Playing games with celebs

ENTERTAINMENT: Mobile game is eager to cash in on star value - the returns, it insists, are great!

Capturing the hearts of the masses on the silver screen and world of sports is passe for Bollywood and sports celebrities. They're now ready to invade your mobile phone screens.

In the past, cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia and Bollywood "" right from the latest Don and Eklavya to old-time favourites like Deewar and Maine Pyar Kiya "" have lent their characters or movie content to a game. In 2007 this trend will get more accentuated with bigger budget games and marketing spends.

Sidhartha Kapoor, senior vice-president, marketing and distribution, UTV, (which launched the Rang De Basanti game based on the movie) says, "For all our movies that may lend themselves to gaming, we will launch a game before launching the movie." Upcoming titles from the studio are Hatrick and Goal, which will also be featured as games.

Branded games that have Bollywood or celebrities-related content account for 20-25 per cent of the total gaming content, says Dippak Khurana, region head (India and Far East), Mauj.

The company has in the past tied up with celebrities like Ricky Ponting, Mandira Bedi and developed games around movies like Ab Tak Chappan, Omkara and, more recently, Eklavya.

For Hungama Mobile, which has Bollywood titles like Don and Aakhen in its portfolio, "Branded games account for over 90 per cent of our portfolio," says Salim Mobani, chief operating officer, Hungama Mobile.

At Jump Games, branded games that use celebrity content account for 50-60 per cent of its total content. "Celebrities have a longer shelf life of 2-3 months for mobile games as compared to a shelf life of 2-3 weeks for an unbranded game," explains Salil Bhargava, chief executive officer, Jump Games.

More importantly, games are a new stream for earning revenues for Bollywood. "Currently, the revenue from gaming forms a very small part of our revenues but in the next three years we expect it to contribute 5-10 per cent to the overall revenues," says Kapoor of UTV. In a country where celebrities are being used to sell everything, the extension to the gaming platform is hardly surprising.