Great news for Bollywood buffs: instead of trawling various websites for reviews and waiting for celebrity interviews, they can now find everything about their favourite stars and films under one application.
Free to download on Android and iOS, Flickbay is the ultimate “Bollywood ka app” by Vishal Ramchandani and Trishant Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment, Farhan Akhtar’s and Ritesh Sidhwani’s production house. It went into development in June 2015, after the duo noticed the absence of a dedicated app for Bollywood in the market and decided to fill the gap.
Neat and easy to use, Flickbay offers everything at the touch of your fingers: Music videos and film trailers are arranged in a chronological order and are available at the click of a button. Box-office figures offern an insight into how well a film is doing domestically and internationally. Recent movies available on DVDs online are also listed, along with prices.
A page is devoted to every film currently showing in cinemas, as well as upcoming releases, including Rangoon, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut, which is due to be released in February 2017. Users have an option of adding the films to their watch-list, and based on these personalised lists, receive a curated feed that is frequently refreshed.
One of the best features is a selection of movies showing on television during the month, and the option to set reminders to view them. Other interactive features of the app include rating films and “liking” content.
Movie reviews are currently filtered in-house from news platforms such as NDTV, Mid-Day and Mirror, with plans to integrate users’ reviews in the future.
Like IMDb, the most popular mobile application for international films, Flickbay will have a page for every Bollywood film and actor. But unlike the international platform, Flickbay’s focus is on content rather than just offering a database of movies and stars.
Flickbay is looking forward to introduce exclusive content, which is so far limited to Excel Entertainment and Dharma Productions' romantic drama Baar Baar Dekho, starring Katrina Kaif and Siddharth Malhotra. It is due to be released on September 8 in the UAE).
Flickbay will soon roll out original features, real-time news, reviews and celebrity interviews. Co-branded promotion of upcoming films will also mean that users will be able to view movie teasers and trailers first on Flickbay.
Another big upcoming attraction is a reward for consuming content, which can be redeemed for film memorabilia, merchandise and even movie tickets.
Co-founder Sidhwani also plans to introduce a “social community” on Flickbay, based on user interaction and feedback.
artslife@thenational.ae
