Star Select HD Launch
Concept
To launch Star’s latest channel Star Gold Select HD that serves carefully curated, meaningful stories from Indian cinema on television to a discerning audience. The channel believes in showcasing movies that have meaningful, powerful stories. What’s unique about this channel? 52 weeks. 52 premieres and one intermission only. Every Saturday night at 9 pm Star Gold Select HD showcases a premiere. Contemporary new-age movies like Masaan, Laal Rang, Waiting, Dear Dad, The Reluctant Fundamentalist are among the premieres on the channel.
strategy
To launch the channel, we decided to do a one of a kind open air screening in Bombay and New Delhi. The idea of this “SELECT SCREENINGS” was old school theatre meets comfort at home. At Homegrown we are always looking to transcend beyond whats regular or mainstream and hence just a movie screening was not going to cut it. To drive conversation around the screening and to set context to the movie that was going to be screened (The Reluctant Fundamentalist) we also hosted a panel discussion prior to the movie screening that distilled down the theme of the movie to discrimination.
Execution
To create a one of a kind open air moving watching experience, “Select Screenings” in Mumbai was held right by the beach at Razzberry Rhinoceros in Juhu and in New Delhi we took over the terrace at QLA which had a stunning view of the Qutub Minar. The evening at both cities started of with a unique mix of impactful storytelling and deep conversations. A panel discussion set the context for Mira Nair’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’, a movie that deals with issues of racial profiling and stereotyping in a post 9/11 world. We had Karuna Ezara as the moderator of the panel and our panelists Saba Azad (Indian actress, musician, theatre director), Vinatoli Yeptho (spoken word poet) and Zaharaddeen Muhammad (National Academic Coordinator, Association of African students in India) shared some of their personal stories to the audience. While the movie screening was well received by everyone, what added to the night was also our custom gourmet popcorn bar!