iWorld
Amazon Prime blends East, West in ‘The Remix’
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video wants to hit the right chords with the music lovers of India. Its latest and third Indian original prime show The Remix wants to grab the eye of the music-loving spirit of the nation. It is a spin-off challenge between DJs and singers to blend Indian and western music beats including regional songs. The Remix will launch as a 10 episode series starting 9 March 2018, with two episodes launching together followed by one every week.
Till now, music reality shows were restricted to the television but this time it will be a digital-only appearance. The show is created and produced by Greymatter Entertainment while T-Series is the music partner. The success of previous showsInside Edge and Breathe gave Amazon the spirit to come up with a new one in a short time.
In the new show, according to Amazon Prime Video India director-content Vijay Subramaniam, popular music will be re-imagined by singers and DJ duos, which has never been attempted in the space of reality. He said, “With The Remix, we’ve taken two things that Indian customers have told us they love – reality TV and Bollywood music and made a unique show that we hope will appeal to the whole family. With the launch of this show, we are set to give 10 dynamic musical duos an opportunity to present their unique talent to a global audience.”
He goes on to say that today is the era of fusion and music was the perfect medium to launch an unscripted original series. “With ambient sound and Indian instruments coming together we feel The Remix as a show will perfectly reflect the blend,” he highlighted.
Amazon will follow the same release format like Breathe. The strategy of releasing Breathe on weekly basis has worked out well with Amazon according to Subramaniam. “The staggered release allows more consumers to come in and engage over a period of time versus binge watch,” he said.
The multimedia marketing campaign will soon commence but Subramaniam believes that since the show is about music, there will be much activity on social media.
The contestants of the show will be judged by popular singer Sunidhi Chauhan, national award winning music composer Amit Trivedi, and king of the DJ console Nucleya, while the element of humor will be added by Karan Tacker as the host of this digital reality series.
The contestants of the show are a mix of singers and DJs. Among the singers, they have Anirudh Bhola, Rashmeet Kaur, Sreerama Chandra, Rupali Jagga, Thomson Andrews, Prakriti Kakar, Akasa Singh, Sonam Topden, Yash Narvekar and Manasi Scott. And, in the talented DJs, they have Megha Kawale, SuReal, Candice Redding, Nawed Khan, NSG, Kiran Kamath, Skip, Rink, Kryll and Akhil Talreja.
The competition features fusions of multiple genres of music from trap mixed with bhangra, to future bass mixed with East Asian sounds, from blues to desi beats and much more. The contestants explore different themes like ambient sounds, retro remixes, live instrumentation, sounds of India, global beats and more in each episode. Over the course of ten episodes, one team will be crowned the winner who will walk away with a booty of Rs 50 lakh.
The Remix is the second original releasing in 2018 after Breathe and Amazon is planning to launch 10 originals in all this year.
Amazon is keen to creep into every aspect of what makes an Indian viewer tick and it is leaving no stone unturned for it.
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Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
