HIPI LAUNCHES ‘HIPI STAR HUNT’, GIVES ASPIRING ACTORS A CHANCE TO GET CASTED IN THEIR FAVORITE ZEE5 ORIGINALS

• A golden opportunity for anyone looking for their ‘big break’ in the world of entertainment, ‘HiPi Star Hunt’ will cast aspirants for crucial roles across Jamai 2.0 Season 2, and Sunflower
• Ravi Dubey and others call for entries, stressing on the need for democratization of talent

Mumbai, India, October 23, 2020 : HiPi, ZEE5’s indigenous short video platform for new age creators, has launched ‘HiPi Star Hunt’, India’s first digital auditions on a short video platform. With the aim to select aspirants across two of its most popular tentpole originals, Jamai 2.0 Season 2 and Sunflower, HiPi Star Hunt has been launched to give that crucial “big break” to anybody who harbors dreams of making it big in tinsel town. Jamai 2.0 – Season 2 lead Ravi Dubey, and team Sunflower have initiated the call for entries, stressing on the need for the democratization of talent in the industry.

Speaking on the launch of HiPi Star Hunt, Manish Kalra, Senior Vice President & Head AVOD, ZEE5 India, said, “The country is abuzz with the need for a level playing field for aspirants of the entertainment industry. And no other player in the space has offered this big an opportunity to indigenous talents since the boom of short video content. This is a great opportunity for anybody who harbors tinsel town dreams because the trifecta of ZEE’s vast network and the popularity of the shows in question, the association with some of the most credible industry names, and the discerning taste of the ZEE5 audience will come together to ensure only the best are selected.”

Echoing these sentiments, Aparna Acharekar, Programming Head, ZEE5 India, said, “HiPi celebrates stories of the people, stories that are an expression of their creativity. With the launch of HiPi Star Hunt, we are on our way to fulfilling the showbiz dreams of India’s youth who may be big on talent but may not have the necessary wherewithal to break into the entertainment industry. This is a first-ever for the short video space, not just in India but globally as well.”

Acharekar further added, “With this mega doze, we will also boost the ‘entertainment’ quotient of ZEE5, India’s #1 entertainment super-app. Needless to say, we’re very excited and are looking forward to some incredible entries.”

Leveraging the might of the extensive ZEE network and backed by some of the best names of Indian showbiz, HiPi Star Hunt is a neutral platform offering a level playing field to youngsters from around the country. Filling in a gap in the market which even global short video players couldn’t fulfil, HiPi Star Hunt aims to mine ZEE5’s extensive pan-India presence, one of the largest in the country today, to unearth some exceptional talent who will get a fast-track to mainstream stardom. A first-ever for the space, HiPi Star Hunt aims to enable the wide pool of gifted content creators of the country to successfully move from the realm of User Generated Content (UGC) to Professionally Generated Content (PGC), deftly bolstered by the largesse of the ZEE Network.

The call for entries for HiPi Star Hunt started from 13th October and will go on till 28th October, followed by the shortlisting phase from 29th October to 4th November, and finally the winner announcements from 5th to 9th November. HiPi users will have to follow the individual briefs for each role and enact the given situations in a 60s to 90s short video and upload it on the HiPi app using the 3 designated hashtags, customized for each role. The casting directors’ views coupled with the number of likes each video gets from the extensive HiPi user base will decide the final names of the shortlist. The eventual 8 winners will be selected by each show’s director and casting director.

Not only will HiPi Star Hunt provide India’s vast pool of talent a universally accessible and credible platform to showcase their talent, but it will also offer a rich ecosystem of industry experts to mentor and guide them on their journey to stardom. As a platform HiPi aims to redefine content creation and curation. With its exciting features, it allows creative minds to express themselves in their local languages, and with its unmatched reach, enables brands and advertisers to reach out to their audiences in the most brand safe environment.