Discussion - SHAKIRA

UTV, India's leading, integrated Media & Entertainment Company and Astro Measat, the Malaysia based media company announces the launch of Brand Bindass, India's first local 360* entertainment brand for young India.

Brand Bindass is a celebration of being young in India and is all about being Fun, Frank, Fearless and valuing Freedom in all its forms. It is India's first 360 degree entertainment venture across television channels, mobile channel, web, gaming, merchandising, retail & nation wide ground events.

The initial rollout will be with the launch of Bindass -, a Hindi General Entertainment Channel for Young India. Programming of Bindass - will reflect the brand values with focus on genres like Action, Comedy and Thriller. To highlight our key driver shows-'Shakira', a thriller series introducing India's first female action-hero. Shakira is a form of 'Shakti' and an embodiment of justice. The show is a celebration of today's empowered woman and is a primetime show. 'Lagegi', the driver show of the channel is India's first ever stand-up comedy act performed before a live audience. The show will be shot 48 hours before telecast and is a take on current issues affecting young India. 'Sun Yaar Chill Maar', a comedy show on the life of 5 friends in college. It is a laugh riot that strikes an instant chord with anyone who has ever attended college, is in college or will attend college. To add to the spice, the programming is peppered with extreme sports, action, edge-of-the-seat thrillers, horror shows, spoofs, street magic, slapstick comedy and over 100 international movies.

Brand Bindass will also be present in the virtual world with 'www.bindass.com', a platform for our online users to connect with our brand, its values as well as our on-air shows; 'www.lagegi.com', India's first comedy portal, created for the driver show, Lagegi. This website will eventually be a stand-alone online comedy destination for young India.

For Bindass on mobile, Bindass has tied up with leading mobile operators for its own short code, 59995 to provide original show driven content, Bindass comedy, street magic, sitcoms, standup comedy and thrillers on mobile. Other mobile features will also include Bindass-Buddy on cell phone, signature ring tones, downloads and auctions reflecting the true spirit of the brand. UTV's alliance with Indiagames, India's #1 mobile and online gaming company, will power the youth with some of the world's best games

In its second phase, Bindass will foray into the retail segment with its own Bindass cafs. The dcor, music, food and ambience of the cafe will reflect the brand values of Bindass. Bindass will also simultaneously roll out into the merchandising domain, extending its interface with young India. It will also include the launch of multiple channels across languages in India and Southeast Asia. Scheduled for launch in mid 2007, Brand Bindass has an outlay of Rs.270 crores.