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It's A Wrap - Bollywood Movies Go Mobile With
GSM Association, Roamware and Hungama Mobile Initiative
Mobile Bollywood Film Initiative unveiled today in Mumbai
Mumbai, India, January 15, 2007
It's
official - Bollywood is going mobile in a big way. Roamware and Hungama
Mobile, have joined forces with the GSM Association (GSMA) to announce
the launch of a 'Mobile Bollywood Initiative' to create short movies
tailored for mobile devices, taking the world's largest film industry
onto mobile devices all over the globe.
In
conjunction with the GSMA, Hungama Mobile and Roamware have teamed up
with leading Bollywood film maker, Sanjay Gupta, to premiere three
Bollywood short movies for the mobile medium. These films will be
premiered at the GSMA's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which runs
from the 12th to 15th of February 2007. The Congress, the largest
annual mobile event, is expected to attract over 60,000 attendees from
across the global mobile value chain. Bollywood today is the world's
largest movie industry, producing more than 1,000 movies a year with an
audience of more than 2 billion viewers across 127 countries.
The
Mobile Bollywood Initiative builds on the announcement earlier this
month that Roamware has become an exclusive sponsor of the Sundance
Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSM
Association and the Sundance Institute.
"We
are very excited by Roamware and Hungama Mobiles' commitment to bring
the spectacle of Bollywood to mobile phones - the fourth screen - at
the world's most important mobile industry gathering," said Craig
Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSM Association. "The Sundance and Bollywood
communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse
talent in the movie world, and we are delighted to be able to showcase
these extraordinary films in Barcelona. In doing so, we hope to
catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile
users globally."
"Hungama Mobile has
pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world
and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world.
From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to
introduce full features and this project with Sanjay Gupta is a step in
the same direction. Hungama Mobile has worldwide exclusive rights to
over 70% of Bollywood content on the mobile and digital platforms and
this content comes from the world's fastest growing mobile market -
India and the most vibrant film industry. We believe it offers
tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125
countries." said Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Hungama
Mobile.
"We are honoured to be part of
the Sundance Institute and the GSMA's pioneering vision of the
distribution of movies via the mobile phone. Bollywood is a huge force
in the global film market, and we look forward to helping the mobile
industry realise the potential of this partnership," said Bobby
Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.
"Bollywood
is a massive presence in the world movie industry, and South Asia
represents the fastest growing mobile market in the world. I am
thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that has a
promise and the potential to create a whole new distribution model for
Bollywood cinematic entertainment," said Sanjay Gupta, who is well
known for directing several super-hit movies including Kaante and
Musafir. "Our project 'Dus Kahaniyah' has been made keeping the mobile
and digital medium in mind and the fact that today the market for short
films has been given a huge impetus as the quality of video experience
on mobile has improved significantly."
Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry
segments and has an appeal not only for the 140 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 18% of
theatrical business in markets such as UK. Indian films have made it
into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia,
Singapore and South Africa.
About the GSM Association
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade
association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217
countries 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 two billion customers - 82% of
the world's mobile phone users.
See: www.gsmworld.com & www.3gsmworldcongress.com
About Hungama Mobile
Hungama Mobile is the largest aggregator, developer and
publisher of Indian Entertainment Content globally. It has exclusive
worldwide rights to nearly 70% of all Bollywood content for all formats
of mobile and digital 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 networks such as SingTel, O2, Maxis, MTN, Telis etc with
over 70 operators and publishers worldwide.
About Roamware, Inc.
Founded in 2001,
Roamware is the leading and fastest-growing global roaming 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 About Sanjay Gupta Sanjay
Gupta has been responsible for such critical and commercial successes
as Kaante, Musafir and Zinda. He, along with Sanjay Dutt, founded White
Feather Films in 2001. White Feather Films is one of the leading
entertainment companies in India with operations encompassing motion
picture and ad film production. Drawing upon their dynamic production
experience and unique history, Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta have been
providing filmmakers the opportunity to create innovative and ground
breaking cinema that challenges, provokes and inspires. Their
forthcoming releases include the ambitious Dus Kahaniyaan, Hansal
Mehta's tribute to film noir, Woodstock Villa, Apoorva Lakhia's
realistic crime drama, Shootout at Lokhandwala, and an expected film
from Sanjay Gupta, Alibaug.
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