'Baahubali 2' shatters another record: Sony bags satellite rights for Rs 51 cr

 

'Baahubali: The Conclusion' is raking in the moolah even before its release. In yet another blockbuster deal, Sony TV Network has bagged the satellite rights of the Prabahs-starrer for a record price.
According to reports, Sony TV Network has bought the satellite rights of the film's Hindi version for a whopping price of Rs 51 crore. It is the highest revenue generated by a dubbed film so far, besides the highest ever the network has paid for a regional film for television screening. According to reports, this is the highest price for original Hindi films.
The satellite rights of all versions of 'Baahubali: The Beginning' had fetched Rs 45 crore. The price for the second part has skyrocketed due to the fan frenzy the film has created with its first part.
The TRP rating of 'Baahubali: The Beginning' on Sony TV was at par with Salman Khan's blockbuster movies. The epic film has been setting new pre-theatrical business records. The Great India Films has reportedly paid Rs 45 crore to acquire the theatrical distribution rights for North America.
Media reports, meanwhile, suggested that the makers have sought Rs 50 crore for the international distribution rights of the film.
The first part of the two-part epic movie ended on a cliffhanger, ensuring an earth shattering opening for its second part. And the players in the market are clearly ready to pay any price to cash in on the Baahubali frenzy.
The makers have planned to complete the last schedule of the shoot by December and begin the post production. 'Baahubali: The Conclusion', directed by S S Rajamouli, has an all-star cast, including Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Sharma among others. The film is secluded to hit the screens April 28, 2017.

Comet strike may have triggered ancient warming event, suggests research

New York: A comet struck our home planet a long time ago and it could have triggered the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a rapid warming event caused by an accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide 56 million years ago, suggests new research.

Representational image. Reuters

Sorting through samples of sediment from the time period, researchers discovered evidence of the strike in the form of microtektites — tiny dark glassy spheres typically formed by extraterrestrial impacts.
"This tells us that there was an extraterrestrial impact at the time this sediment was deposited — a space rock hit the planet," said corresponding author Morgan Schaller, Assistant Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
"The coincidence of an impact with a major climate change is nothing short of remarkable," Schaller said.
In recent years, PETM has become a major point of interest for scientists as it is perhaps the best past analogue to understand impacts of global climate warming today.
Even so, the cause of this warming event remains a mystery. Among the suggested drivers of the observed massive injection of carbon into the atmosphere that occurred at this time are the intrusion of flood basalts into carbon-rich marine sediments, carbon degassing from volcanos, and an extraterrestrial impact on Earth.
By studying sections of marine shelf on the Atlantic Coastal Plain associated with the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, the researchers reported in the journal, Science, the discovery of silicate glass spherules with distinctive morphologies and micro-craters.
Based on their features, the authors said, these glass spherules are best interpreted as terrestrial debris ejected during a meteorite impact.
"A comet impact on its own may have contributed carbon to the atmosphere, but is too small to explain the whole event and more likely acts as a trigger for additional carbon releases from other sources," Schaller said.

China spectre is only in India's mind: New Delhi cannot afford to ban Chinese goods

If you are an Indian, even a short walk through China's cities will tell you that few people in this country even think of India as an adversary. This is quite unlike Hong Kong where the distaste at the sight of Indians is clearly evident in the demeanour of the Chinese settled there.
For mainland China, India is a neighbor - just one more of the 14 that surround it. Chinese are more focused on the US and on Japan (sometimes even Russia), who occupy a bigger share of their mind that many would imagine.
When asked about the Indian protest against goods made in China, they shake their heads. They've not even heard of it. Clearly, it is something that vexes India, not China. Even Pakistan is relatively an unknown country for most Chinese.
But talk to the strategists and those who influence policy formation and they are at pains to explain that every move of China is often misunderstood by India. When queried about China's refusal to condemn terrorists inside Pakistan, there is guarded silence. Their response is, "This is something for India and China to sort out for themselves."
But probe further and you will find that not many in China are happy with Pakistan. A good example is the way the government issued a notification a month ago in one of its provinces asking hotels there not to accommodate guests from a clutch of countries largely populated by Muslims. Pakistan's name was included among them. Obviously, even within China, Pakistanis are viewed with suspicion. Evidently, the bonhomie with Pakistan is not too deep, notwithstanding official claims to the contrary.
Within China, few are willing to be quoted on its relationship with either India or Pakistan. But talk to people who are well-informed. If they have begun to trust you, and treat you as a friend, they begin to explain China's stand.

"China needs Pakistan as a friend. It needs access to Chhabahar port, which in turn provides it access to the seas from which oil flows. The port provides a shorter access to global energy sources than the route to China's eastern ports. That is why China will not do anything to antagonize Pakistan," says one expert. 
"China needs India as well. India represents a large market. And it's a neighbor. Both these are good reasons for warm and cordial relations," adds another.
As for the boycott, such people smile and say that it is quite possible that the boycott has been egged on by manufacturers in India. "A boycott of Chinese goods won't work," says the head of a China think-tank.
Almost all mobile phones are made in China. Can Indians boycott them? Ditto with most electronic and telecommunication gadgets. The boycott appears to be confined to only those items that are popular for the Diwali festival, and where local manufacturers and traders want to peddle their goods at higher prices.
In Mumbai, just go to Lohar Chawl, and you will see customers flocking to shops where decorative lights from China are available at very low prices. Wholesalers still come to this market to buy lights, lamps and other such items which they then sell to other customers. The social media campaign against Chinese goods doesn't appear to have affected them at all.

This is how porn sites make money

Believe it or not, porn is everywhere. It's in people's mobile phones , laptops, hard disks, and of course on the internet. It's been mankind's discreet sidekick for centuries, nurturing our voyeuristic side. Thanks to the taboo and the stigma that comes attached to it, Indians would rather not discuss porn in an open forum and try and tuck it safely into the secret pockets of their lives. 

At a time when the country is torn with the porn controversy, Business Insider India digs into the dynamics of this ingeniously sneaky trade to find out how it really works. 

For starters, porn statistics are notoriously hard to get hands on. Judging by the fact that many of these enjoy over 5 million hits per month, one can safely presume they are making serious moolah. 

However, when you turn to a porn site, its free content, and most ads you see are of other porn sites. Also, after piracy hit online porn hard and the recession struck harder in 2009, most adult movie producers admitted that profits have tanked 30-50%. So how did they stage a comeback, and how are they making any money now? Let's decode the financial model of the porn industry. 

How big is it? 
Porn is worth over $100 billion globally - that's bigger than some of the biggest corporations across the world. Around 10% of that comes from the US alone; however the numbers are shrinking, thanks to free porn. However, just to give you an idea, there are 25 million porn sites worldwide and they make up 12% of all websites and over 30% of all web traffic. Around 11,000 hard-core porn movies are shot annually at the global hub for porn - California's infamous San Fernando Valley , where porn as we know it was born. 

However, the 2009 recession left this industry helpless, thanks to piracyand tanking DVD sales. A mid-sized adult entertainment would cash in around $350,000 a month in DVD sales before the recession, and the figures dropped as much as 50%. However, the numbers are recovering, and with more diverse mediums to choose from, the industry has been forced to innovate. 

But it's all free! 
Contrary to public perception, free porn may be more widely available, but it forms a small part of the entire gamut of products the industry offers and the audience it caters to. Look beyond the 'free', and you'll see 'premium content'. These include HD videos, no ad/pop-up promises, unlimited downloads, online Live Cam streaming, and so on. Paid users can ask the website to deliver content to their email, or physical addresses. While you may never know, many do sign up for it as they like the convenience it offers. 

But how do they earn? 
The allure really is that subscriptions offer priority access to new content from your favorite 'star' that would take months to seep into the free world. There is also the allure of personalized sex toys that offer the experience of being with your favorite star, adult chat rooms and dating sites. These premium services come at a cost, and when millions sign up, it's a profitable business to be in. 

Porn sites are also smart. They offer a wide range of payment options to choose from daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and even yearly. Just like your common newspaper/magazine subscription, the longer you sign up for, the more discounts you get offered, and the more your brand loyalty increases. These subscriptions cost anywhere from $1-15 a day. While it might be too much for you for a mini bathroom session, there are millions who sign up for it. 

While a website may earn primary from subscriptions, it also cashes on man's primitive lust for flesh. It makes money off traffic from other similar websites which it redirects. That explains why you only have porn ads on porn sites. These 'similar services' refer to adult dating sites, online adult stores, enhancement drug stores, adult gaming sites and so on. This forms a intricate and complex nexus of websites, all making money off each other, and cashing on your instincts, and that is what funds the 'free mini clips' you get to see. What to see the full video? Pay up. 

To give a sense of the traffic, Xvideos, world's biggest porn site enjoys 4.4 billion page views and 350 million unique visits every month. If Google data is anything to go by, the other four of the top five porn sites combined enjoy more traffic than Wikipedia (take that!). 

How else do they make money? 
3D porn has also made a red carpet debut onto the global porn arena. With TV companies going bonkers over their latest 3D TVs and SmartLED screens , some of the more mature porn markets are ready to pay for 3D porn that'll give you the sense of...of...ahem ahem. Anyway, these leave you poorer by around $10 or more, and there are people queuing up to pay. Porn sites had the foreboding that DVD sales would wane, and have also rolled out 'video on demand' services to adapt to the transforming user-base. 

Also, there are the actors, and the loyal fan-base they come with. While we don't have any such event in India, in the US, UK, Australia and many other places special events are held where you could get to meet your favorite porn stars, click a selfie, and if you're really polite and nice, even get to touch a body part. Passes to these shows are of course not free. There are also porn award programmes and the TV viewership they garner. 

Last but not the least are the major hotel chains like Marriott, Hilton and Westin to name a few. These bring serious money to the industry without ever a mention of the same in their official reports. Adult titles are available across the world as 'in-room entertainment' in most countries around the globe and a fare share of the money hotel guests pay goes to the studios. 

Consider this reach across genres and the millions of independent artists who run their own websites (it costs nothing really, just a cam and a few spare dollars), and you might get an idea of how big this business actually is. 

However, the unwillingness to pay to have a good time is what is biting at the knees of this burgeoning industry. A lot of commercial porn studios blame the tube sites pick up ad revenue from page views. Fact is these sites at least pay royalty for the free porn billions view. 

Long story short, while the adult industry is not a license to mint money anymore, but where there is loyalty, there is money, and human lust never comes with a recession. 

Bigg Boss 10: Confirmed 13 shortlisted contestants who will enter Salman Khan’s show, see pics

It will no longer just be the clash of celebrities. If we tell you all about the common people who’ve been short-listed for Bigg Boss 10, you will know why this season will be a fight for the survival of the fittest. A total of 13 common people have been selected through auditions, out of which only a chosen few will get to enter television’s most controversial show. And who will decide their fate? It’ll be the audience themselves. They will pick their choice through a poll.
Actor Salman Khan will be returning with the latest season of the reality show on October 16. And while curiosity mills are at work about the final list of celebrities who will spend the next three months locked up inside the Bigg Boss house, we know little about the commoners. Considering season 10 is opening its gates for the aam aadmi for the first time, the concept might just become a boon for its producers.
The first list of shortlisted common people includes everyone from a model to an actor, a businessman and a teacher. These guys will face another polling from the audience who will decide their final fate, whether or not they will enter the show.
Check out the 13 people who will now fight it out to get that ultimate entry inside the house.

1. Ruchika Singh

The 39-year-old actress from Delhi is a thorough Virgo. Her hobbies include reading spiritual books, travelling, watching movies and partying.

2. Feroz Khan

This 27-year-old Scorpio is from Mumbai. Feroz is an actor/singer by profession and loves rafting, bungee jumping, cycling and is a complete adventure sports enthusiast.

3. Kajol Tyagi

Kajol loves dancing, sleeping and talking. The 23-year-old hails from Mumbai and is a YouTuber and an actor by profession. She is a Capricorn too.

4. Manoj Punjabi

The 34-year-old is a Capricorn, belongs to Pink city Jaipur and is a businessman. He loves playing cricket, mimicry, flirting, partying and watching cartoons in his free time.

5. Lokesh Kumari Sharma

A student from Delhi, Lokesh is 25, a Piscean, and loves dancing, singing, eating, and believes in the mantra of having lots of fun in life.

6. Manveer Gurjar

He is a gymming enthusiast, loves wrestling and hanging out with friends. The 29-year-old Gemini hails from Noida and is a dairy owner.

7. Mandira Chauhan

A radio programming professional from Pune, Mandira is 36, a typical Libran and loves road trips and house parties.

8. Nikhil Mehta

The 24-year-old singer/actor from Mumbai is a Sagittarian. He loves listening to music and playing cricket.

9. Priyanka Jagga

The 32-year-old Sagittarian hails from Delhi and is a recruiter. Her hobbies include dancing, playing badminton, trekking and attending barbeque parties with friends.

10. Naveen Prakash

He is a teacher from Jhajha in Bihar. The 26-year-old is a Leo and loves to read, write and listen to songs.

11. Nitibha Kaul

An account strategist, Nitibha is 23 and belongs to Delhi. The Scorpio loves singing, dancing, listening to music, swimming and reading.

12. Pramod Dahiya

The 37-year-old Aquarian originally belongs to Haryana, but at present lives in Mumbai. He is an actor/writer and relishes homemade food. He loves reading, listening to old songs, playing sports and gymming.

13. Dev Devgan

The businessman loves to do bhangra and sing. The 30-year-old Sagittarian hails from Ludhiana.
Bigg Boss season 10 will open the gates to the house on October 16. Who will manage to walk inside it, is something everyone is waiting to know.

Virender Sehwag Was Sarcastically Trolling Ashwin But Got Trolled By Mrs. Sehwag Instead

Virender Sehwag is the biggest Indian opener on Twitter.

He sends out wicked birthday wishes, funny messages and random burns to people he admires on Twitter.

No one is immune to his Twitter attack.

Unless that someone is Mrs. Sehwag.

As India won the test series against New Zealand by 3-0, the world say R. Ashwin receive another Man of The Match credit. Virender Sehwag however saw this as an opportunity to troll his former fellow teammate.

In typical Viru style, Sehwag congratulated Ashwin on Twitter while also sarcastically implying that Ashwin completed the match early because he needed to be home for #FamilyTime

And true to his mannerism, Ashwin was all gleeful while accepting the wishes.

Sehwag’s tweet being a humorous pun on Ashwin’s marriage, Ashwin’s wife was quick to distance herself from her husband’s performance:

But there was someone in the shadows who didn’t let Sehwag’s passive aggressive humor get the better of them.

It was none other than Viru’s better half Aarti Sehwag. With as much sarcasm and wit, Aarti implied that Sehwag would also be in a hurry, just like Ashwin was.

Interestingly, Viru hasn’t replied to Aarti’s tweet so far.

We all know what’s up, Viru pa!

Playboy Magazine is going where it never has before

For the first time, Playboy Magazine will be available in the iTunes App and Google Play stores, its parent company, Playboy Enterprises, announced in a release on Wednesday.

Playboy's digital initiatives are geared toward resonating with younger, more tech-savvy readers, a key customer group that the company wants to reach as it transforms "into a millennial facing lifestyle brand."
"Since introducing a brand new vision for Playboy Magazine earlier this year, we have expanded our distribution channels in many powerful ways, including higher visibility on an increased number of traditional and digital media platforms," said David Israel, Playboy Enterprises' chief operating officer and chief financial officer, in a release.
Earlier this year, Playboy debuted another first when it redesigned its magazine to ditch the nudity in its pages.
Readers can shell out either $5.99 for one issue through the app or subscribe for the year for $17.99.
In 2014, the company relaunched Playboy.com, making it "safe for work." After overhauling the site, Playboy said its traffic grew while the age demographic accessing the site shrank from 47 years old to 30.5 years old.
Playboy's brand already has a wide reach, with products in more than 180 countries.