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Sunidhi Chauhan and Armaan Malik to bring alive the musical legacy of ‘The Lion King’ in Hindi

Sunidhi Chauhan and Armaan Malik are all set to lend their musical touch to the Hindi soundtrack of The Lion King. Malik will sing Hakuna Matata and a duet with Chauhan for Can you feel the love tonight and Chauhan will add her sensational touch to Spirit!

25 years ago, Sir Elton John and team of musicians sang the music we recollect and love till today, Disney’s Oscar winning animation The Lion King! The film established an unparalleled musical legacy, brought alive by a Oscar winning score composed by Hans Zimmer. One can’t forget the fun anthem of life and optimism Hakuna Matata, the romantic and soulful Can you feel the love tonight and the inspiring Circle Of Life.

And now in 2019, Disney is all set to present its legendary The Lion King, in a live action version with technology that re-imagines the greatest story ever told. This one too, promises to cherish the musical spirit with re-imagined tracks by Beyoncé and Donald Glover, as Hans Zimmer returns to compose the score.

Armaan Malik commented, “After the massive success of Aladdin and the love I got from all quarters for my dubbing work in the movie, Disney India team brought me into the studio and said that they wanted me to sing the Hindi dubbed version of the songs of The Lion King, and I didn’t hesitate even for a second (as it was a no brainer) and said YESSS immediately!”

With the Hindi dubbed version of the live-action being hugely awaited thanks to the casting coup of Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan Khan as Mufasa and Simba, along with Ashish Vidyarthi, Shreyas Talpade, Sanjay Mishra and Asrani rounding up the coterie for the character of Scar, Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu respectively, we hear that the music will be getting a desi touch too!

Thrilled to bring forward the original legacy in a new avatar in the Hindi version, Sunidhi Chauhan says, While watching the original film, I have drifted with emotions – laughed and cried. So, to be a part of this venture was not only exciting, but something extremely close to my heart. I have beautiful memories of listening to the tracks of Lion King, specially one track – Can you feel the love tonight- which I have listened to on repeat mode on my long drives, on rainy nights of Mumbai. When you are a part of something great that already exists, you need to be closer to the original creation, not distort it, rather leave your own little touch. I have tried my best to justify the songs and the extraordinarily done visuals. The expressions of Simba, Nala, were so prolific, immaculate, that I knew I was in for something really interesting.”

Lion King is literally my favourite Disney film of all time! I usually never asked for many gifts from my parents when I was a child but I clearly remember telling my dad that I wanted to buy the whole DVD collection of Lion King and he immediately bought it for me.  It’s such a fond memory that is still so clearly etched in my mind! I tried singing it the same way I felt when I first heard them back when I was a kid. I wanted to keep that same innocence intact, yet do some cool western inflections in my vocal delivery that could enhance the song. I think they have come out great and can’t wait for the fans to hear ‘em!” Malik added.

Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book), Disney’s The Lion King is one of the most-anticipated films of recent times. The heroic coming-of-age journey will make it to the large canvas with a pioneering and game changing photo-real technology, using cutting-edge tools to make the musical drama come alive on the big screen.

 The Lion King releases on 19 July 2019 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

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DC comic series ‘The Sandman’ to get a live-action treatment on Netflix

Neil Gaiman’s cult DC/Vertigo comic series The Sandman well reportedly get a live-action adaptation on the streaming giant Netflix.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has apparently signed a “massive financial deal” with Warner Bros. Television for the live-action adaptation, as some reports also claim that The Sandman will be the most television series that DC Entertainment will ever produce.

Originally published in 1989, the comic series features the Dream of the Endless, a powerful yet cruel supernatural sentient being which holds dominion over the world of dreams.

Created by Gaiman, Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg, The Sandman ran for 75 issues since it’s release until 1996, whilst also becoming the first graphic novel at the time to feature on the New York Times best sellers list.

There have been previous attempts at bringing the comic series to the big screen, though none could materialise. In the 1990s, Warner Bros was said to have a movie version in development, though the project could never get off the ground and the idea was eventually scrapped in 2001. Then in 2010, producer James Mangold pitched the idea of a television series to HBO, which too didn’t see the light of the day.

Neither Netflix nor Warner Bros have disclosed any details about The Sandman‘s release date or the number of episodes just yet.

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Dandelooo’s animated series, ‘The Upside Down River’ flows to Canal+

French animation production and distribution company, Dandelooo announced that it has been commissioned to develop and produce a new serialised children’s animated series The Upside Down River for Canal+, France.

Dandelooo’s animation studio Ooolala in la Cartoucherie, Valence (France) will produce the new 2D animationin co-operation with Canal+ Family.  Written by Jean Regnaud (Ernest & Celestine) and Marie de Banville (Tobie Lolness) and directed by Paul Leluc (The Wolf, The Long Long Holiday), the ten half-hour episodes, targeted at eight to 12-year olds, is set for delivery in early 2022.  The series will be distributed internationally by Dandelooo.

The Upside Down River is an animated love story and an adventurous quest in a poetic fantasy world following Hannah’s search for water drops from the Qjar river in order to heal her sacred bird.  She’s followed in her hunt by Tomek, a shy boy whose world is turned upside down when she enters his shop.

“We are really excited to develop our first serialised program for an audience of 8 to 12 years old which reflects the new way today’s kids want to watch ambitious stories” commented Dandelooo joint founders Jean Baptiste Wéry and Emmanuèle Petry.

Adapted from the children’s novel La rivière à l’envers by French children’s author Jean Claude Mourlevat and published by Editis Group, the book has sold over one million copies in France and in numerous countries including Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Spain and Germany.

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BARC India launches PrimaVU to measure premium homes viewership patterns

BARC India, announced the launch of its new product PrimaVU which is aimed at measuring viewership from premium homes.  Through PrimaVU, BARC India also introduces the industry first concept of viewing minutes which is basically sum of all individuals watching an event basis the time spent by them.  Also, PrimaVU is a separate product and not part of the currency panel measurement.
 
It is a product that caters to audience measurement solutions exclusively for premium homes. PrimaVU was launched by BARC India to meet the demands of the industry to measure what premium homes watch. There has been a demand from both broadcasters and advertisers to understand this segment and how to deliver advertising to them. In the past, very few attempts have been made to measure this exclusive set of consumers, and now with PrimaVU, this demand is being addressed.
 “We are extremely pleased to be a thought leader once again with a product like PrimaVU. This product will not only help observe if the viewership patterns of premium homes are different from that of other homes but also provide in-depth insights into this unexplored world. The industry has been very patient and valuable with their suggestions for this product. It will allow the industry to qualify the untapped upmarket audience segment better and get a stronger fix on affluent viewers,” says BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.
 
The PrimaVU universe consists of the top three per cent of the socio-economic strata in the six megacities of the country. A household is defined as a premium home when it meets the following criteria set by the industry: they need to qualify as a NCCS A1 home, they must own a home with minimum three rooms as well as a kitchen, the home needs to have centralized or AC in two rooms, the household must own a laptop/desktop or smartphone/tablet, they must have a private car or own a four-wheeler worth 10 lakhs or more and finally, they must have travelled to a premium holiday destinations.
 
Data insights and dashboard will be provisioned for PrimaVU subscribers who will have access to in-depth demographic and program level data as well as critical insights for the viewership trends of the economically affluent population of the country. The panel will currently measure TV viewership habits and will gradually move to capture viewership habits across devices. Agencies subscribing to PrimaVU will also be able to plan using a module in BMW.

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Leifur James – Wurlitzer