MUMBAI: After 16 weeks of hard core dancing extravaganza, India has chosen Gurmeet Choudhary as the winner of COLORS dance reality show, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa! Gurmeet a novice and stiff dancer wooed the audiences and judges with his macho moves and stylish grooves to become a dancer par excellence. His never say die attitude got him a lot of support from his fans and well-wishers that helped him bag the coveted title. Rashami Desai Sandhu and Rithvik Dhanjani were the first and second runners up respectively. Awarding the winner were our ever inspiring jury, the purrrrfect Madhuri Dixit; blockbuster director Karan Johar; and ace choreographer, Remo D?souza. The grand finale evening not only witnessed some breath taking acts from the three finalists, but also saw two legendary actresses Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi share stage which created an epic moment.

Gurmeet Choudhary was the lone survivor who started his journey of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa from day one. Along with his talented Choreographer Shampa, he showcased some breathtaking performances like robotic hip hop, semi classical moves and international dance forms like Rumba and Paso Doble. The judges were impressed by his dedication, hard work & seamless energy. His performance graph was filled with highs and lows especially after his shoulder injury but under Shampa?s guidance, he bounced back as a fighter. Gurmeet walked away with prize money of Rs. 40 Lakhs and the title of the winner of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa!

When asked, Gurmeet said, ?When I came to Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, I was just an actor but today, I can proudly say that I?m a good dancer too. I?d like to thank my wife Debina for her love & support. And most of all, I would like to thank all my fans and supporters who have stood by me through both the good and the bad times. I am where I am only because of them.?

On the occasion of the Grand Finale, Manisha Sharma, Weekend Programming Head, COLORS said, ?The objective this year was to deliver a never seen before experience of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa for our viewers. We are delighted with the appreciation for the show coming in across demographics and geographies making it the best reality dance show on Indian television.?

Myleeta Aga,General Manager and Creative Head of BBC Worldwide Productions India added,
?The essence of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is making non-dancer celebrities into dancers. Gurmeet?s journey is a fine example of this journey. This season all of the contestants raised the bar of their performances by experimenting with new dance forms and concepts. The jury brought in their own flavour to make this season a memorable and entertaining one.?

With innovative and engaging concepts like dancing to a live band, paying tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema, andgetting paired up for performances with international Dancing with the Stars winners, this season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa stepped out of its zone and fulfilled all the promises by providing the audiences with wholesome entertainment.

New Delhi: Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific has wonfive IPA Effectiveness Awards in 2012 for work from India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. O&M is the only agency in Asia to win any awards in this global competition and the colour of the metal will be revealed at the awards ceremony on 29 October at the Hilton Park Lane, London.

?Winning five awards for our Asia Pacific work is an unprecedented achievement as the IPAs are recognised as the most rigorous awards globally,? said Paul Heath, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific. ?It builds on our history of being the first agency from Asia to win an IPA Award in 2008 for Motorola. My congratulations to the client and agency teams for producing great work that works.?

The accolades go to a range of work including growing chocolate consumption for Cadbury Dairy Milk from Mumbai, India; quadrupling market share in China for Dove; turning anti-smoking into pro-quitting for the Singapore Health Promotion Board; developing the Shangri-La ? it?s in our nature approach that dramatically increased room nights; and making Ta Chong Bank famous which drove increased sales and profitability.

MUMBAI: On this day in the year 1992, Mr. Subhash Chandra pioneered the concept of satellite television in India and Zee TV was born! Zee TV will, this year, complete a glorious run of 20 years entertaining India. As a gesture of gratitude towards viewers for their loyalty and support over 20 years, the channel announces ?Sa Re Ga Ma Pa LIVE?, a series of entertainment nites across India. These entertainment extravaganzas featuring the most memorable singers of Zee TV?s longest-running singing reality show ?Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? and the hottest dancing sensations from India?s top-rated dance reality show ?Dance India Dance? will take the cities of Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Dehradun, Bhopal, Aurangabad, Kanpur and Lucknow by storm all through October!

?Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? is easily the oldest and the most iconic property Zee TV has produced, followed religiously for over 18 years by lovers of music across the world. The show has unearthed and lent India?s music fraternity some of its most prized jewels. ?Dance India Dance?, the only definitive platform for dance on Indian television, continues to enjoy a cult following and remains India?s No. 1 reality show. It has revolutionized dance as an art form and changed the way dance and dancers are perceived in India. Both shows have made superstars out of India?s common man and so the channel has plans of celebrating its 20th birthday with the viewers of India through ?Sa Re Ga Ma Pa LIVE? - concerts that let them interact with their favorite artistes from these two iconic properties.

With a reach of more than 168 countries and access to more than 650 million viewers globally, Zee TV has created strong brand equity and is the largest media franchise serving the South Asian Diaspora. Over the past two decades, Zee TV has driven the growth of the satellite and cable industry in India. It was the first media company to be listed on the national stock exchange.

The popularity of Zee arises from its keen understanding of Indian culture. Since its launch in 1992, Zee TV has been keenly aware of its role as a medium of influencing public perception and introducing societal change. As a result, Zee TV has addressed burning social issues through its programming content from time to time. Be it raising a voice against domestic violence through ?Ghar Ki Lakshmi-Betiyaan?, generating awareness and sensitivity around the issue of autism through ?Aap Ki Antara?, presenting the harsh reality of girl child-trafficking through ?Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo?, questioning public mindsets about women getting remarried through ?Punarvivaah? or enunciating the importance of education amongst women in ?Afsar Bitiya?, Zee TV has pioneered socially relevant television programming.

Zee TV?s shows like ?Saanp Seedi?, ?Antakshari?, ?Hum Paanch?, ?Tara?, ?Gubbare?, ?Astitva ? Ek Prem kahani?, ?Saat Phere?, ?Kasamh Se? and ?Banoo Main Teri Dulhan? were ahead of their time and are remembered even today. They made household names out of actors like Navneet Nishan, Niki Aneja, Mohan Kapoor, Divyanka Tripathi, Rajashree Thakur, Ratan Rajput, Sushant Rajput, Prachi Desai, Ram Kapoor, Ankita Lokhande, Avinash Sachdeva, Rubina Dilaik, Karan V. Grover and Suhasi Dhami. Zee TV?s reality shows made the likes of Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Annu Kapoor, Pallavi Joshi, Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala, Geeta Kapur, Remo D?souza, Terence Lewis, Shakti Mohan, Salman and Dharmesh sir celebrities in their own right! Realizing its strength in programming and the need for Indian entertainment in the overseas market, the company launched Zee TV in the UK / Europe (1995), the USA (1998), Africa (1998) and today is available across five continents, taking Indian entertainment to the World.

So, join ZEE TV in the celebration of its 20th birthday as ?Sa Re Ga Ma Pa LIVE? comes to your city with an explosion of entertainment

MUMBAI: Aircel, one of India?s leading telecom players, today launched a unique contest in association with the much awaited Karan Johar film - Student of the Year. The contest ? ?Buddy of the Year? ? will entitle participants to win a chance to meet the stars of the movie ? Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. This association is a part of one of the many initiatives Aircel is undertaking to support its new proposition ? Limitless ? focused on living a limitless life for the youth.

?Student of the Year? is all about winning the trophy by competing in academics, sports, dance and treasure hunt. The movie has been the most awaited movie of the year and Aircel sees a seamless connect with the movie. Aircel brand is all about giving the youth an opportunity to live his life limitlessly - Limitless friendship, fun/entertainment, games, music, conversations, and a lot more. Taking this proposition forward, Aircel launches Pocket Buddies which enables the youth to savor the taste of limitless conversations with their friends by offering ?limitless? surfing and texting. As a natural extension, Aircel now introduces the ?Buddy of the Year? contest in association with Student of the Year.

Talking about the association, Pritpal Singh Lakkha, Head ? Brand, Aircel, said, ?We are very excited to be associated with Karan Johar?s ?Student of the Year?. In our consistent effort to position Aircel as a young and vibrant brand, this association comes along just right. Student of the Year showcases youth, friendship, music, conversations, which is also the DNA of Aircel. We are continuously vesting our efforts in presenting youth the opportunities which interests them and we are sure that this initiative will be liked by them?.

?Aircel always understood the pulse of the youth and introduce innovative products and services like Pocket Internet, we are confident that a new brand propositions Limitless will resonate with the youth as today?s youth desires limitless friendship, fun, entertainment and opportunities.? He added.

The contest goes live on September 28 and for participating, the contestants need to impress the star cast of the movie. The movie marks the debut of Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. ?Student of the Year? also brings back Karan Johar as a director after My Name is Khan in 2010. The movie is releasing on Oct 19, 2012 and the winners would be announced a week after the release.

Karan Johar, Director - Student of the year and renowned filmmaker, added, ?Student of the Year has been very exciting and challenging part of my career. The youth today are so confident and so sure of what their goals are. Aircel as a brand believes in empowering the youth and I believe the association between the two is a natural fit. The contest is an extension of the film where youngsters will compete against each other to win a chance to meet the film star cast. We are excited and looking forward to a great association.?

Aircel is amongst India?s leading mobile internet company with a Pan-India presence that has enabled affordable access to customized voice and data services. Aircel?s focus on data driven services and the company?s introduction of the concept of PocketInternet revolutionised data usage and mobilised young India to take the next step towards going online.

New Delhi: The e-commerce industry in India has been growing at an average of 55 percent year on year for the past four years and 7.4 million users have purchased either products or services online.

The global revenue through on-line shopping is expected to grow from $ 1.6 billion this year to $ 6.8 billion by 2016.

Indiantimes Shopping COO Subhanker Sarker told indiantelevision.com that although it was way behind China in online shopping, India was the fast growing in this field in Asia.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the launch of the Godrej Home appliances shopping on indiantimes.com, he said only thirty per cent of those who shopped online in India preferred to pay cash on delivery with the present satisfied by using their credit cards. In fact, he said more frauds happened offline than online. He said a special password would be given to those who go through Shopping.Indiatimes.com to shop on shop.godrejappliances.com.

He admitted that indiatimes had taken minority equity in Godrej applicances but refused to give any figures.

Speaking at the press meet later, he said around 111 million Indians had gone online sometime or another for shopping while 70 million were online everyday.

He clarified that the tie-up with Godrej was based on commission-basis and not revenue-based.

Mr. Kamal Nandi, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Godrej Appliances said unlike other internet shopping sites, every product had a link to a video which helped the viewer to see and examine the way the product functions. Sarker added that videos were more expressive than catalogues.

Nandi expressed the hope that the online shopping site will help Godrej appliances to move from a Rs 600 million industry to a Rs One billion industry. He said there were more than 500 products on the site and servicing will be done by 31 depots in the country.

Mr. Ramesh Chembath, Assistant Vice President, Marketing, said India had a 10.2 per cent internet penetration of which 60 per cent used portals to shop. He said the target generally was women in the age group of 25 to 35.

Given the huge potential of the e-commerce industry, Godrej Appliances are targeting to grow its online business at more than 150% year on year.

MUMBAI: Primetime International Services Pvt Ltd , a leading media marketing company celebrates 10 years of its association with Sony Entertainment Network channels in the International markets for their airtime sales. The Sony Entertainment Network?s bouquet of channels in the international markets includes the flagship Hindi GEC channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET), the family oriented comedy channel SAB and the blockbuster movie channel MAX.

Sony?s International feed covers all major NRI markets such as US, Canada, UK, Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand etc, Fiji and Caribbean Islands. The channel has been one of the earliest entrants into the international markets and has one of the best established distribution networks being present on almost all the major networks The content of the channel also caters to the more urban and progressive audiences which makes it apt for the NRI audiences vis-?-vis competition.. The channel also undertakes a lot of local marketing initiatives to promote its channels and properties in the local markets.

In light of Primetime?s long association with the channel, Mr. Tanmay Srivastav Vice President International Business Sony said, "Sony has partnered with Primetime since our early days in the international markets. The fact that we continue to have such along-standing relationship speaks volumes of our association with Primetime. We have a very comfortable relationship and fully appreciate Primetime?s efforts into making SEN one of the biggest Indian networks in the international markets.

Mr. Jenish Shah, VP International Sales Primetime India commented," Our experience with Sony has beenfantastic. We have grown from strength to strength with the channel. We plan to increase ourmarket share with presence in smaller markets likePunjab, East and some part of South. We plan to open representative offices in these regions to increase market coverage. We also want to leverage on properties like KBC to help tap new clients on board thus improving our shares. Sony has also been delivering in India which is another testimonial for clients to spend on the channel. "

Primetime?s plans to become a one-stop solution for International markets for clients based in India. Their aim is to not only provide media reach in the international markets on large TV platforms but also to provide customized solutions to advertisers.