An affair to remember: Bollywood continues to go gaga on NFTs

Bollywood’s affair with NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) continues, as partnerships and new launches abound.

NFTs have emerged as an innovative tech based way of reaching out to fans, so that Bollywood celebrities and companies are having a field day. From supporting a passion to newly released movie’s memorabilia, NFTs have become Bollywood’s new favourite.

For example, Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan recently launched the $GARI token from Chingari App, which is now available to trade exclusively with INR on Bitbns.

Apart from Sallu bhai, singing sensation A.R. Rahman, music company T-Series, and the newly released movie 83, have jumped on the NFT bandwagon.

HBAR Foundation Partners with A.R. Rahman for a new NFT platform to support India’s independent music community

Recently, the HBAR Foundation has partnered with Indian composer, producer and musician A.R. Rahman, to create content for a new NFT music platform focused on India’s independent music community. The Foundation is providing a grant and organizational support for development and growth of the NFT platform, scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2022.

As part of the launch, Rahman will release his first-ever NFT drop, with portions of the proceeds going to charity. Rahman is best known for his Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack and has also won two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe.

The new platform will enable independent musical artists to release content as NFTs, interact with fans, engage with their communities and help monetize their creations

“We’re excited to partner with HBAR Foundation to create content, as well as support and mentor the new NFT platform, which in turn will bring more opportunities to the Indian music community,” said Rahman. “The new platform will enable independent musical artists to release content as NFTs, interact with fans, engage with their communities and help monetize their creations.”

“The HBAR Foundation is proud to support innovative projects across the globe, and our strategic partnership with A.R. Rahman provides tremendous value to the HBAR

ecosystem with its focus on the large and vibrant music community in India,” said Shayne Higdon, Executive Director & CEO at the HBAR Foundation.

“We are excited to be a part of this maiden journey of AR Rahman into the world of NFTs and it is an important step reflecting our commitment to build the blockchain ecosystem in India. This partnership reiterates our mission to collaborate with the best and expand the ecosystem in the region,” mentioned Vignesh Raja, Director – Business Development (Middle East and South Asia), HBAR Foundation.

Social Swag rakes in INR10 lakh worth of NFTs within hour of launching 83 movie’s official NFTs

‘83’ movie, while stirring the box-office with its record-breaking collections, is also shaking the NFT industry with its record sales. The movie’s official digital collectibles (NFTs) which were launched by India’s first Bollywood NFT marketplace, ‘Social Swag’ made another ground-breaking record by selling INR10 lakh worth of NFTs within an hour of launching the movie’s official NFTs.

Social Swag is an influencer-led fan engagement platform, for the exclusive drop of official digital collectibles (NFTs) of movies. The NFTs sold by the platform comprise an incredible portfolio of digital and phigital (digital + physical) NFTs that will appeal both to Bollywood and Cricket fans, as well as NFT collectors and enthusiasts, globally.

While we were expecting purchases mainly from metros, cities like Jabalpur, Kanpur, Nagpur, Trivedaram, Solapur etc. took lead in accepting the buzzing culture of NFTs

83 movie NFTs include autographed physical cricket memorabilia, certified-authentic video moments, PFP-style animated digital avatars, and autographed unseen posters and images.

“India as a nation has always been obsessed with both Cricket and Bollywood and this time too the people of India have shown their love from all corners of the country, especially Tier I and II cities. While we were expecting purchases mainly from metros, cities like Jabalpur, Kanpur, Nagpur, Trivedaram, Solapur etc. took lead in accepting the buzzing culture of NFTs.” said Atharva Sabnis, CEO of NFT Labs, technology partner to Social Swag.

“With NFTs, for the first time, people can own a piece of that moment and own a piece of history! A possibility that no one would have imagined before Web 3.0. We are glad that we can facilitate this and thank the team at 83 for partnering with us to execute this. And with the kind of response we have received for the NFTs, we are thrilled to announce that all the buyers are now entitled to free NFTs with our next airdrop.”, he further added.

T-Series and HEFTY Entertainment foray into Metaverse with soon to be launched NFTs

T-Series, Asia’s largest music label, publisher and India’s largest film studio, forayed into Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in association with HEFTY Entertainment, a division of Hungama, one of the largest digital media entertainment companies in South Asia.

T-Series has the world’s largest subscriber base on YouTube, a total of over 395 million users, with an equally large community of 75 million followers on social media across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The move was made in partnership with Polygon, the leading platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development.

We look forward to redefining content consumption with this Web 3.0 initiative as we find new ways to collaborate and engage with fans

Hefty Metaverse will be built with the vision of fostering an ecosystem that helps to collaborate, interact and engage with flourishing web 3.0 communities that transitions consumers into the metaverse. This will see Hungama create NFTs, rare collectibles and ‘money can’t buy experiences’ and unlocking special moments from T-Series’ vast catalogue of new and existing content.

Sharing his thoughts about the association, Bhushan Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, T-Series commented, “We’re delighted to extend our alliance with Hungama, spanning two decades, and enable our community with access to the Metaverse. Having set the ball rolling, we look forward to expanding and enhancing the value of our content that leads to a further and rapid expansion of the global digital entertainment industry. Offering a future full of potential, interactivity and collaboration for our communities around the globe.”

Speaking about the tie-up, Neeraj Roy, Founder – Hungama, shared, “We are delighted to extend our long-standing partnership with T-Series and establish ourselves as first-movers into the Metaverse of entertainment. We look forward to redefining content consumption with this Web 3.0 initiative as we find new ways to collaborate and engage with fans.

Read more: The 2022 crypto ball has already begun rolling in India with first cryptocurrency index, sports & Bollywood NFTs

“Our partnership with T-Series has strengthened with time and it is most commendable what Bhushan Kumar and his amazing team have built in the last few decades. We’re very excited to hold hands with them to enter the metaverse and we promise to give billions of fans of Bollywood globally an experience that will see value accrue to them on our platform.”

Speaking about the partnership Siddhartha Roy, CEO- Hungama said, “Hungama is looking forward to offer immersive experiences in the Web 3.0 metaverse to its large communities nurtured over time, across 40+ countries, with over 150+ global distribution partnerships.”