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EE News Desk
A decade ago, festivals were considered simply a household ritual, but the last decade has seen the events industry heavily capitalizing on such festivals to organize some of their best events. The idea behind is simple, life is incredibly exhausting already, hence why slave over preparations for these celebrations when you can join the latest Holi party or Garba Dandiya event that is already organized and also features your favorite celebrities, interactive activities, food, friends and so much more. But overtime, it seems monotony has caught up making it difficult to tell one event from the next. Heres some inspiration with this list of cultural festivals from around the globe that offer a generous dose of quirk- 1- Dragon Boat Festival, China The Dragon Boat festival, also known as the Dwanwu Festival has been celebrated in China for more than 25,000 years. The main festivities in this festival are drinking realgar wine and dragon boat racing. Dragon boats are giant sized boats painted attractively and embellished with a dragon head and tail. The race begins with the rowing of boats to the rhythm of pounding drums. Once the night falls the breath-taking Dragon Lanterns and brightly lit creations come alive and truly steal the show. 2- Burning Man, Nevada Burning Man is a weeklong annual art, music and everything-else festival held in the middle of Black Rock desert, Nevada. It usually takes place between August 27 and September 3. The festival means it’s a City of Art; the motto is ‘No Spectators’ and everybody has to contribute something to that year’s theme. This very special event which started with 8 people on a San Francisco beach in 1986 has grown to a huge art festival where hundreds of artists come and build art installations, sculptures, art cars and make performances. With lot of talented and skilled professions in the country just imagine the success of a festival like this if organized in India. 3- Lantern Floating Festival, Hawaii Held annually on Memorial Day on Oʻahu’s south shore, Lantern Floating Hawaii brings together over 40,000 people on the beach, joined by thousands around the world via live streaming and telecast for an evening of honoring loved ones and generating collective hope toward the future. Lantern Floating Hawaii is a ceremony where all can come together for a personal and collective moment of remembrance, reflection, and offering gratitude to those who have gone before us. The concept behind the festival is that we are strengthened as a community as we reach out to support others and build understanding of our common values and experiences. 4- Roswell UFO Festival The Roswell UFO incident, also known as Roswell, was a report of an object that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. To celebrate their belief that aliens have landed on earth, there is an annual parade where patrons can dress up in alien-like costumes and attend brief conferences given by alien experts and authors. However, these alien activists don’t discriminate. Non-believers of the alien theory are also welcome to enjoy the festivities and dress up. 5- The Songkran festival Every April, to celebrate New Year, the world’s largest water gun fight takes place in the country of Thailand. And no, it’s not just some small isolated village. We’re talking about an entire country drowning itself with super soakers. But the fun isn’t limited to water guns, as some people prefer buckets or even elephants. Though in India, holi is organized in a similar format but an exclusive water gun fight festival in our country is bound to be a massive crowd churner. 6- La Tomatina What started as something of a street fight between teenagers using tomatoes from nearby vegetable stalls has turned into the largest tomato fight in the world. It happens every year in the small Spanish town of Bunyol and over the course of about 1 hour the town gets so covered in tomatos that the fire department has to come in and spray everything down. This particular festival is already a craze in India with many Indian films showcasing it over the years and several cities having hosted mini versions of it; but a collective large tomato-lunging fest would be oh so spectacular. 7- Cheese Rolling Festival Every year near Gloucester, England hundreds of people gather to watch as locals chase a huge cheese off the top of Cooper’s Hill and tumble a couple hundred yards to the bottom where they are almost inevitably scooped up by paramedics and taken to the hospital. Supposedly if you cross the finish line at the bottom first though, you win the cheese. Being a festival majorly catering towards those with an enthusiasm for sports this one has ‘fun’ written all over it.
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Apart from being a global event for those working in the creative communications, advertising and marketing related fields, the seven-day long celebration of Cannes Lionsalso attracts thousands of delegates, visionaries and brand specialists across the world. Hence the event transforms into a confluence of the biggest stars from the creative communication genre at one platform which also provides notable brands the opportunity to create memorable brand experiences. Much like its previous editions Cannes Lions 15 too saw some of the biggest brands around the world using the majestic platform to capitalize on the elite crowd and proving their creative genius through brand activations. The biggest brands names which seized the opportunity in the context were undoubtedly Google and Facebook. Google’s brand experience at Cannes featured a colorful beach activation on the coastline which also showcased the activation from sister brands such as YouTube and Android. The engaging part of this experiential activity was that guests could use Google technology to order their drinks, which they could enjoy on a deck of bright beanbags. The Beach Bar side of the venue by Google hosted a diverse variety of experiential events for the visitorssuch as Cookie Delights, a culinary experience from YouTube star Cupcake Jemma – and Sensational Punches with Rich Hunt, a cocktail master class from Jamie Oliver’s DrinksTube. Google Beach (the venue occupied by Google to create experience) also featured a YouTube stage for music performances, a volleyball court, a Google Cardboard activation and an experiential version of its interactive Abbey Road experience. Similar to Google, Facebook also managed to design its experiential campaign surrounding the beach. Their experience featured a beautifully designed relaxing space for the visitors who could unwind themselves amidst the hustle and bustle of the festival. Instagram, facebook’s offshoot also joined the experience generation bandwagon by creating a white art gallery space entirely featuring photos taken during the festival using the app. The Broadcaster Eurosport tried to add a more competitive ambient to the Cannes Lions atmosphere as they thrived upon the competitiveness of the marketing world by organizing a mini beach soccer world cup tournament on the beach. This unique experience immediately became everyone’s favorite as they could not only support but also play for their country team. However the most successful experiential campaign at Cannes Lions 15 was orchestrated by Linkedinwhich came up with scintillating idea of a LinkedIn Clubhouse. The clubhouse promised an in-house party and calm atmosphere for gold and platinum pass holders as it featured a bar, food and a balcony view of the Croissette. The visitors of Cannes Lions who were looking to experience something new and interesting apart from the flamboyance of the festival were swept off their feet with the concept of the Clubhouse and were highly appreciative of the same. LinkedIn is further expected to be hosting a number of sessions such as ‘The Secrets behind Content Marketing from LinkedIn’ and a drop-in profile page clinic at Cannes Lions ‘15. These experiences are only expected to add brownie points for LinkedIn as a brand who has truly managed to use the opportunity in the best manner possible.
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fter holding exclusive pre-parties in twelve different cities, the hunt for the perfect bloc for the Karbonn Smart MTV Bloc Party is finally over. The party people have voted for Juhu Bloc in Mumbai to host the Bloc Party where MTV will pack in a crazy sundowner by the beach and massive after-parties spread all across the city-bloc. MTV brings together more than 30 world-class DJs to spin the music for the Karbon Smart MTV Bloc Party. The 2 day dance music festival set smack in heart of party capital Mumbai will be headlined by DJ BL3ND and Bassjackers, and will feature Rewire & Varski, Nucleya, Ash Roy, Ashwin Sharma, Ankytrixx, Reggae Rajahs, Lost Stories, Su Real and many more spinning music right across the bloc on April 11 and 12, 2015. Hosted by MTV’s music man Nikhil Chinapa, MTV is all set bring the dance music scene alive. MTV is bringing to India for the first time DJ BL3ND to headline the MTV’s Bloc Party. This Los Angeles native, DJ BL3ND has a staggering 360 million YouTube views and more than 4 million Facebook followers for his crazy videos and electrifying live sets. Few electronic artists can match the stage presence and energy of DJ BL3ND, something that his legion of super-fans (popularly known as BL3NDERS) would vouch for. Over the years, his success has been documented by everyone from Billboard, to SoundCloud, to DJ Mag. He’s the record-holder on Billboard’s Uncharted Chart, holding the top spot for 62 weeks; and was also named SoundCloud ‘Artist of the Year.’ And, joining him are the American DJ and Producer duo who share a great passion for house music, Bassjackers. Comprising of Marlon Flohr and Ralph van Hilst, Bassjackers is known for beatport toppers like ‘Mush Mush’, ‘Hey!’, ‘Grid’ and many more. The duo have remixed for Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias and Moby; and performed in Ibiza alongside Tiësto, and in Las Vegas alongside Afrojack, and continue to tour around the globe. MTV is also featuring Electronic Dance Music producers and DJ performers including Rewire & Varski, Nucleya, Ash Roy, Ashwin Sharma, Ankytrixx, Reggae Rajahs, Lost Stories, Su Real and many more! On April 11th, gates open at 3PM and the party starts at the beachfront Juhu Hotel and spills out to multiple night-party blocs across Juhu. The wrist-band that the party goers will get at this gate will serve as the entry pass for all the party venues across the entire bloc. It’s a party in the heart of the city starting on the sands of Juhu Beach – nothing like a sundowner to kick-off a party at the beginning of the summer season. So, no need to waste monies on flight-tickets, no long drives, no booking hotels, no applying for travel leave, and no backpacking trips! This is a two day dance music that comes right at your doorsteps, bang in middle of the city and is much more than incredible music. The party-goers will need just ONE TICKET to attend all the parties all through the bloc. They can club hop with the MTV hop-on-hop-off Bloc Party cabswhich will ferry them across venues and the music travels with them to ensure a seamless party transition. Speaking about this unique party concept Sumeli Chatterjee, Head – Marketing, Media and Insights, MTV said, “MTV’s Bloc Party brings the party right at your doorsteps in the city with not just one or two stages, but integrates the whole of Juhu bloc. Crazy audio-visuals and massive sundowner live acts by our world-class DJs that spread across both the days; young people will definitely take back happy party memories from this music festival. We are playing with concept of light and geometry that will make it a spectacular and musical sunset by the beach, and a treat in the Mumbai summer. And, to top it all, with just one ticket one can ride on a fun club-hop post the sunset, where music follows your footsteps.” Speaking on the association with MTV Bloc Party, Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles says, “MTV has the finger on the pulse of the youth and by partnering with the channel on exclusive concepts like MTV Bloc Party, we are looking forward to reaching out to the urbane youth who prefers to be connected with their peer groups 24X7 and enjoys innovative technology. By combining cutting-edge mobile technologies with the best of music & dance experience, we at Karbonn endeavour to bring the consumers larger-than-life opportunities of entertainment, fun and engagement.”
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Welcome the monsoon with an umbrella full of world-class experiences through a unique seasonal camp initiated by Mount Litera School International (MLSI), Bandra and Findurclass.com. This camp has been conceptualized keeping in mind the necessities and interests of children representing the age groups of 4-7 years & 8-12 years. Monsoon camp will engage young ones through interactive sessions and workshops on aero modelling, forensic research, computer programming, gardening, photography, soccer, culinary education, music, paper craft, and storytelling, fitness and dance comprising of jazz, among others. Aforementioned activities have modules which are easy and hassle free, leading to a well-rounded personality fostering both success and happiness for the child. The main objective of this camp by Mount Litera schools is said to be helping kids acquire a perfect balance between skills and academics while creating diverse experiences for their overall development in the process. Another interesting part of the camp is that students from all walks of life and different backgrounds and can be a part of this camp for free. Dates: 29th June, 2015 – 31st July, 2015 Age group: 4-7 years & 8-12 years Duration: 3 hours per day for 4 weeks Contact: 9930910000 or log onto http://www.findurclass.com/monsoon-activity-popup
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Known as one of the pioneers of international dance in India, Ashley Lobo, Indian Australian choreographer has recently started India’s first repertory dance theatre company Navdhara, thus adding another feather to the cap of the choreographer post DanceWorx which has over 5000 students. With the aim to put India on the Globe in terms of dance theatre, the USP of Navdhaara lies in its abstract format. The audience can draw their own conclusions about the dance and the performance will be followed by an interactive session where the audience can share their own perspective at the end of the show. With their theatrical productions ‘Amaara’ scheduled to be premiered in Mumbai on March 26, followed by shows in Delhi and USA in the next 3 months; EE spoke to the choreographer about their latest production, its concept and other integrating elements. “International Dance Theater as an art is very new in India, the dance form is very abstract in comparison to Indian contemporary art forms which have a story so the idea behind the setting up of Navdhaara India Dance Theater (NDIT) was to bring something new in the country.”- says Lobo, as he explains the idea behind the setting up of NDIT. When asked upon what separates International Dance Theater from other forms of dance, Ashley Lobo responds by saying, “The movement style of this form of theater are very abstract. With most dance performances in India being hugely scaled with multiple highlights the international dance theater symbolizes minimalism, so just like modern art you also have modern dance.” Producing theatrical productions is a costly affair so how does NDIT manage upon the return on investment? To this Ashley Lobo says- “The return on investment here is that we are carving a way for others to follow. Our main aim through Amaara is to go out and do dance better and bring the industry to a different level as far as Dance Theater is concerned.” “In India currently most dancer performances rely on tricks and their main aim is wowing the audience rather than engaging them in dance. In the international world that is looked down upon, so we are trying to go to the international space and it’s a big experiment even for us as the Indian audience is used to being wowed. But through NDIT we aspire to bring in India an international dance form and to elevate the level of dance in the country.”- completes Lobo.
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Furtados launched their music training school activity for kids today at KidZania Mumbai the global indoor theme park. The launch of the Furtados School of Music (FSM) activity was done by Gino Banks a versatile musician who has worked at both local and international level. In its 15 months of operations KidZania Mumbai has attracted more than 500,000 visitors. As it is a concept that drives fun through learning, over 150 schools have sent 125,000 kids to KidZania through their school excursion program. It is also becoming a popular place to host birthday parties. At the FSM activity children will learn the nuances of music like rhythm, melody and tempo.Through this activity kids willget together to form their own bands, experience playing various musical instruments like keyboards, drums and guitars and give a public performance. This activity aims at helping children to understand their interest in music and teach them importance of team work and co-ordination while honing their creativity. Speaking on the occasion, Viraj Jit Singh – Chief Marketing Officer, KidZania India, said “KidZania believes that creative expression is an important part for the overall development of kids. We are very happy to welcomeFurtados School of Music asour marketing partner to offer kids a fun filled experience of learning to play various musical instruments and build their confidence through their performance as a band. It was our pleasure to have the activity inaugurated by a most versatile player Gino Banks whose love for music started at a very young age. ” Tanuja Gomes, Co CEO, Furtados School of Music, said “The vision of FSM is to offer quality music education in an interactive and fun filled manner. We are excited to partner with KidZania and offer our band sampler programme. Music is such an integral part of a child’s development and has virtually no barriers of accessibility. We are sure this will make our programme among the favourites at KidZania. Our greatest rewards will be seeing proud and over joyed parents and friends watching their children perform live on stage. We are delighted and thankful to Gino Banks, our Drums Mentor at FSM and renowned musician, for making himself available and agreeing to inaugurate our offering at KidZania.”
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The second edition of the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival was able to generate a tremendous amount of buzz from the moment it was announced. After all it was the first ever performance of the satirical British comedian, Russel Brand, in India. While reaching the Talkatora Stadium on June 26 ’15 one could easily anticipate the amount of hard work put in by the organizers of the event. Clearly displayed sign boards at equal distances and well mapped out security ensured that the problems of traffic were taken care of. The entry into the auditorium was easy but like most events, not even a bottle of water was permissible inside the auditorium. Clearly the organizers have not experienced the horrifying heat in Delhi the way we have, Anyhow. As I entered it was surprising to notice that not even half of the total seats of the venue were occupied and the results of an inadequate marketing campaign were widely evident. We did see some outdoor advertising in the city and Comedy Central had been announcing the event for a while, but clearly that wasn’t enough given the turn out at the event. The event did not start on time (Namaste India!) and the audience faced a collective dilemma whether should they move out for some food or stay and patiently wait for their moment to Chuckle.The curtainsrose at 8 PM as the insanely funny Sanjay Manaktala welcomed the audience. Sanjay was effortlessly charming with his puns on his own accent and his corny yet hilarious representation of an Indian woman while taking seflies pulled the crowd together. And so just 5 minutes into the beginning of the fest the audience could already be seen chuckling. Second in line was Jeeveshu Ahluwalia who was absolutely riveting with his unabashed and unapologetic depiction of the problems of a fat man dealing with ordinary struggles of life. NeetiPaltawas OK!Her performance at the most was average as the audience struggled to find reasons to laugh. The biggest surprise came when Sanjay Manaktala announced the absence of Papa CJ from the show. With Papa CJ being prominently advertised to perform at the event,I too like most fans present in the auditorium felt somewhat cheated. Though organizers claimed the reason for the last hour cancellation wasa result of him missing his flight, inside sources reveal that Papa CJ was very well present in Delhi on the day. His absence was because he never signed the contract with Chuckle Fest to begin with. The source quotes, “Though negotiations were ongoing, a final deal was never struck. Live Viacom18 sent Papa CJ an amended contract at 6PM while the show was about to begin at 7.30 on the same night.” Interestingly, validating this point is the fact that Papa CJ who is quite active on social media never really posted anything about being a part of the Chuckle Festival. So was this event an effort to capitalize on his popularity? Oh well. The disappointed audience was comforted almost instantly as Russell Brand took to the stage. The 40-year-old performer truly lived up to his name from the moment he stepped on the stage and had the audiences hooked onto his one-liners and strong witticismsright from the get go. His signature British accent, crude cockney slang and the part where he involved the audience through phone conversations made the audience stand up from their chairs and applaud him. Needless to say Brand was at the top of his game here and delivered a great performance to his fans in Delhi. Big smiles exiting the auditorium were evidence of an audience having received its money’s worth. Though it may have grappleda bitin terms of execution but the second edition of the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival 2015 indeed managed to make the audience Chuckle as promised. Yes a lot of things from dirty toilets to Papa CJ-gone-missing irked me, but it is the overall enjoyment quotient that actually matters for an event at the end and,as far as the deliverables of the main content is concerned,the Chuckle Festival was absolutely bang on.
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Select CITYWALK as part of its Select CITYART initiatives brings art to public domain: “Back to Life” A life Size Dinosaur Art Installation made completely out of recyclable Egg Trays. With this Installation conceptualized by Ankiit Malhotra of CommeSogno Vero and executed by Artist AnantMisra, the idea of the entire concept is to bring out the limitless creativity. The Installation is a recollection of the fact that if not dealt right, the Earth (Mother Nature) will soon ensure slow disappearance of the human race exactly how the dinosaurs went extinct with the changing ecosystem. Many of us speak about recycling waste, but a very few of us follow! With this installation, the artist displays the fact that if the resources are not used judiciously and the ones used resources are not recycled, human race just like the giant creatures would soon head to Mayday and run the risk of extinction, sooner than later. Also, the artist is appreciative of the fact with this life size installation, that if a living being as massive as the dinosaur can get extinct with the changing ecosystem, then the day is not far when mankind should expect a similar fate! Let’s all pledge for a better and brighter future for all and work towards a new way of life which runs on RRR(Reduce, Reuse and recycle).
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Jerry Seinfeld, the name largely speaks for itself. Proclaimed as the12th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central, the American comedian, actor, writer, and producer was slated to perform at the Stage 42 festival at SVP Stadium, NSCI in Mumbai last weekend. This event being organized by Only Much Louder was not only heavily publicized withbrands like Askme.com and Baccardi acting as sponsors but the fans too were eagerly awaitingJerry’sfirst ever show in Asia. But joining the long list of ill-fated international acts, this event too got cancelled over the weekend leaving the event industry abuzz with speculations and creating uproar on social media. What led to this last minute cancellation? Was the event a hoax from the get go? Or was it another example of a mismanaged event? With everyone giving their own answers about the fallout at the last hour, EE managed to speak to VijayNair, CEO & Co-Founder, OML,who shared with us the reason behind the last minute cancellation. “Everything was on track till Wednesday, March 11, when we were informed that the show cannot take place because the Mumbai Police would not give licenses for a show on a weekend at NSCI. In my understanding, this was largely due to a major fracas caused by a recent event where at the same venue there were issues related to traffic being held up. An unfortunate reaction to this was that the Police had to re-think licensing of events in this venue. However, the first time we were told about this issue was on March 11. We did everything we could to come up with solutions, including: 1) We offered to book additional parking. Parking for 600 more vehicles were available in the vicinity. 2) We offered to do the show at 3pm instead, so that traffic would be minimal. However, the above was not satisfactory for the authorities and we were told that the event would not get a license. We also spoke to a few members of Parliament who we know, ministers in the government, all of whom tried to help and speak with the authorities, but eventually they all came back saying it wouldn’t be possible. So on the night of the 11th, a few hours before the artist’s crew was going to get on a flight, we called them and cancelled the show. The private jet which was booked for the artist was also cancelled. We were on the verge of announcing the cancellation yesterday when we got a call from the authorities, and I was called for a meeting. Since this would be a last-minute cancellation, the authorities were trying to help us with a plan to let this weekend’s events go on. We were now told that we could get the permission, tentatively, as well. Having cancelled the performance with the artist already, we did our best to re-book a charter and look at every possible option to get them here on time. Unfortunately, with all our travel arrangements changed, parking slots cancelled and crew being re-assigned, it became impossible to make this work. While the chance of making this happen again, at this late a time, was minimal, we did everything we could to make it work. We found a few flight options that could work, but the rest of the logistics couldn’t come together. It was just too late. In short, we were trying to arrange what took us a month the first time around, in 12 hours time.”-quotes Vijay Nayar. FANS TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO VOICE THEIR OPINIONS ON THE CANCELLATION OF JERRY SEINFELD AND REGISTERED SOME INTERESTING RESPONSES ON THE SAME. AMAN SETH USED FACEBOOK TO EXPRESS HIS THOUGHTS AND UPDATED- They were right. The world has become very small and connected. I mean, Jerry Seinfeld will be spending his saturday night alone at home in USA because of parking problem in India. -.- #SeinfeldCancelled AN INTERESTING RESPONSE FROM NISHANTTANWAR WAS A SARCASTIC COMMENT WHICH READ- Now waiting for another documentary as a gift from some foreigner called “Parking in India!” #SeinfeldCancelled SAPANVERMA TOOK OUT HIS ANGER ON THE INCIDENT BY POSTING- Situations where Mumbai doesn’t have “parking issues”: – Match at Wankhede. – Political rallies at MMRDA. – Bollywood award shows anywhere. If parking was really an issue, the govt should’ve shut down all offices in Andheri East a decade ago. #SeinfeldCancelled The twitterverse too, witnessed some explosive reactions on the Jerry Seinfeld Cancellation with SagarMehratweeting- @sagarvmehra Mar 13 Congratulations fellow Mumbaikars! Our infrastructure has made it to Jerry Seinfeld’s future monologues! Way to go!! #SeinfeldCancelled HardikShah,said; @hardlyavailable Mar 13 Moral police cancels AIB show, traffic police cancels Seinfeld show. Clearly the only comedy we get is from our police #SeinfeldCancelled @shiladitya Mar 13 Much respect to @vijay_nair and his calm, concise explanations of what led to #SeinfeldCancelled hope this turns around for all it impacted An event of such high magnitude when cancelled results in an earth shattering set-back for the organizers. In the past, events of international performers like Christopher Nolan and the band Metallica have also been cancelled creating bigger problems for the organizers in the process. The operational head Rajesh Chandwani and his three team members of DNA Entertainment Network event even went behind the bars as the police had received several complaints after the Metallica show was cancelled. On being asked how will OML survive this loss, Vijay Nayar-“ A lot of you have been nice enough to send me texts and messages to see if we are doing alright. I am not going to lie. The loss from this show is the single biggest loss for us ever and possibly among the biggest in our industry. We are still a small company of 70 people and have worked really hard to get where we are at. This is a significant setback and looking at Excel sheets right now is not a particularly pleasant exercise. However, businesses are not run by Excel sheets, they are run by people. My team has the capacity to absorb this and continue pushing ahead, but many others won’t and it will be a tragedy if people have to shut down their businesses for things that they can’t control. So yes, we will survive this and will do whatever it takes to ensure that situations like these don’t arise in the future.” Members of the event industry too seemed disturb about the sudden cancellation of this much hyped event. HumayoonZaidi, CEO, Event Network says-“The situation is very sad from the industries point of view. The organizing team was prepared for the event but because of the existing red tapism the event could not take place. The surprising fact is that till now, multiple events have taken place at the same venue but the police have never created a problem before.” Amanveer Singh, Director at Ten Events and Entertainments comments-“The cancellation of this event has led to heavy discussions happening internally at EEMA. The event has been cancelled due to government interventions, what needs to be done now is reaching out to the public and explaining the entire situation.” So what can an organizer do if a heavily marketed event falls apart at the last minute due to divergent reasons? Do event companies have a contingency action map planned for such times? SharadMathur, Director of EMG Entertainment address the questions and responds-“Events can always have plan A and B but if the main content of the show that sells the tickets goes missing how can you ever replace that? There is no backup for such circumstances. When asked upon where does the solution lie to avoid such last minute fallouts? SharadMathur completes his stance by saying- “Well, I think it is time now for the entire industry to unite and figure out the reasons behind the cancellations of such events and institutions like the government of India should support us. We also promote international culture when we organize such events and thus we need to find out the real issues that lead to cancellation of such events and jointly work towards resolving them.”
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In a country like India, Trucking as a profession has always been looked down upon. Even though it is known to be one of the most profitable careers across the world, trucking is one of those cultures that really never caught on in India in form of a main stream career option. After receiving an invitation to T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship on March 15, 2015, one might think is it even possible to have trucks race around the Buddha International Circuit Track like highly specialized and modified vehicles? But all such perceptions were immediately void as one would walk into the arena. With a crowd of over 35000 cheering, hooting and roaring on the top of their lungs the atmosphere was simply electrifying. Tata Motors should certainly be applauded for attempting to bring in a whole new culture in the country. “Making Trucking the new cool” is not easy considering how undermined it is in India but together with the event company T.I.C. who executed the event, they managed to put on a championship that could easily compete with racing events of global standards. The season 2 of Tata Motors T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship began with the signature Harley Bike Drive followed by the T1 Prima Truck Racing Parade wherein the giants about to be locked into a glorious battle were showcased. The six teams for Championship Season II were – Team Castrol Vecton, Team Cummins, Team Tata Technologies Motorsports, Team Allied Partners ,Team Dealer Warriors and Team Dealer Daredevils. The opening ceremony also witnessed interesting performances by numerous Bollywood celebrities with actor/anchor Manish Paul introducing them. While Badshah, the notable rapper performed on songs like Saturday and Abhi to Party ShuruHuiHai, it was the magnificent trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy which truly charmed the audiences with performances on songs like- Hindustani. An additional performance by Benny Dayal however, could not meet up the expectations of people as the artist appeared to be completely off mood with the dynamics of the event. However what ‘T1 Truck Racing Championship’ got bang on was the milieu: the atmospherics, the organizing, and the edge of the seat action of the race itself. The adrenalin rush and high speed corners had the audience roaring with each twist and turn. Even with the major downpour acting as the biggest obstacle in the race, it was unable to bring down the spirit of the participants who gave it their best to wow the audience with their terrific driving capabilities. Rasheed Syed, a spectator who also attended the season 1 of the championship said- “This edition is certainly better. It’s better managed, the crowd is more and we are all excited. But I do feel they could have taken better care of the time as the event is late on schedule.” The winners of the race was Stuart Oliver of Team Castrol Vecton, Steve Thomas of Team Allied Partners was the first runner-up, with Steven Powell of Team Tata Technologies clinching the second runner-up spot. Apart from the race itself, the highlights of the event also included the social media stations located at various places where in the audience could take pictures from and directly upload them, a specialized kids corner that featured in numerous cartoon avatars, the Tata Motors parade that featured all heavy automobiles by the company and closing ceremony witnessed performances by Badshah and Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy with an added laser and firework show to engage the audience. The organizers T.I.C and the Tata Motors have truly managed to create their own niche in this first of its kind event in India, but with the promise of a third edition being even bigger the result is going to be something to look out for.
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