Radio City, the largest FM radio network in India, announces the launch of one of the most premium properties Radio City Freedom Awards (RCFA) with this year’s theme being ‘Bridging Boundaries’. Over the last few years, independent music has had a meteoric rise in terms of acceptance and consumption. Today independent music is no longer niche, artists are performing across the country and going on international tours, independent music is being accepted on mainstream media, brands across segments are collaborating with independent artists to tell their brand story, independent music is truly bridging boundaries within the media and entertainment ecosystem.

Radio City Freedom Awards is a pre-eminent platform for commemorating, appreciating, and celebrating the innate talent of the indie music culture in India. In addition to recognizing authentic compositions, Radio City Freedom Awards also recognizes outstanding non-music contributions to the independent music community. The seventh edition of Radio City Freedom Awards has been launched on 28th February 2023 and the award ceremony is slated for 28th March 2023 via a virtual platform.

New-age artists and music has been thriving in India and the idea behind launching Radio City Freedom Awards was to draw attention to and garner support for independent musicians while also exposing the audience to a diverse range of performers. To celebrate the work of emerging and veteran artists from India's independent music culture, the nomination categories for this year’s Radio City Freedom Awards are Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist, Best Folk Fusion Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Rock Artist, Best Metal Artist, and Best Electronica Artist. In addition to categories based on musical genre, there are awards for Best Video, Best Independent Collaborator, etc. To keep the audience engaged, Radio City plans to conduct various concerts across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore during the nomination and shortlisting phase.

Ashit Kukian, Chief, Executive Officer, Radio City said, “Over a decade ago, Radio City became the first FM radio station in the country to build a platform to promote Indie music culture. In today’s time, India’s Indie culture is echoing the international trends and the indie artists are booming. The objective of Radio City Freedom Awards is to celebrate the musical journey of indie artists, and edify listeners with premium quality music in a variety of genres. With the seventh edition of Radio City Freedom Awards, we aspire recognizing the fortitude of indie music and artists whose work celebrates the nuances of Indian folklore.”

Radio City has always been a catalyst of inspiration for countless creative people around the nation and is popularly known for being the pioneer of promoting indie culture. The latest edition of Radio City Freedom Awards is set to be most electrifying as it will feature India's most talented independent artists and musicians from across genres. This year’s jury consists of stalwarts from the music industry namely Atul Churamani - Managing Director of Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt. Ltd., a company he founded to support independent artists publish and self-release music; Anurag Tagat - Assistant Editor at Rolling Stone India; Vijay Basrur - Founder of OK Listen Media; Heena Kriplani - Head of TuneCore; Aishwarya Natarajan - Founder of Indianuance; and Narendra Kusnur - Freelance music journalist, online music show presenter, content consultant in music apps. RCFA has grown to become one of the most sought-after awards with each passing year, garnering rising curiosity and integration from artists across the globe to participate in this celebration of musical creativity and diversity.

Commenting on the launch of Radio City Freedom Awards Season 7, Rachna Kanwar, Chief Operating Officer - Digital Media, Radio City & Mid-day said, “With Radio City Freedom Awards, we’ve come a long way from the first season way back in 2013. The journey has been exciting and fulfilling and we feel fortunate that along the way, we became a part of many inspiring journeys of indie artists and the industry itself. This is an exciting time for us as we unveil the seventh season of Radio City Freedom Awards. Over the years, Radio City has built the most coveted platform for artists to showcase their talent and connect with music lovers. Once again we look forward to receiving nominations from across the country and listening to some exceptional music. We are confident that through Radio City Freedom Awards, we will continue bridging boundaries and strengthening the aura of indie culture.”

Radio City started supporting the indie music culture from 2012 with the launch of the first web radio station called Radio City Freedom. The following year, Radio City introduced Radio City Freedom Awards, the biggest platform in India for celebrating and recognizing indie musicians across genres and languages. Over the seven seasons, Radio City Freedom Awards is India’s only audited & indigenous award for Indie Artists.

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the biggest sporting events in India, one that is eagerly awaited by millions of fans. The recent unveiling of the large-scale digital coverage for the upcoming season has only added to the excitement and anticipation among fans.  

With the rapid growth of digital streaming platforms, fans are already turning to online platforms and over-the-top (OTT) services to watch their favourite shows and sporting events, including IPL matches. The convenience of being able to watch matches on-the-go and on multiple devices, coupled with the increasing affordability of high-speed internet, has made digital streaming a popular choice among viewers.

JioCinema's streaming of the IPL with several unique features is in absolute alignment with India's shifting pattern of prime-time entertainment from linear TV to digital platform and therefore the grand coverage of IPL on digital will not only boost viewership but will also serve as a template for being a seamless experience, without any additional cost barrier or increased screen time. 

India has a massive internet user base of nearly 720 million people, with the top 50% of purchasing power concentrated in 30 million homes that have access to unlimited wired internet connections. Additionally, there are 100 million mobile users in this category with unlimited data access. This means that users from these homes can watch IPL without any additional charge, making it easier for them to access digital platforms and consume content.

This segment of the population has been the early adopters of digital platforms and is leading the shift towards digital entertainment in India. They are also highly responsive to ad campaigns, making them an attractive target for brands seeking to reach a large and engaged audience.

As far as the large chunk of the 600 million mobile users are concerned, most of them are on a 2GB/day pack, which is the most popular and cost-effective pack across all telecom providers.  Even if they use half of their data allowance for IPL, they shall be able to access 3.3 hours on standard definition (SD) or a minimum of 1 hour on full High-definition (HD) streaming. In terms of overall macro consumption, SD consumes 0.3 GB per hour, and HD consumes 1 GB per hour. Assuming a 50:50 split (since mobile screens don't need HD), it would take 0.7GB of data to watch one IPL match. And even with that, users will still have at least 65% of their data unused. This means that even users with limited data plans can watch the IPL matches without worrying about excessive data consumption. Additionally, the affordable cost of data allows users to upgrade seamlessly, without any major financial burden.

Even in terms of actual cost, watching IPL on digital is 10 times cheaper than TV.  The cost of watching the entire IPL 2023 series on JioCinema works up to Rs 45- Rs 55 for a resolution of 240p, a resolution of 480p will cost a user Rs 105- Rs 125 and the if all the matches are watched in HD it comes to around Rs 150- Rs 180. Watching the entire series on TV will cost anywhere Rs 440 which is the cost of a base pack.

According to data from BARC, which analysed the viewership pattern of IPL 2022 also suggests that watching the game on a device does not lead to increased consumption in data and is well within the data usage limits. The data shows that the monthly data usage for viewing IPL 2022 was a maximum of 7GB for a resolution of 720p. 

The industry heads are equally enthused by the shift in the viewership patterns and the reach and accessibility that digital gives brands as well as viewers.

 Puneeth Bekal, director of marketing at Mastercard said India is already seeing a huge shift in digital content consumption and IPL on digital is only going to further accelerate the shift. “We are already seeing a huge digital shift in terms of consumption of content not only for sports, but across genres of entertainment. The access and the reach that the digital platforms give brands is massive. IPL on digital is a win-win for every cohort for viewers and even brands,”said Bekal. On how data will not be a barrier to this transition, Bekal further added, “Consumers are smart in terms of using data. There is always prioritisation and rationalisation of how they consume data and for what and over a period time there will be transition to unlimited data. It is a gradual transition and it will be the beginning of a phase where every Indian would partake in digital data consumption.”

Sneha Beriwal, Global CEO, Vahdam said, "Data is not supremely unaffordable in India and this may be that step where people increase their data recharge value. Also, the way IPL is streamed will have to be such that it consumes less bandwidth at the user’s end. We will see at least one or even both changes in the data usage pattern this IPL season.

Vivek Bhargava, co-founder of ProfitWheel said that the digital transition in the country has already happened and with IPL on digital will only add to the internet users in the country. "The digital shift has already happened. There are more viewers on digital than on TV even now. Jio has the infrastructure to support simultaneous viewing across the country and IPL is a huge property which pulls everyone. IPL on digital is also a great way to get more and more people to start using the internet."

In conclusion, it is beyond evident that the digital IPL platform may not face any cost barriers in terms of data consumption. With India's increasing digitization, more and more fans are expected to tune in to the digital platform to catch their favorite teams in action. 

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

The digital streaming universe in India is restricted largely to the smartphone base of ~460 million users in India, curbing the scale of IPL on digital severely compared to television which reaches out to 900mn viewers. Even within the smartphone universe in India, there remains a massive constraint in the consumption of sports due to consumer preference for watching live sports on TV, the increasing number of pay TV homes and high data costs of streaming compared to the ease of availability of same live sports content at negligible cost on TV.

Another critical factor restricting scale of IPL viewership on digital is the high share of female ownership of smartphones.

Almost half of the smartphone universe in India comprises of female audiences: As per a recent Comscore report, ~193 million out of the 460 million smartphone owners are females. Historically, digital streaming of sports has largely been a male domain with close to 85% contribution to overall IPL digital viewers. Digital streaming of IPL is largely solo-viewing and women have very low interest to solo-view sports content. They prefer to watch with family and friends on TV. This, along with their negligible intent to download an app for sports content is expected to severely impact the overall digital reach of IPL to 160-180mn on mobiles.

Intent to download and solo-view sports content is very low among women: Cricket viewing among female audiences has been only a small fraction of the overall viewership of the sport in India. In 2019, when IPL was free, a mere 20 million women watched the tournament on digital. The intent to download an app and solo-view IPL is extremely low and most women prefer watching IPL on television, when friends and families come together to enjoy a collective viewing experience. The number of female users of top fantasy and cricket news related apps is barely 4-6 million, showcasing very low affinity for sport. Even for an entertainment app like MX player, the downloads are restricted to just 34 million among females as per App Annie data. This suggests that the potential downloads among female audiences could be anywhere between 30-35 million, a number too small to help scale IPL streaming on digital.

Miniscule smartphone base to restrict IPL digital reach to less than 200 million: Considering that the potential downloads among female users is expected to remain in the range of 30-35 million, how much could the male addressable base contribute to make IPL scalable on digital? Currently the composition of the male smartphone universe is close to 267 million as per Comscore. The conversion rate of male smartphone users to IPL streamers on digital can be estimated by looking at the conversion rate on TV which is in the range of 50-55%. The likely male audiences for IPL on digital as a result could be in the region of ~130-150 million. On combining male and female audiences on digital, 160-180 million is the likely reach IPL can deliver this year on digital. Even after accounting for CTV reach, the overall digital IPL reach will be less than 200mn.

Television is the natural medium for viewing sports content as it allows viewers to celebrate the game and its memorable moments together with friends and family. TV delivers a lag-free experience with significantly better audio-visual quality, making the platform the clear preference for live sports consumption in India. The massive scale that IPL on television garners is more than 2X of what digital can achieve in the coming season of IPL, giving advertisers a clear view on why IPL on TV will continue to be the driver of scale and impact. Considering the growth of Pay TV and HD homes in India, television is well poised to reach a scale of 500 million viewers this IPL 2023.

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

The viewing pattern of Indian audiences has shifted significantly in recent years, with more and more people turning to digital platforms for their entertainment needs. With a large variety of original shows and movies that are loved by the audiences, India's largest OTT player Disney+ Hotstar is clearly at the forefront of this change.

 According to the 'Streaming Originals in India - The 2022 Story' report released by Ormax Media, Disney+ Hotstar led the viewership of Hindi language OTT originals in India in 2022. The platform streamed seven out of the top 15-most watched original shows, leaving its rivals far behind in the viewership game. The platform's success can be attributed to its wide variety of content, which includes both Indian and international productions.

Disney+ Hotstar's original shows which made it to the top watchlist were 'Rudra: The Edge of Darkness', 'Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach', 'The Great Indian Murder', 'Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya', 'Human', 'Anupama: Namaste America' and 'Karm Yuddh'. These shows have received unprecedented response from the viewers.

Even for original movies, India seems to be glued to Disney+ Hostar. Akshay Kumar-starrer Cuttputlli topped the charts as the most watched original Hindi film followed by A Thursday and the comedy-thriller film Govinda Naam Mera, both on Disney+ Hotstar. The seventh season of the Hotstar Specials Koffee with Karan was given a special mention and was in the elite list of less than 20 properties (across formats & languages) that crossed the 20 Million views mark in 2022.

 Disney+ Hotstar's strong performance in India is also a testament to the growing popularity of streaming services in the country. With its strong line up of original shows and movies it is clear that Disney+ Hotstar is well-positioned to continue its dominance in the Indian market. Apart from keeping the interest of audiences in mind with entertaining shows, the rising popularity of the platform and the quality of content paved the way for brands to reap the benefits of association with it. Through seamless associations with the platform's most-watched shows, brands can leverage the reach of the platform to unlock unprecedented returns. With a plethora of avenues for collaboration with marquee shows, Disney+ Hotstar offers a fertile ground for brands to achieve their objectives with unrivaled efficacy. Disney+ Hotstar unlocks a world of possibilities for brands seeking to establish a strong presence in the Indian market in the following ways:

In show product placements or product usage by the cast of the show:

With this, brands are able to achieve high levels of impact by seamlessly integrating their products into the show narratives. Through strategic product placements and clever usage by the show's cast, brands can forge deep connections with audiences. A good  illustration of this innovative approach is the show Moving in with Malaika, where Malaika has been featured using an array of iconic brands like Dyson, Lotus Herbals, and Lakme. The result has been a resounding success, with brands able to create an indelible impression in the minds of viewers, even as they remain engrossed in the show.

Sponsor callouts and mentions by the host:

Through sponsor callouts and mentions by the show's dynamic hosts, brands can now gain both visibility and engagement. In the iconic show Koffee with Karan season 7, the host Karan Johar is seen sporting his Lenskart reading glasses before commencing the rapid-fire segment and calls for the Jaquar lights to be turned on for maximum effect lending his star power to promote brands in a natural and effective way. The result is a masterful fusion, enabling  brands to establish a commanding presence in the minds of viewers in a contextual and organic manner. 

 Co-branded vignettes:

The power of co-branded vignettes lies in their ability to forge a deeper and more meaningful connection between brands and the shows they partner with by blending the brand's core message with the essence of the show, creating a compelling narrative that resonates with viewers on multiple levels. With co-branded vignettes, brands can create an emotional bond with their target audience, delivering a powerful message that leverages fandom beyond the show. 

There are two types of vignettes that brands can use to achieve this effect: one in which the show's lead talent becomes the voice of the brand, and the other that uses existing show footage.

Take, for instance, the co-branded vignette created for Naukri.com for the hit Hotstar Special Ghar Waapsi. Disney+ Hotstar leveraged the show's existing footage to showcase the lead protagonist's job hunt journey, thereby highlighting the brand's job search capabilities.

Similarly, for Bingo!, a footage-based vignette was created for Taaza Khabar using just pack shots, cleverly associating the show's characters and their personalities with the flavors of Mad Angles.

Disney+ Hotstar enabled JeevanSathi.com to amplify their brand message by leveraging  lead couples of popular shows in  key markets  where the main storyline revolved around a couple in love. 20 second Vignettes were shot featuring these lead couples relaying JeevanSathi.com’s core brand proposition -  'Find your life partner on JeevanSathi.com' just like they had found each other, to demonstrate the power of finding a life partner on jeevanSathi.com.

Rippl Activation - Brand showcase via interactivity:

Disney+ Hotstar Ads has set a new benchmark for viewer engagement leveraging content associations of brands. The engagement opportunity called “Rippl” was delivered for the first time on KWK 7 for MyGlamm, the leading beauty and cosmetics brand. Through this initiative, viewers were able to interact with the brand in a first-of-its-kind gamified and fun carousel units. During the ad breaks, as the mid-rolls of MyGlamm play out on the screen, mobile viewers could play fun games and quizzes to unlock discount coupons for MyGlamm, thus driving action and completing the full funnel for the brand from awareness to action by unlocking an unprecedented level of engagement and interaction. Through this activation, Disney+ Hotstar also provided viewers with a new and interactive viewing experience, while empowering brands to unlock a world of limitless possibilities and establish themselves as beacons of innovation and excellence in their respective industries.

Social chats: 

Disney+ Hotstar’s social chat feature is another meaningful opportunity for brands to be a part of fan conversations and build lasting connections. On the show Moving in with Malaika,  viewers for a  unique opportunity to interact with the star. Viewers could pose questions to Malaika, participate in fun polls posed by the actor and more in real-time while watching the show. Brands could also engage with the viewers in a fun and social setting via branded emojis.

With such deep and rewarding association, brands are upbeat about their growth with Disney+ Hotstar. Mr Aishwarya Pratap Singh, Head of Marketing, Snacks, Noodles & Pasta – ITC Foods said, “We are really excited about Bingo! Mad Angles association as the snacking partner for Bhuvan Bam’s debut series, Taaza Khabar streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. We have always made unique and interesting campaigns for Bingo! Mad Angles that engage with the GenZs and millennials while tickling their funny bones," said Singh, he added that Bhuvan Bam, has a huge fan following among the youngsters and theirs being a youth centric brands it’s like a match made in heaven. "Disney+ Hotstar's CreativeWorks team helped create a co-branded vignette with an interesting take on how our different Bingo! Mad Angles' flavors match the personalities of the show's characters" added Singh.

Talking about how Disney+ Hotstar helped brands build a stronger connection with the audience by leveraging content-based integrations, Sumeet Singh, CMO, Info Edge said, "The objective was to launch a key message in a relatable manner where communication and media planning would enable instant reach and recall. That’s where we partnered with Disney+ Hotstar, who not only helped us identify the top shows watched in some of our key markets, but also helped build a stronger connect with the audiences of these shows by leveraging content-based integrations. The campaign has been a success in getting the message registered and talked about and has driven desired growth. These content vignettes have helped in elevating our brand consideration across markets.”

Sukhleen Aneja, CEO, Good Glamm Brands spoke about the successful campaign with Koffee with Karan season 7. The social media mentions of MyGlamm went up by a whopping 232% when the show went on air. “MyGlamm is a brand that has a vision for Personalizing Glamour for women thus enabling them to express their unique style. Being India’s largest D2C beauty brand, at MyGlamm, we couldn’t think of a better partner than Koffee with Karan season 7 on Disney+ Hotstar for integrating MyGlamm into pop culture conversations. We recently launched our latest brand campaign, #GlammUpLikeAStar for creating beauty looks that are influenced by celebrities. When it comes to beauty look inspiration, what better than Bollywood which has always been inspiring women to create their own glamour with some iconic characters and looks. Koffee with Karan is the epitome of Bollywood glamor, with an illustrious guest list every season, which made it the perfect launch pad for our #GlammUpLikeAStar campaign. The deep content integration with MyGlamm zone, product mentions in opening credits and social mentions for MyGlamm went up by a whopping 232.86% when the show went on-air.’’

As viewing patterns change, brands too are re-aligning their strategies to effectively reach their target audience and what better than to partner with the leader. This is where Disney+ Hotstar CreativeWorks comes into play. It helps brands hit the sweet spot between content and advertising. With their unique blend of social listening, strategy, storytelling, and content innovations, they craft relatable and scalable campaigns that take your brand straight to the consumer. Marketers looking to make most of their advertising spends have the choicest pick from the Disney+ Hotstar’s best-in-class stories, storytellers, fan favorite characters and innovative ad formats and branding opportunities at scale. The platform also offers sharp targeting options that reach highly engaged, involved and affluent audiences. With premium, blockbuster, sought after shows like The Night Manager, Aarya Season 3, Popkaun, Love, Shaadi, Drama which is Hansika Motwani’s wedding reality show, along with organic brand first custom content Disney+ Hotstar will facilitate brands to make the most of the platform in unique and effective ways.

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

Radio City has made waves once again by offering a one of its kind opportunity to the 5 listeners to visit Dubai on an all-paid trip with RJ Ginnie on 15th March 2023. For this campaign, Radio City has associated with an international travel group named “Alike.io”. This is the first time any radio station in Delhi is providing such an opportunity for listeners to fly to another country free of cost.

The campaign 2023 Dubai Trip Free has been rolled out by Radio City Delhi with bursting excitement and buzz. Radio City is inviting listeners to share snippets of their travel content on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #2023dubaitripfree or mentioning Radio City or Alike.io. To win this opportunity, listeners will have to come up with creative ideas on the best places to visit in Dubai and help RJ Ginnie craft a perfect Dubai itinerary. Listeners with the best 5 trip plans will travel to Dubai with RJ Ginnie and their travel, stay, food, and shopping will be taken care by Radio City & Alike.io. This is undoubtedly of the most innovative formats any radio station in Delhi has adopted to engage with the listeners.

Speaking about this campaign, Mr. Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City said, “I am absolutely stoked to share that ‘Radio City Delhi’ is the first FM radio station that is providing an opportunity to the 5 listeners to visit Dubai through an all-paid trip along with the most renowned radio jock of Delhi, RJ Ginnie on 15th March 2023. To execute this unique concept, we have associated with an international travel group “Alike.io” who is making all the required arrangements to make the listeners’ travel journey the most memorable one. We are confident that by introducing such unique and exclusive campaigns, Radio City will continue to win the hearts of the listeners by providing them top notch experiences.”

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

Maruti Suzuki has been associated with live sports and even IPL for new car launches over the years. What role has television played for the brand as a part of the media mix? Can you tell us a bit about the impact television has had on your brand and business metrics?

As per some industry reports (KPMG), sports had the highest reach on TV in 2022 reaching close to 720 million individuals. Sports, especially cricket in India with such a large viewer base, helps to build faster reach and we have leveraged sports over the years as an efficient and effective medium for our new launch and brand campaigns. In India, there are 210 Million TV households and TV reach is close to 850 Million. This makes TV an automatic choice for advertisers.TV plays a critical role in top of the funnel marketing and we have been leveraging TV for new car launch campaigns as well as for our brand sustenance campaigns. Our TV spends contribute to around 40% of our overall media spends and TV campaigns have helped us not only in improving the brand health scores for our existing brands but also in creating buzz and awareness for our new launch campaigns. As mentioned above, the fact that television helps in garnering mass reach at a scale, it does have a positive impact both on our brand as well on business metric   

Buying a car is a collective decision in Indian households and advertising on mega events like IPL on television brings together friends and families like no other medium. What are your thoughts about the shared brand experiences that television creates among viewers?

Cricket is a religion in India and IPL is a mega festival that goes on for close to 2 months. It does create a festive atmosphere and brings everyone together. This also makes IPL the biggest impact property on TV and has been continuously delivering high all India TVRs and reach for the past so many years despite some drop in the reach in last season. It does give all brands an opportunity to reach out to a massive audience and to create a huge buzz. Because of the inclusive viewing, it also helps to build brand affinity outside of your core TG and specially for Auto brands it is imperative to do so as the car buying decision is more of a collective decision and all members of a household/family contribute to the final decision. We have tactically leveraged IPL in the past depending on our brand and business needs some times through sponsorship and at times through only spot buys to have threshold level of presence to create the right buzz   

As a brand, you continue to have traditional and new-age media as a part of your marketing plans. What are some of the distinctions that television provides compared to other mediums?

As mentioned above, television provides reach at a scale which is yet not matched by any other single medium. TV provides inclusive viewing as against digital which is more exclusive viewing and one to one whereas TV is one to many. Television also helps to create impact because of the sheer scale of the medium and the large screen advantage which is important for imagery building.

What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of advertising on the big screen during a high-octane experience like IPL? How does it compare with attention, receptiveness and engagement through other mediums? 

Presence on the big screen during a mega event like IPL has its own merits and we have seen a lot of brands utilizing it very effectively. Also, multi-language feeds are helping increase viewership in regional markets. As mentioned above, we have also leveraged IPL on TV for our brand campaigns and it has yielded very favourable results in the past.

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)

Global mega lifestyle and entertainment media hub, Pinkvilla has set the stage for the highly anticipated return of its uber-stylish Pinkvilla Style Icons Awards. The second edition of the star-studded gala will be held on 7th April 2023 at JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu.

The first edition, which has become the benchmark for style awards, was a triumph of panache and elegance, captivating audiences worldwide and curating a memorable evening like no other for the nation's brightest superstars and icons! With the who’s who of the fashion and film industry, namely renowned stylist & lifestyle consultant, Anaita Shroff Adajania, ace costume designer & stylist, Eka Lakhani, blockbuster director & choreographer, Farah Khan, leading costume designer & couturier, Manish Malhotra and evergreen starlets, Manisha Koirala and Sonali Bendre gracing the second edition as grand jury - this year's awards are set to raise the bar even higher for style and sophistication!

The renowned jury, which comprises the most celebrated individuals who have made an invaluable contribution to Indian and global fashion, will help crown the best of the best icons and trendsetters, who are transforming style one day at a time through their sartorial choices. They will aid in recognizing and honoring India's greatest style stalwarts across industries like Bollywood, South Cinema, Television, Business, Sports, Fashion, and much more!

Speaking of her association with Pinkvilla Style Icons 2 as grand jury member, stylist & lifestyle consultant, Anaita Shroff Adajania stated, “I am delighted to be joining forces with Pinkvilla in this intriguing pursuit of recognizing and honoring the people in and with style who are defining the fashion landscape of India. Fashion is an ever-evolving medium, but true style is eternal. I am thrilled to embark on this journey of discovery, to uncover the individuals who are creating a new narrative in fashion and pushing the industry forward. I am honored to play a pivotal role in identifying and crowning the rightful style icons of our time, the ones who are leaving an indelible mark on the fashion world."

Costume designer & stylist, Eka Lakhani added, "I am honored to be a part of the esteemed jury for Pinkvilla Style Icons Season 2, an accolade that recognizes and celebrates the trendsetters who are shaping the future of Indian fashion. As Costume Designer and Stylist, I am well aware of the significance of fashion in shaping the cultural landscape of our nation. Identifying and honoring the icons who are elevating the Indian fashion scene with their iconic style is a crucial endeavour. I am thrilled to be partnering with Pinkvilla, a young and stylish brand that is the perfect collaborator on this journey of identifying and celebrating the style revolutionaries that are making a lasting impact on India's fashion landscape."

Filmmaker & choreographer, Farah Khan, whose films have featured some of the most iconic on-screen looks of the century added, “I was pleasantly surprised when I was asked to be on the jury of Pinkvilla's fashion awards, whereas my own fashion choices always tend to lean towards comfort and what suits my body type over trends. My films, however, have always had iconic fashion moments. I do strongly feel that our film industry does have the strongest fashion influence, on-screen and off-screen as well. So happy to award those who have carved a niche for themselves with their bold choices."

Costume designer & couturier, Manish Malhotra added, “Style is not just a statement, but an art, and the greatest vessel of self-expression. Identifying and celebrating India's most forward-thinking style icons with Pinkvilla is a journey I am excited to be a part of. Every look, every silhouette, and every frame has the potential to convey something extraordinary, and it will be a fascinating experience to uncover those individuals who have not only captured the pulse of the nation, but also the future of the industry through their sartorial choices. It will indeed be very interesting to be a part of the process of shining a spotlight on those who are not only shaping India's fashion landscape but also propelling it forward.”

Bollywood luminary, Manisha Koirala added, "Fashion is a dynamic and ever-evolving force. Today, we are seeing individuals who are not only pushing the boundaries of fashion but also shaping the cultural landscape of our nation. It is an honour to be a part of the exciting process

of identifying and celebrating the leading individuals across a diverse range of genres, who are playing a significant role in this evolution and bringing their rich and timeless style to the global stage."

Bollywood icon, Sonali Bendre stated, “Style to me is a form of personal expression, a canvas brought to life by its creator’s imagination. And in fashion that translates into an extension of your personality. Every look tells a story; makes a statement, so I’m looking forward to being on board with Pinkvilla to recognise the style icons of today!”

The second edition of the Pinkvilla Style Icons Awards promises to be a glamorous and unforgettable celebration of style, much like its historic first edition held in June 2022. The star-studded event crowned India’s most prominent and celebrated personalities, including Ranveer Singh, Karan Johar, Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Sidharth Malhotra, Shikhar Dhawan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Arjun Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Masaba Gupta, and Parineeti Chopra, among others.

Here’s a glimpse of the first edition of Pinkvilla Style Icons – the ultimate celebration of glitz, glamour, and unparalleled style with the industry’s leading lights, that amassed a whopping reach of 1 billion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RxXzXji_zg

Get ready to be mesmerized by the most glamorous and stylish night of the year, as Pinkvilla Style Icons returns, shining brighter than ever!

(This is advertorial content curated by partner team.)