habshi

Also features supemodel Katrina Kauff . born in Hawaii but
speaks good Hindi .

indiafm.com
Kaizad Gustad's Boom had collaborated with the Diamond Trading company
(DTC) and used real diamonds to adorn the models who acted in the
film.

A total of 400 carats of real diamonds were used and two of these
designs have won the coveted Diamond International Awards. The
diamonds can be witnessed in the very first sequence of the film.

The Diamond Trading Company is the diamond-marketing arm of the De
Beers group of Companies and supplies around 50 per cent of rough
diamonds globally to the world.

outlookindia.com
India does not lack ideas, skills, creativity or enterprise. But what
keeps us from being a globally recognised power?

Now look at the fashion capital of the world. France, the fifth
largest economy in the world, ranks fashion as its leading export. In
fact, it far exceeds defence, agriculture and industrial exports.
Post-World War II, who would have believed that France could ever be a
world player? It created a reputation for itself as the prime purveyor
of style, thus enabling its industrial exports to piggyback and
achieve credibility too. Italy, also devastated by the War, replicated
this story. Today, the world's fashion trends are made in Paris and
Milan.

Till the early '80s, China was an orthodox communist society, run as a
strict state-controlled economy. But Deng Xiaoping wanted to
liberalise the economy rapidly. Well-known and even newer companies
like Ralph Lauren, Nike etc started trekking the interiors of China to
create manufacturing units for their global markets.
Deng supported them and allowed the government policies to be more
open and less bureaucratic. And boom: by the end of the '80s, apparel
(both high-end and mass), shoes and household goods for most of the
First World were being made in China.

It was


India is among the world's top 10 apparel and textile exporters. So
why aren't we then in the forefront of world fashion?

again the fashion industry that helped create an image of a major
developing country for quality, style and innovation. Job creation
actually started from sports shirts, socks, and bathing suits to
jogging shoes, bedspreads, towels and underwear. Now, of course, cars,
electronics, planes are rolling off Chinese assembly lines.

India does have a nascent but thriving fashion industry. We are among
the world's top 10 apparel and textile exporters. We churn out 1.3
billion readymade garments a year with exports valued at almost $13.25
billion. More than 93 million people are directly or indirectly
employed by the industry, and this will only increase as trade
restrictions in the West are eased. So why aren't we in the forefront
of the world's fashion trade? Is it in the minds of those making our
policies, a lack of understanding among the bigwigs in the government?


dailpioneer.com
Kaizad Gustad's Boom though beats them all. It features 400 carats of
De Beers diamonds in its opening scene, courtesy the Diamond Trading
Company. While it is not known whether De Beers paid for having their
diamonds showcased, there is little doubt that Padma Laxmi, Madhu
Sapre and Katrina Kaif walking down the ramp loaded in De Beers is a
great marketing tool. The supermodels wear bras laced with diamonds
and Gustad says "it is a great promotional tool for the company."

While not as glamourous as diamonds, the Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek
Bachchan film Kuch Na Kaho promotes Coca-Cola (yet again) and Perfetti
Van Melle's confectionery brand, Mint-O, as in-film placements. For
the Mint-O contest, Rohan Sippy has shot a special TV commercial
featuring Abhishek Bachchan and the movie's three supporting
actresses. The commercial is set in a cafe. The three girls spot
Abhishek sitting in another part of the cafe, separated from them by a
glass door. One of the girls (VJ Romona), walks up to the door, knocks
on it to attract his attention, pops a Mint-O into her mouth, blows
vapour onto the glass, then etching out a heart sign. Abhishek isn't
too impressed and the other two girls walk up to the door, pop in
Mint-Os, and write "Kuch Kaho". After which Abhishek adds a "Naa"


Coca-Cola has been one of the pioneers in this showbiz-brand
partnership, associating itself with Hollywood for at least 25 years.
The company even has offices near major Hollywood studios for the
purpose. And Coca-Cola India will reportedly be increasingly
associated with "Indian passions" cricket and Hindi films.

Not to be left out are the liquor companies. This year McDowell's
second-largest brand McDowell No 1 was associated with Raveena
Tandon's home production Stumped, while McDowell's Bagpiper teamed up
with the Vivek Oberoi starrer Dum. McDowell's strong beer Zingaro was
associated with the Pooja Bhatt-produced Jism. Liquor companies are
allocating big proportions of their advertising budgets towards films
and UB is said to have increased the proportion of their ad budget
going towards films by 25 per cent, provided there are good projects.

Film critic Indu Mirani is enthusiastic, "It is high time the trend
made a showing. It brings in good revenue and both parties benefit.
Most of these brands anyway pay lakhs to popular actors to model for
them."

Trade ****yst Vinod Mirani backs her up, saying production houses
normally have low publicity budgets, "A corporate tie-up helps them
get the right sort of publicity. Most of these brands have permanent
hoardings, which can be utilised for film posters. Khel and Plan for
example are being promoted by liquor brands." Adds he, "Even in
Khushi, the marriage with Provogue was a smart idea, considering
Fardeen Khan is already the brand's ambassador."

The biggest advantage to producers associating with brands is
financial. With money hard to come by, they have had to depend on the
underworld or borrow heavily from personal financiers. Adverts in
films on the other hand are a "clean" financial source.

For example, BR Chopra's film Baghban, starring Amitabh Bachchan and
Hema Malini, has tied up with three brands - Ford Ikon, ICICI Bank and
Tata Tea - all of which will figure in his film and the producers are
believed to have netted Rs three to four crore from the partnership.

The logic being that since banks and cars are shown in films anyway,
why not make a little money out of it? An Amitabh banking with ICICI
(he is their brand ambassador) and driving a Ford kills two birds with
one stone, benefitting both the products and the film. Bollywood is
known for its fickleness, but this particular marriage it appears is
here to stay.

Inputs: Neharika Mathur and Pallavi Thakur Bose