MUMBAI: Zubin Mehta is coming to India next month to perform at a concert with the famous & most talented musician Placido Domingo and the finest Orchestra of the world ? The Vienna Philharmonic. Catch master conductor Zubin talk about this and more in an exclusive interview to NDTV 24x7.

Watch Zubin in a candid chat on his life, music and his days soaking in the sights, sounds and smell of India.

"I‘ve still not gotten used to western food, and chillies are my saviour... The chillies are not Indian, of course. I get whatever hot chillies I can lay hands on. You know for instance they have these dinners after concerts and sponsors?you know what kind of food you get there...that‘s when chillies save me," said Zubin Mehta on his taste for things Indian. He goes on to describe his love for Indian food and how he misses speaking Gujarati.

MUMBAI: CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards 2008 was held in Mumbai today to felicitate India‘s most preferred brands. The ceremony was presided over by esteemed luminaries like Sharad Pawar - Hon. Minister of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Praful Patel - Hon. Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr. Vaidyanathan - Executive Director, ICICI Bank.

Leading research organisation ‘The Nielsen Company‘ conducted the research spanning 17 product and service categories across the country in 21 cities and 84 rural centres, with around 10,000 respondents covering all strata of society - voicing their opinion about their most preferred brands.
Keeping the brand perspective in mind, most companies have now started exploring lucrative opportunities in rural market and are making their brands available in these areas, as trends indicate that these rural markets are coming up in a big way and growing twice as fast as the urban ones. However, to tap these markets, the companies must communicate with their audiences in Hindi as it happens to be a major driving force for mass communication.

CNBC AWAAZ, India‘s No.1 Business Channel has been a pioneer in the Hindi business and consumer channel segment and has always captured the pulse of the market. Hindi as a language is witnessing increasing attention from advertisers. This phenomenon was discussed at an interactive session at ‘CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards 2008‘. Another discussion that gained a lot of audience participation was about consumer perspective on ‘Brand India‘. The discussions were hosted by the dynamic duo of Anuradha Sen Gupta - editor-anchor of CNBC-TV18‘s flagship feature show "Storyboard" and Prasoon Joshi- Chairman (Asia Pacific) - McCann-Erickson.

Commenting on the CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards, Mr. Neel Chowdhury, Vice President, Marketing CNBC-TV18 and CNBC AWAAZ said: "The marketers who understand the rural consumer and fine tune their strategy are sure to reap benefits in the coming years. In fact, the leadership in any product or service is linked to leadership in rural India. That is why CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards laid special emphasis on rural areas, with a quest to figure out India‘s most preferred brands. Over the years CNBC AWAAZ continues to be the Voice of the Indian Consumer by adding new insights to its awards every year".

MUMBAI: Intrigue, suspense, assassinations rules this September festival.

Different spices have different ways of tricking the protagonist. Be it sexy Angelina Jolie, Unruffled yet Calculative Jet Li, Kung Fu antics of Jackie Chan, Vengeful vendetta of Uma Thurman: a whole spectrum of the best of spies and assassins will thrill you this September on Bindass Movies.

If you think this is enough to hold up to wait as with Saturday XL cult and blockbuster movies- heating up Bindass movies extravaganza coming in October. As the new version of Batman and Joker have set the screens ablaze this season the original Joker Jack Nicholson terrorizes Gotham with his madness. As Adam Sandler comes to earth leaving his father- the satan, and as red headed Lola redefines action in Cult blockbuster Run Lola Run ? the final Sat XL this September is the second and final volume of Kill Bill- the movie which rewrote the rules of action saga.

We wanted our viewers to get electrified by action, drama hence we are encoding the Hollywood Hottest Spies and Assassins Festival this month along with world class movies being premiered on our channel to spice up the season", says Mansi Sapre,Head of Programming and Acquisition Bindass Movies.

MUMBAI: Vh1, India‘s only international music and lifestyle channel and Rayban, jointly present Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress. Conceptualized by Vh1, Global Music Xpress is India‘s biggest music initiative ever! Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress will be bringing down artistes and music from around the globe for LIVE performances every 45 days - 2 months, starting with popular British R&B artist Jay Sean! Jay Sean kick started his India tour in Mumbai today and will continue to entice audiences in Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad on the 26th, 27th and 28th respectively.

Winner of the 2008 UK Asian Music Awards for Best Video (Ride it) and Best Urban Act, this British singer and song writer from London started his career in 2003 with his first single ‘Dance with you‘ in collaboration with Rishi Rich and Juggy D. He has released 2 albums Me Against Myself (2004) and My Own Way (2008) along with five top 20 hits in the UK Singles Chart. Best known for his hits "Stolen", "Eyes On You" and his latest char topper "Ride It", Jay Sean is tipped to be the first British Asian to finally make the cross over into main stream R&B. Jay Sean has been nominated for 2 awards at this years Mobo‘s in October, one of UK‘s premier music awards Best R & B Soul Act and Best UK Male Solo Act.‘ Jay Sean‘s latest album ‘My Own Way‘ is released by E.M.I. and is now available in all leading music stores.

Says Jay Sean "I‘m super excited about coming to India again and spending a week touring India, specially places like Hyderabad where I haven‘t been in a while. I look forward to meeting all my fans and friends in India and playing some of my new music from my new album ‘My Own Way‘. Thanks to Vh1 and Rayban for giving me the opportunity to come and have some more fun in India."

Speaking on the initiative Ferzad Palia, Associate General Manager, Vh1 India says "We are extremely excited to partner with Rayban for this initiative. With Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress, we aim to present the best musicians and artists live to our audiences and make them part of a truly world-class musical experience. So, music lovers, get ready to be treated to different artistes and their unique style of music each time."

On the association, Sudhanshu Arora, Marketing Manager, Ray-Ban Sun Optics India Ltd. says, "Ray Ban carries with itself a legacy of being associated with the best across various fields, be it movies, fashion or music. Ray Ban & Vh1 Global Music Xpress is part of carrying forward this legacy and exposing music aficionados to the best talent across all genres of music."

Viacom Brand Solutions, Viacom18‘s marketing vehicle created this unique platform that will utilize Vh1‘s international music expertise to position Rayban as a cool brand.

Aditya Swamy, Senior Vice President, Viacom Brand Solutions, says, "Live entertainment is growing rapidly and is striking a powerful chord with young people. Leveraging the international Viacom system we are creating a sustainable long term platform for Rayban which can become synonymous with this genre of entertainment. 6 artists, 24 gigs, 9 months?promoted extensively through visibility across our networks channels & websites, on ground promotions and high impact publicity will ensure we make Rayban Vh1 GMX a success in the very first year of its launch. Our partners can effectively leverage this platform to strengthen the connect with their consumers."

MUMBAI: ZoOm, India‘s premier Bollywood channel, just got hotter with the launch of a host of new programmes which shot up its ratings in only four weeks.

According to TAM data for Week 33, C&S, AB 15-35, HSM 1 Mn+, ZoOm stood at 26 GRPs. With launch of four new shows in consecutive weeks, namely, Zabar10, Stars Ke Sitaare, Planet Bollywood and Idea Bollywood Club, ZoOm‘s GRP has shown a steady increase touching a high of 35 GRP‘s in week 37.

According to M.K.Anand, Business Head, ZoOm, "The new programming on ZoOm has been conceptualized after extensive research on Bollywood and the kind of Bollywood content that is available to viewers today. The ratings show that our efforts have been successful."

And that‘s not all! ZoOm has a lot more in store for every Bollywood fan. As part of the new programming, the channel will soon launch, Bollywood Biographies- which will give viewers an in-depth insight into the lives of their favourite stars, Page 3 Xtreme, which will be your daily dose of parties, events and Bollywood happenings in the city and Bollywood Case Files, wherein you play detective and investigate the biggest scandals of fBollywood.

So keep watching ZoOm- your all access pass to Bollywood!