Filmfare Awards South- the most sought-after awards honouring cinematic excellence from South India is back with its 2019-2021 edition. This year, the awards night promises to double the excitement as the Filmfare Awards South celebrations will be spread over two consecutive nights- once exclusive night reserved each for movies released in 2019 and 2020-2021.
As the popularity of the Film industries down south grew, Filmfare widened its sphere to include artistic and technical excellence from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films. While the thought of winning a Black Lady has been alluring ever since its inception in 1954, the Filmfare Awards South became an independent event in 1972. The event has become bigger and more successful with each passing year and the association with Kamar Film Factory is a testimony of Filmfare’s commitment to the South film industry.
Talking about the upcoming edition of the awards, Deepak Lamba, CEO of Worldwide Media, said, “The Filmfare Awards South have become the most prominent awards given for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films in India. The grandeur associated with the platform has inspired every artiste of the South Indian Film fraternity to display their camaraderie and showmanship at the awards night. The upcoming edition of the Filmfare Awards South promises to be bigger and better than ever and we are happy to associate with a leading name in the South Indian film industry, Kamar Film Factory. We look forward to a fruitful association and celebrating the talent together.
Jitesh Pillaai, Editor, Filmfare added, “The Filmfare Awards South night is a special one- with the best performances felicitated and the several foot-tapping numbers performed during the ceremony. It is a riot of vibrant colour, thumping music and excited fans as they see their favourite stars take the stage by storm.”
Mr. Kamar, Founder, Kamar Film Factory said, “There are no two ways about it- Filmfare Awards South is one of the most awaited events in the entertainment circuit of South India. It was dearly missed last year, but we’re excited that this time it is spread over two days, giving every release from 2019 to 2021 a chance to win the recognition they deserve. I’m eagerly looking forward to this.”
Pan-India star Pooja Hedge added, “For anyone in the entertainment industry, a Filmfare Award is always an aspiration and also a huge inspiration to keep doing better work. I’m truly grateful to Filmfare Awards South for encouraging all of us to break out of the ordinary and deliver stellar performances for the audience.”
The Filmfare Awards South Press conference was also graced by veteran actress Tara Anuradha.
Filmfare Awards South 2019-2021 welcomes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films released in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. The award ceremony will be held in Bangalore in March 2022.
Lokal, a hyperlocal social media platform focused around community updates, jobs, matrimonial, real estate, and classifieds, today announced its entry into Gujarat. The application will provide hyper-local solutions in Gujarati and has already witnessed a significant number of active users across 33 districts of the state.
In the journey to make the internet meaningful for tier 2/3 India, this expansion marks an important milestone. Addressing the need for native language platforms, Lokal aims to garner 10 million users within a year. Since Gujarati is one of the most spoken languages, Lokal believes the state will contribute 20% of revenue in the coming quarter.
Founded in 2018, Lokal offers the highest district level density of users, given its focus on smaller geographical areas. It is on a mission to strengthen hyperlocal communities by enabling its users to share, interact, and transact in their native language. The application commenced its operations from Telangana and has been a key catalyst in empowering digital opportunities for tier 2 and tier 3 states of south India. As the state boasts of its increasing number of emerging businesses, Lokal identified Gujarat as their second entry point in the western part of the country.
Lokal is currently operational in 150+ districts across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka Maharashtra and now Gujarat. Lokal is also planning to extend its footprint in the high potential international markets of Southeast Asia.
Commenting on this strategic move, Jani Pasha, Co-founder and CEO of Lokal, said, “Being one of the leaders for commerce in India, we recognize the role local culture, traditions and language has played in fueling society and the households of Gujarat. Our hyperlocal architecture is designed to amplify this very native strength. We intend to empower the people of Gujarat with digital opportunities and encourage them to use the internet meaningfully in Gujarati. We look forward to serving the local needs of this vibrant state and its people.”
Lokal has successfully garnered over 10 million downloads. The application played an instrumental role last year during multiple region-specific lockdowns. It bridged the communication gap with real-time pandemic updates, lockdown measures, and information on the availability of daily commodities. Since an increasing number of users from non-metro cities adopted a digital-first approach via Lokal App, its revenue has increased tenfold year on year and is growing at a 30% month-on-month basis.
TopSocial, one of the leading influencer marketing platform in India, today announced the launch of India’s first Meta-Influencer ‘Kyra’. Following in the footsteps of the previously launched Virtual Influencers like Lil Miquela (https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/), the first Virtual Influencer sensation with over 3 million followers and more recently, Rozy (https://www.instagram.com/rozy.gram/), South Korea’s first Virtual Influencer who secured over 100 brand endorsements earning close to KRW 854,007 (about INR 6 crore); Kyra is a homegrown virtual influencer who describes herself as a 22-year-old college student and as aspiring model based out of New Delhi. You can follow Kyra’s journey on Instagram @kyraonig and know more about her world.
The launch of ‘Kyra’ will support brands, marketers, and advertisers to engage with their consumers smoothly as the virtual idol maintains a good image and can be more customizable in comparison to their human counterparts. Just a month old on Instagram, she already has over six thousand followers and is growing her audience by the hundreds daily. TopSocial expects her to cross 100,000 followers in a few months which will make her one of the most popular Virtual Influencers online.
Looking beyond the virtual influencer landscape, TopSocial aims to make ‘Kyra’ into an intelligent ‘meta-influencer’ who can think, create, and publish content on her own. A meta influencer can traverse the web for latest trends and help marketers identify what influencer content can work in the future. Incidentally, it also lines up with the latest push of the Metaverse by Silicon Valley which already has seen billions of dollars in funding. Kyra could be one of the first influencers of this new meta reality.
“I did not expect such a great response from the audience this early on. I have already received hundreds of messages in my Instagram DMs.” said ‘Kyra’ when asked about her following. When asked about her dreams Kyra mentioned, “I wish to become a motivational speaker. I wish to make a difference, and yes, I can’t live a boring life!”
Developed by TopSocial India, the future plans of ‘Kyra’ are much more ambitious. Kyra can be integrated in virtual meta-verses, 3D movies, music videos and so on.
“We want Kyra to go beyond just being a simple CGI character or influencer. She is an independent Meta-Influencer on the web. We are working with partners in AI technology which will enable her to study social media trends online and create content autonomously. We believe that is where the future of virtual influencers and content lies.” Says Himanshu Goel, Business Head at TopSocial India.
“Kyra will be more than just an outlet for brands to showcase their products. We will have a selective approach to identify which brands we want her to associate with. We want her to be a positive force on the web and inspire her Gen-Z counterparts online.” Says George Tharian, Group CEO at Topline Consulting Group, the parent company of TopSocial.
Solar power, today, has become a key to a clean & carbon-free energy future and highlighting the importance of solar energy and ground-breaking engineering to fulfil the needs of people for sustainable solutions, National Geographic in India is launching a new documentary ‘Rays of Change: AVAADA Energy’. The film, which premieres on December 4, 2021, at 8 pm on National Geographic, will give the viewers a glimpse of the efforts to develop one of the world largest single location Solar Plants.
The film brilliantly captures the monumental effort involved in making one of the largest solar plants in the world, showcasing different project elements and their synergy. It also touches upon the human aspect by underscoring the influence of the project on human lives in the short and long term. From the plant’s planning, land acquisition, engineering innovations, and tackling the construction challenges of this gigantic project, the film covers every aspect of project execution for viewers to understand and appreciate.
“At National Geographic, we endeavour to bring inspirational stories of our nation’s growth and development through insightful and ground-breaking storytelling. The AVAADA Bikaner documentary is yet another attempt to further the knowledge of our viewers and give them a deeper understanding of the marvels around us. It emphasizes the increasing importance of sustainable living as we take viewers on this powerful journey of challenges and a project that is committed to bringing value to the lives of many,” a spokesperson from National Geographic
“We are all aware of the importance of building a sustainable future for the generations to come, and this is a story of our efforts contributing towards it by building one of the World’s largest solar plants. We wanted to tell our story, and the team at National Geographic beautifully weaved in the narrative with their authentic style of storytelling, which will make for a compelling watch for all viewers,” said Vineet Mittal, Chair, AVAADA
National Geographic’s upcoming documentary, ‘Rays of Change: AVAADA Solar’, will premiere on December 4, 2021, at 8.00 pm on National Geographic in India.
Stories from the past, passed down generations, continue to fascinate one and all. What began as mere tales that engaged the listener from start to end has now found a deeper meaning as one today realizes the values that they imparted. With audiences now wanting riveting stories, filled with fun, mystery and adventures that intrigue them, BIG FM presents a new show – BIG Katha. The show will reimagine and retell these fascinating stories with a modern twist, at the same time retaining its core essence and morals. Hosted by popular RJ Khurafati Nitin and RJ Pihu, each episode of BIG Katha has the right ingredients of meaningful homage to the original stories coupled with new additions of rich themes, dark moods, fantasy and a dash of drama thrown in for good measure! The show airs Saturdays from 8 pm – 9 pm and Sundays from 6 pm to 7 pm.
Giving stories a unique, yet modern touch, two of the most loved RJs from BIG FM, RJ Khurafati Nitin and RJ Pihu, will adorn the characters of Akkad Singh and Babita respectively. A modern day Birbal, Babita is one who’s dropped out of her college to pursue her dreams of start-up, while Akkad Singh, on the other hand is a modern-day Akbar, who owns an empire in Chattarpur and wants to be a political figure in the future. BIG Katha, through its stories, delves on these characters, giving the audience an experience that keeps them at the edge of their seat and grip their attention with plot twists.
Speaking about the show, Mr. Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, Product, Marketing and THWINK BIG, BIG FM, said, “BIG FM has always been a pioneer of newer formats of storytelling. Our shows like Yaadon ka Idiot Box with Neelesh Misra and Suhana Safar with Annu Kapoor have been trailblazers on radio setting a remarkable benchmark for storytelling. With BIG Katha, we are contextualizing the classic folklore of Akbar and Birbal for the newer audiences. It is modern day storytelling, reimagining the tales and narrated in a unique avatar for our listeners. With our vast network, we hope to make this experience an exciting and immersive one for our audiences.”
Adding on, RJ Khurafati Nitin, popular BIG RJ from Delhi, commented, “Storytelling is in our Indian DNA, be it in the form of classic tales, books or content. I am looking forward to recreating these stories giving it a modern twist while not losing their essence and morals. Akkad Singh has many qualities of Akbar, and I can’t wait to get into his shoes and entertain our followers and listeners.”
Known for her popular morning show in Bhopal, RJ Pihu who will portray the character of Babita said, “We have all grown up listening to the tales of Akbar and Birbal and it gives me immense pleasure to retell a host of stories with a touch of modern flavours. I am excited to begin the journey of Babita and I hope our listeners enjoy our storytelling.”
BIG Katha is extensively promoted across all platforms of BIG FM. It will be available on Radio and Digital platforms, tapping all audiences. The show will also be converted into podcast format and will be available across leading audio streaming platforms. So don’t forget to tune in to BIG FM on Saturdays from 8 pm – 9 pm and Sundays from 6 pm to 7 pm and listen to your favourite tales.
The Lokmat Media Group is all geared up to host the 5th Edition of Lokmat Most Stylish Awards 2021 which will be held on 2nd December 2021, 7:30 pm onwards at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai.
The Lokmat Most Stylish Awards 2021 is set to be a starry night of glitz and glamour, where achievements meet recognition and fashion meets style in the most stunning ensembles. An extravagant evening celebrating achievers winning the coveted title of Lokmat Most Stylish, where personalities from all walks of life, not just from Bollywood, will gather under one roof.
The first 4 editions of the Lokmat Most Stylish Awards were graced with the attendance of many celebrated personalities like Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Aditya Thackeray, Ajay Devgan, Gautam Singhania, Gaur Gopal Das, Karan Johar, Sara Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Atul Kasbekar, Sajid Nadiadwala, Radhika Apte, Swapnil Joshi, Rohit Shetty, Sonu Nigam, Taapsee Pannu, Rujuta Diwekar, Masaba Gupta, Shaina NC, Kriti Sanon, Kajol, Malaika Arora, Bhuvan Bam, Jai Shroff, Ayushmann Khurrana, Mahesh Kothare, Sanjay Sethi and many more.
This year, the Lokmat group plans to raise the bar even higher by hosting a night of dazzling splendour that will be rolled out for the who’s who of the entertainment, fashion, business, politics and sports world to enjoy a gala time at this extravaganza.
