Priyanka Chopra felicitated at the Asian Film Awards

If the existing awards in Priyanka Chopra’s kitty weren’t enough, here comes one more. This time, it’s in the form of ‘Asian Film Awards’, that’s touted as one of the most popular pan-Asian film awards. She was bestowed with the most prestigious ‘Nielsen Box Office Award’ by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’.

“Priyanka Chopra is India’s Number One female star. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her outstanding work,” said Eric Mika, Publisher of ‘Hollywood Reporter’ and Vice President, Nielsen Media and Entertainment Group. He also added that “It is truly amazing to acknowledge the breadth of her success, and we are honoured to bestow the ‘Nielsen Box Office Award’ on someone who has done so incredibly much in so little time.”

For the uninitiated, Priyanka happens to be the second recipient to receive this prestigious Award. With this, she joins the ranks of Andy Lau, who received the inaugural award at the 2007 ceremony.

Arcade Cricket: Now play your favorite sport at malls

With the IPL fever catching up, a number of companies are targeting their products and marketing towards the baap of all gaming tournaments, the Indian Premier League. A recent innovation has seen two engineers come up with an arcade cricket game.

Vaibhav Goel and Puneet Kumar, former IIT Bombay students, have set-up GaMa Entertainment, attracting a funding of Rs 55 lakh from Sweat & Blood Venture Group headed by Indiagames Founder and CEO Vishal Gondal. GaMa will be manufacturing and selling the arcade gaming machines to the FECs (family entertainment centers) in malls and gaming zones across India.

Played on a 22” widescreen LCD monitor mounted on a theme based game cabinet and powered by high end processor, motherboard and an 8-way joystick controller, the arcade game uses a tweaked version of Indiagames’ proprietary cricket game licensed by GaMa Entertainment. The arcade version has a gameplay for an average of 3 minutes as opposed to an average of an hour for the PC. The gamer plays as a batsman for the Indian team against a selected opponent, with two overs left to achieve the target score. Players stand a chance to win redemption coupons based on the number of fours and sixers they score.

Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Gama Entertainment Director Puneet Kumar said, “The response has been good so far. We feel that India is a big market for us, especially now that the IPL is coming. People are very excited about us since our launch in February at the IAAPI (Indian Association of Amusement Parks & Industries convention) Expo, where we were the runners-up for the most innovative product.”

The company, which has Vishal Gondal and Indiagames COO Samir Bangara as its advisors, is currently selling the machines under Rs 2 lakh per system and plans to develop into a revenue sharing model soon. Consumers can check out the game at Inorbit Mall, Nirmal Lifestyle and Oberoi Mall (coming shortly) in Mumbai.

A R Rahman in Akon video!

Formerly shy and introvert music composer A R Rahman is getting camera friendly of late.

Until he won two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire , Rahman hardly attracted any strobe lights of the western media. His Oscar sweep, coupled with his ‘electrifying’ performance during Oscars, made Rahman a popular name, and now the talented composer is featured in music video ‘Beautiful’ by ‘Smack That’ singer Akon.

The video also features other foreign singers like Colby O’Donis and Canadian hip hop artist Kardinal Offishall. With his characteristic smile on face, Rahman appears only for a few seconds, posing with a number of models in the video.

Akon is a popular name in India where only a few international hip-hop artists enjoy a loyal fan following. He became immensely famous with his hit ‘Locked Up’ and ‘Lonely’ in the year 2004. And later gave hit albums like ‘Konvicted’ and ‘Freedom’.

Apart from Akon, Rahman recently also caught the fancy of Pussycat Dolls who did a sauced up version of Rahman’s Oscar winning ‘Jai Ho’.

Hrithik & Susanne’s tattoo love

The love affair between Bollywood stars and their tattoos continues.

The recent couple to be bitten by the tattoo bug is Hrithik Roshan and his wife Susanne Khan. The two got a tattoo done on their forearm. Thankfully, Hrithik and Susanne didn’t get each other’s names tattooed but instead opted for a six-point star. The six-point star, also known as Solomon’s Seal, The Star of David or Creator’s Star is symbolic of interaction of the divine with the mortal.

Sameer Patange, who tattooed Hrithik and Susanne, said, “They have got a six-point star tattoo with a red circle in the centre. The reason why they wanted the particular design was too personal for me to even ask them.”

It is learnt that the star couple decided during the shooting of Kites in New York that they would get the six-star tattoo done. Incidentally, Hrithik’s father Rakesh Roshan too has a similar tattoo on his arm.

Even Hrithik’s co-star and close friend Barbara Mori has got a tattoo done on her forearm. Patange said, “Barbara along with her brother got a word tattooed in Hindi, which stands for brotherhood and is symbolic of sibling love.”

Talking of tattoos, Sanjay Dutt not only has wife Manyata’s real name Dilnasheen tattooed on his arm, he also has the symbol of his star sign Leo tattooed on his biceps. Keeping with her image, Urmila Matondkar has a fairy tattoo.

Talking about some recent tattoo trends, Patange added, “The traditional clientele earlier used to be men and women between 18 and 32 but now, I also have older people who not only get their spouse’s name tattooed but also are more inclined towards religious and spiritual designs.’’

Shahid Kapoor signed as a brand ambassador for Levi Strauss Signature

After endorsing VIP luggage and audio systems’ major brand Pioneer, teen heartthrob Shahid Kapoor has bagged yet another plum endorsement. Levi Strauss Signature has signed Shahid as its brand ambassador. The actor, a youth icon, is seen as an aspirational figure and the company is placing its bet exactly on that.

Shumone Chatterjee, Country Manager, Levi Strauss & Co India Pvt. Ltd, said, “Shahid is a youth icon and Levi Strauss Signature is an iconic youth apparel brand – it’s fitting that they both zip together. Shahid is a quintessential blend of youth and style, which is what the Levi Strauss Signature brand stands for. India is a strong growth market for the Levi Strauss Signature brand and signing on Shahid as its face will help us create a closer connection with our young audience.”

On his association with the brand, Shahid said, “I have always been a great admirer of the Levi Strauss Signature brand. It’s relaxed and on-trend styles reflect my personal style, and the sentiment of the youth whom I identify with so closely. It’s great to be associated with such an iconic brand.”

The company has planned an exciting media campaign and various interactive consumer related activities with Shahid in the coming months.

With such plum endorsement deals and some interesting films on hand, Shahid’s ‘Kismat’ is certainly getting ‘Konnected’ in the right way.