Bollywood on Box Office

Last night I attended the official launch for Multichoices announcement on bringing Bollywood onto their Box Office service. It was a glitzy affair held at Durban's award winning ICC with many local personalities and celebrities in attendance. Now although I come from an Indian background, I wouldn't say I am a fan of Bollywood movies, for one they're lengthy with 90% of them being 3 hours long and with the language barrier, I find myself reading subtitles more than watching the film but with that being said, the movies which are produced in India deserve major credit. It's one of, if not the largest movie industry in the world with new movies being released on a weekly basis. Bollywood has been making waves worldwide, with films being nominated for prestigious International Awards. Hollywood has also picked up at how large the industry is growing and started to adopt styles and actors in their productions. From Irrfan Khan in Jurassic World, the Big B (Amithab Bachan) in the Great Gatsby to Priyanka Chopra who is currently taking Hollywood by storm in her series blockbuster, Quantico, the influence Indian cinema is having across the globe is clear to see.

The evening kicked off with a live performance by a local dance academy who team up with an Indian choreographer who mesmerized the crowd with stunning dances throughout the evening and taking us through the various phases Bollywood went through with their productions, with the first movie to be produced just being a musical with no words being spoken, as they went through the years it brought back memories of my family and I going to various movie houses in the CBD to watch them as Bollywood movies were not available at the mainstream movie houses. All of those memories were good and I was surprised that I remembered words to certain songs as my mum used to listen to the various movie soundtracks at home quite often. The thing with Bollywood movies, all if not most are the feel good type of movies. Yes many will send you through an emotional roller-coaster but the end result is always a sense of satisfaction after watching them. 

Maybe now that DStv are launching them on Box Office I might start watching more of them. Bollywood on Box Office is available from the 12th of October 2016 and unlike previously where Box Office was only available for Premium, Extra and Catch up customers, Multichoice has opened the service to all. At just R35 you can rent the hottest movies whenever you want them to watch at your leisure from the comfort of your home. "BoxOffice is the most convenient way for our customers to access the latest blockbusters and we're thrilled that all our customers can now experience this service. No doubt, the addition of Bollywood movies will bring extra excitement to our customers' summer" - Mark Rayner, CEO of Multichoice South Africa. 

With the constant increase in movie ticket prices and not to mention the price of popcorn and coke at the the various movie houses, it's a simple decision to make. Also with the various payment methods BoxOffice has, it's so simple to rent your movie of choice. From next month customers will also be able to pay via WeChat! With DStv giving customers R35 back into their WeChat wallet when renting up to 4 movies, which is all part of their crazy deals campaign. 

For more information on this, visit the DStv website on www.dstv.com

#BeTheBand 2016

In it's second year running, Gateway and East Coast Radio are offering one lucky person or band a chance of a lifetime to catapult their career in entertainment with the #BETHEBAND competition. The winner of the competition will open to the the crowds at this year's Huawei Durban Day, taking place on the 23rd of October 2016 as well as receive a host of prizes adding up to R80,000 of which include Music Equipment and training session valued at R42,000 from Musician's Gear Zone, 40 hours studio time valued at R25,000 from HitRecord Music & Audio Production, a photoshoot and design of an album cover valued at R8,000 and a Gateway Gift Card valued at R5,000 from Gateway Theatre of Shopping.

Michelle Shelley, Gateway's Maketing Manager had this to say, "We are excited to partner with East Coast Radio once again for this year's #BeTheBand and look forward to discovering new talent in KZN!" 

Would be contestants were invited to upload their demo to the East Coast Radio website (www.ecr.co.za) before the 4th of September 2016 in order to qualify for the competition. From there, the shortlisted entrants were reduced down to the last six finalists who will perform at a final event at Gateways's Wavehouse on Heritage Day, 24th September 2016. 

Tickets to this final showdown are on sale at www.webtickets.co.za or R80 at the door. For more information, or to view the Terms and Conditions of the competition, visit www.gatewayworld.co.za. Keep up to date on the happenings by following the Gateway Theatre of Shopping various social media streams on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Peacanwood Oktoberfest 2016

Beer fest's come and beer fest's go but majority of them are generally the same apart from one. What makes the Peacanwood Oktoberfest so great that about from a vast variety of beers for guest to enjoy the festival offers so much more that it's better known as a sport and lifestyle festival. Boasting visitors from around the country, Peaconwood Oktoberfest had over 6000 visitors at last years event and expect the crowds to be even larger this year. It has been voted SA's number one Sport and Lifestyle festival and KZN's biggest beer fest by far. 

Set in the tranquil KZN Midlands, just an hour outside Durban and 15 minutes outside Pietermaritzberg, Peacanwood offers it's visitors a unique getaway.  Taking place between 29-30 October, this years  theme being #chooseyouradventure the festival offers a wide array of outdoor activities featuring some extreme and popular sports of which include a 7/14KM trail run, 4x4 technical challenge, Enduro X, and the extremely popular MTB trails. 

Organizers have went out of their way to ensure that the mountain bike race is more of an experience to the participant. With carefully designed courses for all skill sets, the race can be done by race snakes as well as the weekend warrior. The variety of courses include single tracks, valleys, forests and escarpments set int he breath taking surroundings of the KZN Midlands each with their own unique challenges for both the novice and experienced rider.

For those runners who are tired of the same old trails, they need not worry as organisers have spent the last year designing and setting trail run courses that wil be that one course that sticks out heads above the rest for its originality, diversity and un spoilt routes as some of its trails have never been run before. 

Moving onto the main attraction of the festival, the beer! Holding the title as KZN's biggest beer fest, the festival has a lot to live up to and this year the Peaconwood Oktoberfest boast a vast selection of beers from around the country, along with Wine and Coffee Tasting Tent which features coffees from around the world. And to add to the excitement, the Oktoberfest girls will be on duty to make sure your glass never stays empty for too long.  

The #chooseyouradventure them continues with fans choosing which of SA's top bands they would like to see perform at the festival. This years acts as voted by the the public include, Francois Van Coke, Short Straw, Crash Car Burn, Gus Brown, Chico Muyo, Ryan Stylz, Rowan Stuart and many more. This will be Short Straws and Francois van Cokes last performance in KZN for 2016. 

Thinking of making the Peaconwood Oktoberfest a weekend away? Why not? You can bring your own tent and camp for free or book a place in the tended camps on offer from Tent Nation. Past visitors to the festival know why it's one of the most attended festivals in the country and which see's people from every province making their way to KZN for it. For the first timers, you will soon find out what makes this one so special. Early bird tickets are available for sale now from their website: www.peaconwoodoktoberfest.com

We will be running a competition in the coming weeks for you to win tickets to the Peaconwood Oktoberfest Sports and Lifestyle Festival so be sure to stay tuned to win!