MAM
Sony pictures to build up magic for next Disney venture ‘Finding Nemo’
MUMBAI: Sony pictures has lined up a surprise for tiny tots this Diwali. A Sony Picture Entertainment release in India, Finding Nemo is scheduled to debut on 24 October 2003 across theaters in India in English and Hindi. In order to create Sony Pictures plans to create marketing buzz around the animation movie, which made huge waves at the US box office with a US$71 million, including ground activities targeted the kids and their parents.
The distributors have planned an all India school campaign targeting parent teachers associations, principals and kids. They have dispatched thematic mailers on Nemo stressing on the father son relationship and family values, in form of coloring slides. Kids are encouraged to write about their own Nemo like experiences and screenings of the film. The in Theatre activities started from Hritik Roshan starrer Koi Mil Gaya targeting the kids and parents.
Few contest were organised in association with Tinkle Magazine to solve the nemo puzzle and win prizes, which also required parents involvement. The whole idea was to involve the mom / dad along with the kid.
Besides there are contest held at 100 retail outlets from 17 -31 October. Contest are held in association with Cafe Coffe Day, Funkie Orbits & Satyam that started on 17 October. In addition, ‘buy Nemo- Tickets and get a Sunday Icedream’ contest in association with Mcdonalds is currently on. There are contest held at Satyam cinema.
Apart from the ground promotions, there are contest running on Radio Mirchi FM 98.3 and Radio City FM 91 and an SMS contest on orange. Finding Nemo contest will also be held on sites like mantraonline and hindustantimes.
The campaigns kickstarted with the official premiere at the prestigious International Film Festival of India 2003.
From the Academy Award-winning creators of Toy Story, A Bugs Life and Monster Inc, Finding Nemo tells the comedic and eventful tale of two fish – the overly cautious Marlin and his curious son Nemo – who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef. Buoyed by the companionship of Dory, a friendly but forgetful fish, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son – who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home.
Co-written and directed by Oscar-nominee Andrew Stanton, Finding Nemo sets a new mark for the art and technology of computer animation with its incredible underwater world populated with memorable characters. Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney, Brad Garret, Barry Humphries, Alexander Gould are featured in the talented voice “cast”.
SPE Films India director Uday Singh said, “After having broken box office records internationally, Nemo is finally here to make waves with Indian audiences. Even though Nemo is a complete fantasy, it’s based on things that are familiar to audiences. The father-son relationship, going to school for the first time – these are things everyone understands. Keeping in mind this universal theme, we are dubbing this movie in Hindi and giving the masses a chance to experience the Disney magic.”
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
