Finalists of Indywood Talent Hunt 2019 competition to perform live during next year T10 Cricket League...

24-12-2019: Indywood Talent Hunt 2019 – UAE edition received overwhelming at Dubai from both students and colleges across the country. The Grand finale of the competition was organized at Amity University from December 2 – 3, 2019.

Organized by Aries Group of Companies in association with Biz Events Management, Indywood Talent Hunt was also supported by various multinational business organizations in the UAE who are also the members of Indywood Entertainment Consortium.

On this occasion, Forbes listed billionaire and T10 league founder Mr. Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman, Mulk Holdings, the honorable guest and Sponsor of ITH 2019 announced an incredible opportunity for Top 3 winners of Talent Hunt. “I am very happy to announce our partnership with Indywood Talent Hunt, whereby the Top 3 winners of this competition will be given a live stage in the stadium and telecast live around the world. This is a recognition of the talent here I am sure competition here will benefit by from a global exposure.”, Mulk said during his speech a the event.

Indywood Talent Hunt, the biggest youth cultural festival in the UAE organized competitions in 23 different categories including Music, Dance, Fine Arts, Dramatics, Designs & Creative, Media, Quizzing, Photography, Film Making & Technical competition etc. Showcasing their exceptional talents, students from over 400+ music and arts institutions across the UAE participated. The Grand Finale of Indywood Talent Hunt shall also witness a magical musical performance by Guinness Book of World Records Holder and renowned Keyboardist, Stephan Devassy on December 3rd, 2019.

Indywood Talent Hunt is India’s premiere talent discovery platform to identify creative young Indians and guide them properly to the Indian Film Industry from the campus / school level itself while providing an opportunity for the shortlisted ones to get exposed to the Film Industry during Indywood Film Carnival and perform in front of the Professional Film Fraternity so that the best among them can get a direct entry to the film world without any conventional hurdles.

Gandhibhavan Trust Honours Sohan Roy with Sathyan National Film Award...

The award of the Sathyan National Film Award by the Gandhi Bhavan Trust, named after the great actor Sathyan of Malayalam, will be presented to Hollywood director, poet and founder chairman of Aries Group of companies Sohan Roy. The award is in recognition of Sohan Roy’s contribution to the world film industry. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will present the Award to Sohan Roy at 4 pm on January 14, 2020.

Sohan Roy is the founder director of Indywood, a 10 billion U.S.dollar project. His tireless efforts in promoting Indian cinema to global standards are notable for the Indian cinema Industry. Also, a lots of artists have made their way into cinema through Indywood.

Indian Movies Scotland And Josef Make Way Into 92nd Oscar by Kerala based All Lights Film Services – ALFS...

Indian movies are known worldwide for their value content and quality. This has helped them conquer many Indian as well as international platforms too. This year two movies which has made its way into the 92nd Oscar. ‘Scotland’ has made its way into the 92nd Oscar Best Picture contention list, directed by Manish Vatssalya and the another one ‘Josef’. Produced by a Mariner and retired international civil servant, Capt. Ashok Mahapatra under the banner UA Kathachitra Pvt. Ltd found its place in the 92nd Oscar contention list. Both the movies, in all 344 feature films, were supported by Kerala based All Lights Film Services (ALFS) which helped in getting through the first step towards this coveted fame.

Scotland

‘Scotland’ till date has won around 61 International Awards and recognitions for its bold theme and exceptional presentation. The film narrates the story of a father who becomes a brutal life snatcher to give justice to his rape victim daughter when law and order fails to do so. The movie stars Adam Saini, Khushboo Purohit, Chetan Pandit, Daya Shankar Pandey and Manish Vatssalya in pivotal roles.

Debutant Adam Saini, who has served with the Scottish police, plays the protagonist. He has been bestowed with 7 international awards for his performance in Scotland. The film has been produced by Zaina Ibourek (British-Moroccan) and Manish Vatssalya under the banner of Mars UK Films Ltd and Vatssalya Films.

Josef – Born in Grace

‘Josef – Born in Grace’ has found its place in the 92nd Oscar contention list, after a grand reception at IFFI – Film Bazaar this year. This is UA Kathachitra’s first film. The movie stars Victor Banerjee (National Award winner & BAFTA nominee), Subrat Dutta (Best Actor – Cairo Film Festival), and Sudarshan Juyal in pivotal roles. The movie is directed by National Award Winner Susant Misra (Indradhanura Chhai, Biswaprakash, & Dharini) whose movies have been screened in some of the most prestigious festivals across the world, including Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Cairo, Rotterdam, Sochi (Grand Prix Winner), Moscow, and Montreal. He is joined by National Award Winner Sudheer Palsane (Ko: Yad – The Silent Way, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali) for cinematography, and National Award Winner Sukant Panigrahy (Dev D, Ek Tha Tiger, Drishyam) for art direction. UA Kathachitra also aims to promote fresh talent. In this film that includes Hitesh Bisht, Anamika Goswani, and Deepica Elizabeth Lakra in the cast. Vaidehi Krishnan on her debut as the Costume Designer does full justice to the theme and period of the film.

‘Josef – Born in Grace’ is an adaptation of a short story, ‘Joseph’, written by Umakanta Mahapatra and is set in the Himalayas between 1960 and 1980 in India. Father O’Hara (Victor Banerjee), a missionary doctor with the help of his caretaker Maularam (Sudarshan Juyal), raises an orphan baby Josef (Hitesh Bisht). While still a young boy, Joseph is sent to Dehradun for his studies and vocational training. Josef (Subrat Dutta) returns back with a reputation as a great cook as well as his love for alcohol.

The film explores in its unfolding of time, the different paths that Father O’Hara, Josef, and Maularam take in their respective journeys for spiritual fulfilment through memories, duty, and search as well as their interaction with friends and acquaintances. Through static mise-en-scene, the narrative of the film reflects the all-encompassing nature of time, preempting and repeating itself in allegorical hues.

All Lights Film Services

All Lights Film Services is a Kerala basedpremier consultancy service provider which helps filmmakers to ‘GO GLOBAL’. Till date ALFS has taken many regional movies from India to various international arenas, including Oscars to open up new opportunities and exposure. ALFS is a part of 10 billion U.S. dollar project Indywood.

“I feel extremely proud that this year too ALFS has been able to take 2 very interesting movie projects from India to the Oscars. Till this date we have been able to make the dreams of many filmmakers, to become internationally recognised, a reality and we hope to continue the same in the future as well.”  Said ALFS founder and Indywood CEO Sohan Roy.

Indywood Talent Hunt Dubai Chapter Kick Starts

Dubai: UAE’s biggest youth festival, organized by Aries Group of Companies in association with Biz Events was inaugurated today. This two-day event was inaugurated by Mr. Sohan Roy, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Aries Group of Companies at Dubai Amity School.
This inauguration kick started the grand finale of Indywood Talent Hunt 2019.  The winners in music, dance, photography, fine arts, filmmaking, designing, quiz, technical, dramatics and creative media sections will compete during this two-day event.
Students from more than 400 music and arts schools in the UAE competed in the preliminary rounds and the winners were qualified to the semi-final rounds. Indywood Talent Hunt is the largest ever public verdict based youth festival in the history of the UAE’s festivities, which is about one million people. The finalists were selected based on public participation, online voting, YouTube’s acceptance of contestant videos, and the scores provided by expert jurors. Winners name information available at www.indywoodtalenthunt.com

The artist and talent are selected from the contestants who have scored the most individual points. Indywood Talent Hunt offers talented contestants the opportunity to continue to showcase their talents at many international platforms, including cinema.
The Indywood Talent Hunt was organized with the support of some of the UAE’s leading businessmen who are members of the Indywood Consortium. Sohan Roy, Founder and Chairman of IBC, said that the closing ceremonies will see the presence of prominent members of the Indywood Billionaires Club (IBC).

   
This year’s competition will end up on December 3 with a musical feast by Guinness Book Award winner and keyboardist Stephen Devassy, and state award winning playback singer Suraj Santosh.
Previous editions of Indywood Talent Hunt were a confluence of creative talents from India’s student community held at the Ramoji Film City and Hitex Exhibition Center, Hyderabad. Both the Edition witnessed over 2500 Finalists and participated in 25 creative categories. Events included Short Film Making, CSR Video Making, Documentary Filmmaking, Music Video, Music Production, Educational Video, Photography, Animation, VJ, RJ, DJ, Music Band, Indywood Got Talent, Best Reporter/Journalist, Best Reporter, Model Hunt, Best Film Club, Poster Design, Online Promotion etc. Separate recognition for the best actor, actress, singer, music director, Cameraman, Editor, Sound Designer, VFX, DI, Production Controller, Makeup, Costume Designer, Production Designer etc. is found out through Indywood Talent Hunt.

Peter Patel honored with Independent Bakery Retailer Award in the Asian Trader Awards 2019...

Costcutter Brockley, situated in High St in UK, owner  Peter Patel honored with Independent Bakery Retailer Award in the Asian Trader Awards 2019.

Peter Patel says about the single most profitable innovation he have made to his store over the past 12 months. “Introducing a dedicated chiller for vegan products has meant we’ve been able to significantly increase the range and reap the rewards, with weekly sales now at £2,000”.

He describes about his best strategy for increasing footfall in his store.

“Really getting under the skin of what existing shoppers want and crucially who else could be shopping with us. Once we have that, finding a point of difference and answering their needs”.

He also describes two key challenges facing convenience and explain your plans for taking advantage.

“1. Point of difference With two Sainsbury’s, a Co-op and independently owned convenience stores all within walking distance, we have had to work hard to create a point of difference. Using our shopper insights we have created an offering that is tailored to meet our shoppers’ needs, including the most comprehensive BWS and vegan offerings in the area. Not only do our sales prove that we’ve created a point of difference, but the fact that our nearest competitor, Sainsbury’s, is now directing customers to our vegan range, is the icing on the cake. 2. Shopping environment All the research showed that our local shoppers wanted smaller batched produced products, whether that was BWS or vegan products. They’re also keen to top-up shop regularly and want healthy, easy dinners with fresh ingredients and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered. We’ve also tried to look after our younger visitors and have introduced small shopping trolleys for children, which have been a big hit. The results speak for themselves. Basket spend has grown from £5.30 to £6.66 and sales have grown from £26,000 to £35,000”

He lists three ways in which he have responded and retained footfall after a new discounter/supermarket opened in his catchment area.

“1. Point of difference to create distinction. We’ve created a real point of difference with our vegan offering. Our competitors have now reduced their vegan range as they simply couldn’t compete with the depth and breadth of our offering. We have also introduced a specialist range of grocery items to fulfil demand from customers seeking a premium range of goods. 2. The extension of our BWS offering means that we now have one of the most comprehensive ranges in the area, ensuring we always have a great range of possibilities to pair with our ‘meal for tonight’ options. 3. In a direct response to customer feedback and to reduce environmental impact, we have introduced loose fruit and vegetables, so shoppers can buy the exact quantity they need”

Shad Saleem honored with Spirit of the Community Award in the Asian Trader Awards 2019...

best-one Poets Corner and best-one Plessey News, situated in Housing Estate in UK, owner Shad Saleem honored with Spirit of the Community Award in the Asian Trader Awards 2019.

Shad Saleem says how a store-owner can become the spirit of the community.

“For me, it’s all about being woven into the community; a part of the fabric. A community can be diverse – a mix of people of different ages, jobs, families and it’s about connecting with all of them in some way. I think one of the ways I’ve managed to do this is I’ve never said no to ANY community support asked of me in the last 20 years”.

He says about the initiatives that he developed to benefit his local community in the last 12 months.

“Within our community there are children that come from families below the national poverty threshold who can’t always afford food and are being sent to school hungry. Through my involvement with The Rotary Club of Blyth we worked together with Malvin’s Close Primary Academy, where we created a Breakfast Club enabling 30 children to be given a proper breakfast and ‘set them up’ for the day. The school fed back that there is a close correlation between the success of children within the classroom and being well fed. We’re looking at expanding this initiative and I’d like to support this financially through the shops (my personal ambition is to ensure that no child in Blyth goes to school hungry)”.

He describes two key challenges facing Convenience and his plans for taking advantage.

“Blyth is inundated with retail shops; we have ALDI, Lidl, ASDA and many convenience stores. The challenge is to differentiate ourselves from everyone else. One way we do this is through stocking local products. Our eggs are delivered fresh daily from family-run Lintz Hall Eggs, our milk and fresh dairy comes from Hanover Dairies, our local green-grocer (John!) brings fresh, seasonal vegetables, and a local Blyth sandwich lady delivers delicious homemade sandwiches every day. Another challenge is ensuring we offer a quality range of products at competitive prices, as many customers are on a budget. We work closely with best-one to ensure we have a range of products at various price-points and also run monthly special offers”.

He lists three ways in which he have responded and retained footfall after a new discounter/supermarket opened in his catchment area.

“One way we’ve retained footfall is through our support of the community – we support local people, and in turn, they support us back. We face a lot of retailer competition but because we are at the heart of the community customers choose to shop with us. We’ve also utilised social media to engage with our customers. We now have 5,000 Facebook followers and promote our special offers and new products via our page. Lastly, we’ve introduced food-to-go options allowing us to capture lunch time footfall. This has bought new shoppers through our doors, as well as the same familiar faces”