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MUMBAI: Anil Ambani has kickstarted his home entertainment business. Soon after
appointing Kulmeet Makkar as CEO of Big Music and Home Entertainment, ADAG has
announced the acquisition of Bollywood film Cash (directed by Anubhav Singha
of Dus fame) and Tamil movie Kireedam for music and home video rights. A
broad plan is being worked out for growing the home video and music business.
Makkar says the route to acquire and distribute music content would be either
through a buyout or a joint venture with music companies.
An
important piece of the strategy would be to initially focus
on movies across 10-11 Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu,
Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali apart from Hindi and English.
The company is also planning to have presence across regions
to create, acquire and distribute locally relevant content
and artists.
The
sourcing of filmed entertainment content for home video and
music would also be provided by Adlabs Films which is majority
owned by ADAG.
Big
Music and Home Entertainment will handle Bollywood and mainstream
non-film content which includes physical delivery, digital
platforms like internet, mobile networks and radio network.
Apart
from films and music, Big Music and Home Entertainment is
also planning to roll out a division for new music talent
with an objective to provide a platform to fresh and existing
artists on a long term basis. The division will be responsible
for managing artists' careers, album launches and events.
Cash, the company's first Bollywood deal, would be
premeired in Big 92.7 FM radio.
Big
FM has planned seven to 10 days of special programmes to promote the film. The
station began with a six day build up of the music for Cash through teasers
and countdown spots prior to the premiere of the music album. The
promotional activities to be conducted include music director and singers interviews
on the making of the songs along with on-air contests and auto-graphed music CD
of the film and studio visits by the stars. The
station will also feature a comic on-air character 'Cash-to Mukherjee' - as a
pun on the movie, giving tips to listeners on 'How to make more Cash' and on investment
of funds. He will also evoke confessions by listeners on any act of robbery that
they would have done in their lives (in line with the theme of the movie).
The
RJ's will rope in the stars of the film for some candid conversations
on their association with the movie.
Other
music rights that Big Music and Home Entertainment has acquired
include Salman Khan's international film Marigold and
two films of Adlabs, Prakash Jha's Dil Dosti etc
and Khoya Khoya Chand.
Says Makkar, "Cash is the first mainstream Bollywood
release on Reliance ADAG's new music and home video division
under the brand name of Big Music and Home Entertainment.
We are thrilled with the music created by this team of Anubhav
Sinha and Vishal Shekhar who delivered a musical blockbuster
Dus last year. The initial response from trade and
our partners on our cash campaign so far is very encouraging.
We are also extremely delighted with the support planned for
us on Cash by Big FM in the weeks to come."
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