Bollywood Goes Mobile
Bollywood Goes Mobile
Barcelona Launch Sees World's Largest Film Industry Opening on the Small Screen
BARCELONA, February 12/PRNewswire/ -- The world's largest film industry joined forces with the
global mobile communications world today in spectacular fashion - as
Bollywood premiered its first feature films for mobile viewers at the 3GSM
World Congress (February 12-15) in Barcelona.
The Congress marks the start of the adaptation of thousands of
vibrant Bollywood productions for the mobile screen - a development that
could have a huge impact on the global mobile entertainment market, already
worth some US$23 billion.(i)
The Bollywood Mobile Initiative is driven by Roamware, the
global leader in roaming and mobile connectivity solutions; Hungama Mobile,
the world's largest aggregator, developer and publisher of Indian
entertainment and Bollywood content; Sanjay Gupta, a leading Bollywood
director; and the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for
mobile operators.
Roamware's Media Call technology is providing the capability
to integrate the cinematic content into the everyday mobile experience for
film fans.
"Media Call redefines mobile communications from voice to
visual media, enabling the sharing and promotion of film clips to accelerate
the growth of the mobile movie market," said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of
Roamware.
Two Bollywood short films "Zahir" & "Matriomony" were
premiered in Barcelona today. These films are a part of the feature film 'Dus
Kahaniyaan' (10 Stories) produced by Sanjay Gupta of White Feather Films,
starring more than 20 leading Bollywood stars including Dia Mirza, Suneil
Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Neha Mandira Bedi, Aftab Shivdasani and many others.
Sanjay Gupta is one of Bollywood's leading filmmakers who has produced and
directed many hugely popular movies such as Kaante, Musafir and Zinda.
The films demonstrate the viral potential for Bollywood movies
on the 'fourth screen' - the mobile device. Set pieces with action and
dialogue scenes interspersed with song and dance make the vibrant, fast
moving movies a compelling entertainment experience for the mobile viewer.
"Bollywood today is the world's largest movie industry,
producing more than a thousand movies a year with an audience of more than
two billion viewers across 127 countries. Formatting that content for the
mobile audience and ensuring simplicity of delivery and accessibility
provides staggering reach and revenue possibilities," said Srinivasan.
"The GSMA is delighted to welcome the stars and directors from
the Bollywood world to the world's largest mobile event," said Bill Gajda,
Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. "We are excited by the tremendous
potential for Bollywood entertainment on mobile phones, and delighted to
support the efforts of Roamware and Hungama Mobile in their commitment to
bringing a rich array of Indian film entertainment to the fourth screen for a
global audience of millions."
"India is the fastest growing market in the mobile world, and
the world's fourth largest market. It has the potential to be the largest
market globally by 2010. It is the most logical market from which to launch
the mobile movie industry and present a brand new avenue of cinematic
entertainment for mobile users everywhere. The potential is truly amazing.
Hungama Mobile has already launched a Bollywood channel directly on operator
decks around the world in nearly 30 countries, with over 70 operators. This
channel contains music, imagery, video and games from Bollywood. Showcasing
Bollywood movies on mobile is a natural extension both as a tremendous new
marketing opportunity as also revenue for all the stakeholders," said Neeraj
Roy, Managing Director & CEO, Hungama Mobile.
Hungama Mobile's content assets and a two year foray in taking
Bollywood to the mobile world, coupled with Roamware's global reach, holds
huge promise for the mobile market. The dramatic evolution of communications
technology, from download speeds and battery life to compact form factors,
screen sizes and resolution, as well as memory enhancements, means mobile
devices are now capable of delivering a compelling, high quality and uniquely
personal viewing experience.
Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry
segments and has an appeal not only for the 150 million mobile phone users in
India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in
over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 16.5% of theatrical business in
markets such as the UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in
markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa. More
than 3.6 billion admission tickets are sold each year, across the world and
now Hungama Mobile and Roamware will take this to some 2.5 billion mobile
screens.
About the GSM Association
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing
more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 countries and
territories of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and
suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless
services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to
individual customers and national economies, while creating new business
opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members
serve more than 2 billion customers - more than 80% of the world's mobile
phone users.
About Hungama Mobile
Hungama Mobile is the largest aggregator, developer and publisher of
Indian Entertainment and Bollywood content globally. It has exclusive
worldwide rights to nearly 70% of all Bollywood content for all formats of
mobile and digital and IP rights. Hungama Mobile has today over 100 content
alliances with leading Bollywood, Hollywood and TV studios. Hungama Mobile is
the exclusive worldwide licensee to Sony Pictures International for 21
countries, including titles such as James Bond, Spiderman etc.
Hungama Mobile is the only company in the world that has created a mobile
and digital distribution platform for Bollywood content in over 30 countries.
Today it runs a dedicated channel with over 70 operators and publishers
worldwide. www.hungamamobile.com
About Roamware
Founded in 2001, Roamware is the leading and fastest-growing global
roaming & value added solutions provider, servicing more than 250 networks in
over 100 countries servicing 700 million + mobile consumers globally. For
more information on Roamware, please visit www.roamware.com
(i) Source: Informa
Source: GSM Association
For further information please contact: For the GSM Association: Mark Smith or David Pringle, Tel: +44-7850-229-724 / +44-795-755-6069 or press@gsm.org; For Hungama Mobile: Vaishali Killawala at Hanmer & Partners, Tel : +91-98196-30256 or vaishali@hanmerpr.com; For Roamware: Helen Hopkins at Companycare Communications, Tel: +44-7977505-288 or roamware@companycare.com
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