News Broadcasting
Star Movies ties up with MAMI for 3rd year in a row
MUMBAI: Star Movies has again chosen to be associated with the Sixth International Film Festival that kicks off in Mumbai tomorrow.
The highlight of this year’s event is the Chinese film, Warriors of Heaven & Earth which will inaugurate the festival. The music for the film has been composed by noted musician A R Rehman. Principal secretary, cultural affairs, Maharashtra government, Govind Swaroop says the festival would not have been possible without the support provided by Star Movies that has tied up with the festival for the third time in a row. “It is their love of good movies that brings them in each year”, says Swaroop, pointing out that the association does not proffer any commercial gain for the channel.
The festival will be inaugurated on Thursday by Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and actor-director Aparna Sen will be the guest of honour. Filmmakers Vijay Anand and veteran composer Naushad Ali will be felicitated for their contribution to Indian cinema with Lifetime Achievement Award and Outstanding Contribution to Film Music Award respectively. 80 films from 28 countries will be screened in this 7-day international event.
Manish Jha’s Matrubhoomi, which won the FIPRESCI Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival will be the closing film of the Festival on 27 November 2003.
For the first time at the festival, a competition for Indian Feature Films will be held for which 13 entries have already been received, according to Swaroop. This jury will be headed by veteran writer Vijay Tendulkar. The other members of the jury will come from France, Italy & Switzerland.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
