MUMBAI: The Essar Group today announced the appointment of Shivnath Thukral as its Group President ? Corporate Branding & Strategic Initiatives, effective October 12, 2009.

Shivnath holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, and also has a Master?s Degree in Media from the U.S. He was with NDTV previously where he served for 14 years in different capacities, the last as Group Business Editor and Advisor ? Strategy.

Speaking on his new appointment, Mr. Shashi Ruia said: ?Shivnath has a rich experience of analyzing Indian businesses, financial markets and economic affairs. He also brings to the table international experience of engaging with global thinkers, economists and CEOs. His skills and expertise will be invaluable in strategically reaching out to appropriately position the Essar Brand with its various stake holders whilst articulating and helping Essar?s journey from being a domestic manufacturing company to being a respected global entrepreneur.?

With operations in five continents, Essar has made several global acquisitions and alliances in the last few years. It has launched a refreshed brand identity and vision that is in keeping with its changing profile. Shivnath?s inclusion in its senior leadership team will add great value to the transformational process the Group is going through currently.

The Group has inducted some world-class talent to join its senior management to drive its global growth strategy. Most recent among them is Malay Mukherjee, a member of the Arcelor Mittal Group Management Board, who has joined as CEO for Essar Steel Business.

MUMBAI: DQ Entertainment had instituted The Lifetime Achievement Award last year at the Cannes Film Festival "MIPCOM 2008" to be presented annually to artists who during their lifetime have made creative contribution of outstanding significance to entertainment that goes beyond cultural, linguistic and other boundaries. The recipient of the award is selected by an eminent jury comprising leading broadcasters, producers & senior journalists from the media & entertainment industry.

The 2008 DQE Lifetime Achievement Award was posthumously awarded to Rene Goscinny in recognition of his contribution towards children entertainment. Rene Goscinny is the creator of characters like ‘Le Petit Nicolas‘ ‘Asterix‘ and ‘Lucky Luke‘. Anne Goscinny - Daughter of the late Rene Goscinny, received the award on his behalf.

The 2009 DQE Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded to J.K. Rowling for her outstanding contribution towards children entertainment. J.K Rowling is the author and creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The esteemed jury were almost unanimous in their choice of J.K. Rowling - who has inspired the minds of millions of people around the world, and has given rise to a whole new generation of young readers. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention; won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and a string of films have been produced based on the series.

The award ceremony was held at Hotel Martinez at Cannes on 4th Oct, which was star-studded with Industry peers from ZDF, Classic Media, Nickelodeon, American Greetings, Marvel, M6 France, BBC, Disney, Mike Young Productions, Gruppo Alcuni, Turner Asia, France 3, Moonscoop, Method Animation, TF1 and a host of others.

Mr. Josh Berger, President and MD Warner Brothers Entertainment UK received the Award on behalf of J.K. Rowling.

MUMBAI: Zee TV?s popular show, ?Aap Ki Antara? has been bestowed an honour of being the Best Serial of the Year 2009 by the Varisht Nagrik Kesari Club, a social wing of leading Hindi newspaper, ?Punjab Kesari?. Impressed by the show?s earnest social cause of spreading awareness about Autism amongst its viewers the channel and the lead character of the show, Zaina Vastani (5 years) were felicitated at a grand event at the Capital. The nominations and the winners were chosen through the readers? survey conducted by the publication. The grand event was attended by around 2000 people with respected filmmaker Subhash Ghai being the Chief Guest of the evening. Little Zaina was overwhelmed by the appreciation and attention received from the dignitaries and the viewers.

?Aap Ki Anatra? is a survival story of an autistic girl Antara. As a part of the show?s telecast the channel has launched a helpline for Autism queries from its viewers. Special videos of real-life parents of autistic kids have been telecast at the end of every episode to make the viewers aware of the symptoms and corrective measures on Autism. These noble initiatives by the channel have garnered a lot of queries and feedback on the show from across the country and abroad. A lot of couples have posted their heart-wrenching stories to the channel. Zee TV has also been partnering with various workshops arranged for parents of the autistic children which can help them cope up with their kids? behaviour and thereby help them lead a normal life.

Commenting on the same, Ajay Bhalwankar, Programming Head, Zee TV, said, ?The show has been awarded due to its path breaking concept and amazing response from the audience. Zee TV has always been the pioneer of raising social issues and creating awareness and so through ?Aap Ki Antara? we have aimed to create public awareness about Autism & sensitize the society towards this issue. With such encouraging feedback, the channel has once again lived up to its tag line of ?Har Pal Banaye Ek Naya Rishta? and established a special bond with the viewers.?

MUMBAI: There is good news for listeners of Radio Misty 943.f m, the First and Number One fm station of North Bengal and Sikkim .Radio Misty have started with a unique contest Malamaal Daily for Dhanteras in association with Big Bazaar where listeners have an opportunity to win silver and gold coins daily. This Nine day contest will focus on questions about Music, Bollywood and General subjects.

On Dhanteras it‘s auspicious to purchase gold or silver articles or at least one or two new utensils. It is believed that new ‘Dhan‘or some form of Precious metal is a sign of good luck. The Grand Finale of this contest will be held at Big Bazaar store in Siliguri on Dhanteras.Celebrity RJ will be present their with luck listeners who will given silver and gold coins. There will be a quiz at the spot where more gifts await for listeners.

Says, Nishant Mittal, Chief Executive Officer, Radio Misty we will connect our listeners‘ with this unique contest on this auspicious occasion. We are planning more fun on Radio on Deepwali also.

 
MUMBAI: eo Cricket brings to its viewers non-stop cricketing action this season with the telecast of premier domestic one-day tournament, NKP Salve Challengers Series 2009 live and exclusive starting from 8th October till 11th October.

Challengers Series is a short tournament of 4 one day matches with plenty of fireworks, featuring current & upcoming cricketers of India. The series is played with the purpose of show-casing the talent that the country has, as well as providing opportunities to younger players to make an impression

India?s best cricketing talents will play against each other at Nagpur this year for the Challenger Series. While Yuvraj Singh will captain the India Red team, Suresh Raina will lead the India Green team and India Blue team will be lead by Mahendra Singh Dhoni whose team also includes the powerhouse performer, Sachin Tendulkar.

TEAMS:

India Red: Yuvraj Singh (captain), M Vijay, Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Sudeep Tyagi, Munaf Patel, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishant Sharma, Harshad Khadiwale

India Green: Suresh Raina (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Tanmay Srivastava, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Inder Singh, S Badrinath, Chetanya Nanda, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Manoj Tiwary, Shadab Jakati, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pankaj Singh, Uday Kaul

India Blue: MS Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Jalaj Saxena, Suresh Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha (possible wicket keeper), Harbhajan Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Dhiraj Goswami

Commenting on the live telecast of NKP Salve Challengers Series on NEO Cricket, Mautik Tolia, Head Programming ? NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. said, ? Reiterating our commitment towards bringing our viewers the best of cricketing action on our channel, we will be telecasting the premium one day tournament, Challengers Series from 8th to 11th October. Since this series will be soon followed by the India - Australia ODIs, it will provide the best possible match practice for the Indian players just ahead of the vital series.?

The channel entertained its viewers from 1st to 5th October with live and exclusive cricketing action from the Irani Trophy. Starting 25th October, Neo Cricket is all set to bring to its viewers live action of Australia?s tour of India ODI matches.

MUMBAI

: The extremely talented Konkana Sen Sharma was at the Radio Mirchi studio today to talk about her upcoming release ?Wake up Sid?. She was heard chatting with RJ Suren on Mumbai?s No.1 evening drive time show ?Sunset samosa?

RJ Suren requested Konkana if he could address her as ?Koko? and the amiable actress readily agreed. She spoke to RJ Suren about her role in the movie, her experience of working with Ranbir Kapoor and director Ayaan Mukherjee, and about her take on the older woman-younger man relation.

The giggly Konkana was in splits when she by mistake said that her character was in love with a kid fresh out of ?school? instead of saying college. Laughing uncontrollably she went on to explain the role further ?I play Aisha, a mature, independent writer who comes to Mumbai from Kolkata to follow her dreams and she is instrumental in waking up Sid?

Speaking on the older woman ? younger man relationship, she expressed that if the woman is a couple of years older, it should be perfectly acceptable, and that it was high time, people consider it as normal. She shared that she had recently discovered that Radha was a whole thirteen years older than Lord Krishna too!

Contrary to what most people think, Wake up Sid is not only a movie for the youth, it is based on Aisha and Sid?s relationship dynamics and how it changes him. She revealed that the movie is meant for the young and old alike.

Wake up Sid is a much awaited film that releases this week and is directed by first time director Ayaan Mukhrerjee.

?Wake up Sid?, ?Iktaara? and ?Kya karoon? from the movie have already become favourites and can be heard on Mumbai?s No.1 Radio station - Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM ? Its Hot!

About Radio Mirchi:
A leader in the private FM radio industry, Radio Mirchi operates FM radio stations in 32 cities i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Patna, Jalandhar, Goa, Baroda, Bhopal, Kanpur, Rajkot, Nashik, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Lucknow, Surat, Kolhapur, Madurai, Nagpur, Vishakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Vijayawada, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Jabalpur. ENIL launched its first radio station in the city of Indore in October 2001.