iWorld
ZEE5’s latest tentpole ‘Rangbaaz’ to be dubbed in all major Indian languages
MUMBAI: ZEE5, the OTT platform from the Zee group, has launched its second tentpole show Rangbaaz and has intentions of dubbing it in several Indian languages. ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial said it will release the show in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam by January.
Katial also added that the target audience of this show is the millennial age group of 18 to 34. “This series has a fair amount of true-to-life engagement of the fact that how the youth can get betrayed by politics of the day and how they get swayed because of power and glamour and tend to lose life amongst that. While the story is of the '90s, it continues to happen day in and day out, without having found a solution here or anywhere in the world,” he commented on the show.
Produced by JAR Pictures, Rangbaaz will premiere globally across 190 countries on 22 December. Inspired by real-life events, the nine-episode web series shows the journey of one of the most feared gangsters from Uttar Pradesh in the 90s.
From series to films, ZEE5 has laid its hands over various type of original content in the last few months. Katial said in 2019 it wants to stay ahead of the race with digital originals while the volume is going to be bigger from what audience has seen in this year. He also mentioned that 2018 was the rising point of digital content in India given the volume, variety of stories, different characters came through this year from several platforms.
The second biggest show of ZEE5 after Karenjit Kaur-An Untold Story will also have promotional backing in the form of a 360-degree campaign. Talking about the marketing strategy ZEE5 India business head Manish Aggarwal said, “We are doing interesting innovations in partnership with Google and Facebook where we are closely working with their in-house teams to create assets for Rangbaaz that we can leverage. That's also an industry first measure.”
The platform will focus mostly on digital and outdoor marketing for this show. The outdoor campaign will run in the top six cities of the country. On digital it will use influencer platforms like YouTube, Facebook and the social media assets of ZEE5. There will be innovations in print medium as well as radio campaigns. Along with these common strategies, it will also do on-ground activities for creating buzz.
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
