MUMBAI: What?s The Next Stop For Crude Oil ? Will it go up further or down. Find out from legendary investor and commodity market guru Jim Rogers as he speaks out in an exclusive interview with English business news channel UTVi. ?Hot Commodities? will air on Saturday at 2:30 & 11:30 pm and on Sunday at 1:30 pm & 4:30 pm respectively.

Interviewing Jim Rogers will be Stocks Editor Rahul Arora, who hosts UTVi?s prime time stock market shows like Dealing Room & Tomorrow?s Bets. In the half-hour interview, Jim speaks on speculation in the oil market, the need for investments in gold, the need for correction in base metals, agri-commodities, the recession of the dollar in the US market, advice about investment as well as the future of India and China.

Jim Rogers is a legendary top-down global investor; he takes bets on countries. He was George Soros‘s partner for 10 years and chose to "retire" in 1980 to pursue another career. Between 1990 and 1992, he traveled the world on a motorcycle to gain firsthand knowledge of the world. He wrote about his experiences in Investment Biker: Around The World With Jim Rogers and followed this up with a unique combination of travel, adventure, risk, economics and investing. He went around the world once again in the late 1990s, this time in a modified Mercedes and wrote Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip Jim follows commodites very closely and wrote a book on the subject three years ago. The title - Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably In The World?s Best Market.

Rogers likes to enter a country and buy stocks before any other foreign investor. And he is known to short a country just when everybody‘s else is turning bullish. Besides managing his own portfolio, he has taught Finance at Columbia Business School and hosted finance shows on television. So tune in to UTVi this weekend for an exclusive tete a tete with Jim Roger.

MUMBAI: What do these Hollywood blockbusters - Da Vinci Code, Pink Panther, Munich and Rush Hour 3 have in common? Not only do they owe their success to excellent film-making, but also attribute its success to the visually captivating and one of the most splendid landscapes and architectural masterpieces of France!

Closer home, Raj Kapoor‘s 1964 blockbuster hit "Sangam" was the first Indian movie shot in France, and after the success of Don and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom more Indian producers are now viewing France as the next hot Film shoot destination.

Last week a delegation of Indian producers visited the regions of Provence-Alpes-C?te d‘Azur and Rh?nes-Alpes, with the purpose of using France as a location for their future shoots. Put together for the giants of the Indian film fraternity by Maison de la France India and Film France, this was the very first time that the national agencies for promotion of tourism and film came together to put up such a project.

This trip, aptly nicknamed "Sangam Tour" - a tribute to the 1964 masterpiece created by Raj Kapoor, the very first Indian film shot in France - has enabled these great directors of Indian cinema to discover PACA and Rh?nes-Alpes. After being astonished with the number of spectacular landscapes of Nice, they then discovered the regions of Provence, le Lub?ron, Lyon and massif of Mont Blanc. "I didn‘t expect such diversity in landscapes: The different number of backdrops which we can use in our films has surpassed all our expectations. All of us are very tempted", confides Suresh Laxmanan, producer of the 2007 super hit movie Billa.

"Helping them discover the regions of C?te d‘Azur and the Alpine mountains has allowed us to broaden the Indian producer‘s perception of France. In this manner we will be able to increase the number of Indian film shootings in France which, in these last few years, were concentrated only on Paris and Corsica", explains Franck Priot, Deputy Director of Film France.

While Niranjan Patwardhan has already made plans to return to France in August to shoot his next blockbuster -Fashion with leading Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra, Mr. Ravi Gupta, C.E.O of Mukta Arts in Bombay appreciates the quality of light in the south of France, and how fast it is to travel from the Mediterranean to the Alps. "I am convinced that filming in France is economically reasonable when you consider all that you will be capturing on camera; A rich heritage of natural and historical landscapes", says Ravi Gupta.

Maison de la France, the French tourist office in India aims at promoting France as a tourist destination whereas Film France, a part of the Ministry of culture strives to popularise France as a filming destination. The nuptial of cinema and tourism is the very first one of its kind. "Promoting France to the Indian producers is the current important project we are working on and which is fundamental for our strategy in this market. In India, Cinema and Tourism are intimately linked to each other, every Indian production that is accomplished in France will increase the tourist inflow in the country", explains Karim Mekachera, Director of Maison de la France India.

The Producers Who Visited France:
Mr. Sridhar Viswanathan Lakshmi- Oscar Films Pvt Ltd
Mr. Ravi Gupta - Mukta Arts
Mr. Niranjan R. Patwardhan - UTV Motion Pictures
Mr. Suresh Laxmanan - Ananda Pictures Circuit
Ms. Shenazz Bomanshah Nadirshah - freelance producer representing Pictures Ltd and Popcorn Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd.

MUMBAI: Bindass Movies, India‘s Apna Hollywood channel brings around not a handful but a bag full of piping hot new movies this July. 17 movies premiere, funniest Comedies, creepiest horrors and pumping action, the whole month on the Indian telly screens at 8.45 pm. So while the rains keep you from venturing outdoors tune in to your favorite Bindass Movies channel and watch the best of Hollywood come alive.

While Will Smith gets wrongly accused in ‘The Enemy of the State‘ on 20 July, the world seems to come to an end due to global warming in ‘The Day After Tomorrow‘ on 6th July. As sharks attack unsuspecting teens in ‘Shark Attack‘ on July 23rd the tornados destroy cities in ‘Atomic twister‘ on 24 July As space shuttles struggle underwater in ‘Deep Resque‘ on 22 July, submarines get hit by Nuclear bombs in ‘Maiden Voyage‘ on 21 July and after all action packed drama, the wonderful adventures of ‘Starsky and Hutch‘ come by to tickle your funny bone.

Sundays would be agile with action pack films; Fridays would be comic and bring in the celebration of the weekend with comedy films. And Saturdays would bring along exclusive premiers of blockbuster hits like ‘The Mimic Series‘ on 5 & 12 July, ‘Hindalgo‘ on 27 July and ‘Final Encounter‘ on 26 July.

Also in store is the exclusive Ben Stiller special on 25th July, 2008. An entire day dedicated to the man and his remarkable films, Duplex at 12.45 pm, Heavy Weight at 6:45 p.m, Starsky and Hutch at 8.45 pm.

So with a perfect blend of Action, Comedy and Drama, you definitely have a bowl full of visual treat. Get a taste of your Apna Hollywood, tune into Bindass movies all of this month of July, you‘ll surely not regret when it rains.

MUMBAI: AMO Communications was declared the winner of the UNFPA-Laadli National Creative Excellence Awards for Social Change by ‘Population First‘ for the category - print ads/cartoons at the awards ceremony, held on June 30, 2008 at Y. B Chavan Hall. (For the winning campaign ? please ref. attachment)

Suneel Katarnave - Art Director and Viral Bhatt - Copy writer, teamed up to execute the campaign idea. The awards were open to creative professionals from any organisation and also to freelance professionals. The categories for the awards included TVCs; slogans, lyrics and songs; print ads/cartoons; posters/outdoor media; photography; and innovative merchandise materials. The entries were judged by some of the stalwarts in the advertising industry viz. AP Parigi, MG Parameswaran, Pranesh Misra, Mohammed Khan, Pradeep Guha, Priti Nair and Ramesh Narayan.

‘Population First‘, a Mumbai based NGO working on population and health issues within the framework of women‘s rights and social development had instituted these awards to specifically target the social issue of female foeticide and falling sex ratio in the country.
‘Laadli‘ is the name of an ongoing girl child campaign in Mumbai.

AMO Communications also bagged the bronze at the Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC) Social Awareness Campaign competition, presented by Outdoor Advertising magazine (OAM) & Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA).

The winners were announced at a grand award ceremony at the OAC 2008 convention, held at Nehru Science Center, Worli on 28th June 2008. The contest was launched by IOAA to creatively highlight social issues that needed to be addressed. The winning concepts would be rolled out as a campaign across outdoor formats in the country. The competition received more than 3000 entries from across the country and was judged by a jury of senior advertising, marketing and media professionals headed by Pratap Bose, CEO, O&M. Minoti Shetye and Gwendoline Fernandez, from AMO Communications, bagged the bronze for their entry on ‘Stop Domestic Violence‘. (plz ref. attachment)

Commenting on the win, Elvis Dias, Managing Director, AMO Communications said: "The recent spate of awards for AMO proves that our pursuit for creative excellence has now become a process. A lot of social messages are shocking but fail to connect with the heart.

The trick in designing communication aimed at influencing social change is to create something that connects with the heart. The message must convert to action, only then it would have achieved success. I think this is exactly what the team has achieved."

"We have set aside a budget to actively promote communication towards initiating social change and will be executing such campaigns across various mediums. This gives us immense satisfaction. Next on the line is a campaign to deter the spit fire types from painting the town red, with an edible but non-edible substance, called paan," he added.

Said Bob D‘Silva, Creative Director, AMO Communications, "We, at AMO, are glad that we are doing our bit for the society. Honestly, the awards and cash are but incidental. "

MUMBAI: Its quirky, its fun, its simple and the winners of the contest walk away with a cool Rs.1 Lakh. There are no catches and no tricks. Winning is as easy as spinning the fortune wheel. Tune into Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM between Monday and Friday from 7 to 11 am.

The season starts with the don of radio Jeeturaaj playing a special contest called ‘Ek Lakh Ya Chaata, Khol Kismat Ka Khata‘ with the listeners. Lucky Mumbaikars stand a chance to win cool monsoon maal such as funky Mirchi umbrellas and raincoats, drive to Lonavala and back, balti-pocha-chappal and not to forget, an opportunity to win 1 lakh every day, every hour between 7:00 -11:00 am. Celebrity special contests are also on the anvil, so listeners watch out, as it‘s going to rain money starting from June 26 ? July 09?!

We at Mirchi believe, "Radio is no longer a passive medium. The intention of this initiative is to increase participation and involvement of the listeners, increase the excitement levels, and give our listeners a chance to get rewarded for their loyalty and participation on the station".

So all you Mumbaikars out there?for everything and anything on monsoon this season, all you need to do is?tune in to Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM?it‘s truly hot.

MUMBAI: Cell 18, one of Asia?s largest creative production house and a creative unit of the Network 18 Group, has bagged two awards at the UNFPA (United Nations Population First Award) Laadli?s Creative Excellence Awards for Social Change in print and animation category. Cell 18 has been a front runner in the Public Service Advertising space, having created a number of advertisements in both press and film, for various causes ranging from global warming, to suicide prevention, AIDS, alzheimers, no smoking, littering, spitting, domestic violence and many more.

Madhu Amodia and Aakriti Arora of Cell 18 cracked the winning campaign in Print category and film category on saving the girl child. The print campaign depicts the letters X and Y (for the X & Y chromosomes). The film opens with a book of fairy tales which has all the female characters scratched out of the stories, the film ends with the note "It?s a little known fact that in Asia, over 60 million girls are ?missing? due to parental sex selection? Don?t let her fairytale end."

Commenting on this Mr. Zubin Driver, Head, Cell 18 says, "I am thrilled that our creative minds are thinking of public service work all the time. The UNFPA Laadli award has special meaning because it is an effort to create communication that can be used at a grass-root level. The cell is happy to support such efforts and will continue to extend its services to support meaningful causes."

This is not the first time that Cell 18 has done something in public service category. They have been dedicatedly producing 2 public service campaigns in a month. Cell 18 has bagged more than 30 awards in a little over 2 years, under various categories and continues in its pursuit of making people think about matters that concern modern society.

In last couple of years Cell 18 has evolved as a one-stop shop for ideation and excellent execution. Cell 18, equipped with the latest technology (Over 25 Graphic work-stations, 12 FCP edit suites, 1 Flint set up, 2 Online Smoke set up), has an army of creative people that work 24/7 to deliver high-end creative solutions.