the street of Mumbai with Thomas, the you-tuber from Yes Theory.

The you-tube channel recently came with a new challenge where they could not deny for any request of their fans and it was that time when Roshni invited them to visit India. The next day Thomas was seen exploring the streets of Mumbai with our girl, eating pani puri, chhole bhature and other Punjabi delicacies while travelling in Mumbai locals and rickshaws. He was seen bargaining with the local vendors, interacting with his India fans and when Roshni gave him a challenge to visit Mannat alone, he did that and even made friends who sponsored his day trip. Thomas called the trip the best spontaneous decision of his life finally as he left for the airport after exploring the famous Juhu Beach. This 48-hour trip to India was not only memorable for him but also for Roshni who was taken by surprise when he rang her doorbell.

Speaking about her experience with Thomas Roshni said, “It was just a random challenge I gave to the Yes Theory you-tubers never expecting them to actually accept it. In the morning when I really got a call from them, I was surprisingly happy and, on the call, they informed me that Thomas is the one who would be coming to Mumbai to explore the place with me. The moment I saw him outside the door of my house, I could not control my excitement and went on shouting with joy. As promised, I took him to all famous locations of our city Mumbai and made him eat Indian delicacies like Chhole Bhature and Pani puri. Even my mother cooked Aloo Parathas for him for breakfast. The next day I gave him a challenge to visit Mannat all by himself and to my astonishment he succeeded and made friends who took him to Mount Mary’s Church along with paying for his lunch. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for me. I have been a fan of their you-tube channel and it was a dream come true to get to meet Thomas.”

Watch Tara from Satara from 19th August, every Monday to Thursday 10:30 PM only on Sony Entertainment Television