Ajay Devgn celebrates his birthday with BookASmile through a special screening of ‘Bholaa’

~ Continuing its efforts to create impact through entertainment, BookASmile

 National: Films continue to be an integral part of India’s cultural fabric that contribute to our lives in more ways than one. Especially amongst the younger demographic, movies shape perception, personalities and progression. Even in a high-octane metro like Mumbai, the number of youth that have never watched a film in the theatre might leave you surprised!

In line with spreading cheer through cinema and keeping up with its core belief of creating impact through entertainment, BookASmile, the charity initiative of BookMyShow, India’s leading entertainment destination organised a special screening of Bholaa, the action-thriller starring Ajay Devgn and Tabu for young, underprivileged beneficiaries from Mumbai. To bring alive this initiative, BookASmile partnered with Ajay Devgn FFilms and Spark-A-Change Foundation to take the magic of movies through the special screening at PVR Cinemas, Juhu, for 100 beneficiaries from lower economic backgrounds. These beneficiaries are first-generation students from low-income backgrounds living in the slum-dwelling areas of Mumbai suburbs associated with Spark-A-Change Foundation.

What made this experience even more special for the youth present was Ajay Devgn graciously spending time on his birthday with them, talking about the world of movies, dreams and life in general that left them in awe, with hearts full of emotion and wide smiles spread across their faces. Ajay shared many moments of love and laughter with the young guns in a heart-warming celebration over cupcakes and loud, excited songs wishing him a Happy Birthday. He was specially touched when they presented him with handmade greeting cards. His son Yug Devgan had accompanied him and was equally touched to be present amidst the young beneficiaries.

Ajay Devgn, Actor, Director and Producer of Bholaa, said, “I am truly humbled by the love that I have received from these young superstars today. They loved Bholaa, shared their favourite parts from the film with so much enthusiasm, spoke so fondly of my action sequences in the movies. It was a touching and truly lovely experience for me. I am grateful to BookASmile for putting this special screening together and making my birthday truly meaningful. I applaud their efforts in creating impact through entertainment and spreading smiles across so many young ones.”

Speaking about the special initiative, Farzana Cama Balpande, Head – BookASmile said, “We absolutely loved the reactions from the special young audience when they watched the film on the big screen. It’s always such a treat to catch their excitement and enthusiasm. The emotions expressed by the young guns were further amplified when they saw Ajay, an actor so legendary whom they saw on the screen moments before he personally came to meet them in real life and celebrated such an intimate occasion of his birthday with them! We are so appreciative of Ajay and his team for being so gracious and helping us spread smiles, making entertainment more meaningful and truly make this Sunday morning special for the beneficiaries.”

Through the special screening of Bholaa, the theatre was filled with chuckles, claps and nail-biting moments as the youth enjoyed their morning matinee on the big screen, enjoying every bit of the cinematic experience as the story weaved around its many twists and turns.

BookASmile recently concluded another initiative ‘Reels in Wheels’ that took the cinematic experience of watching a film on the big screen to over 350 villages across India spanning 12 states, including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Through the initiative, BookASmile was able to spread the magic of movies with the ‘Reels in Wheels’ van and enable #SmilesForMiles for more than 72,000 men, women and children across rural Indian villages who got the opportunity to watch popular regional movies such as Bhirkit (Marathi), K.G.F: Chapter 2 (Hindi), Lekh (Punjabi), Tu Mora OK (Odia), My Dear Bootham (Tamil), Malayankunju (Malayalam), Acharya (Telugu) in a specialised curated open–air setup.

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About BookASmile

India’s leading entertainment destination BookMyShow launched its charity initiative BookASmile in 2014 with a vision to support special causes and enrich the lives of the less fortunate across India through entertainment-led experiences. BookASmile invests a lot of energy to create an inviting community to ensure that they can be privy to opportunities, by incorporating into their lives, activities, and experiences from across genres like Cinema, Sport, Theatre, Music & Arts. The BookASmile initiative has been operational since 2014 and has been integrated into the BookMyShow App and website. With BookMyShow’s vast customer base, the initiative has been raising funds for special causes whereby every consumer can choose to contribute from Re.1/- per ticket. For more information, please visit www.bookmyshow.com/donation/

About BookMyShow

Launched in 2007, BookMyShow, owned and operated by Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd (founded in 1999), is India’s leading entertainment destination with global operations and the one-stop shop for every entertainment need. The firm is present in over 650 towns and cities in India and works with partners across the industry to provide unmatched entertainment experiences to millions of customers. Over the years, the company has evolved from a purely online ticketing platform for movies across 6,000 plus screens, to end-to-end management of live entertainment events including music concerts, live performances, theatricals, sports and more, all accomplished at par with global standards. Some of the key properties that BookMyShow has brought to its markets over the past few years include U2’s The Joshua Tree Tour, NBA’s debut games in India, Disney’s Aladdin, Cirque du Soleil BAZZAR as also international artists such as Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber to name a few.

BookMyShow is invested in providing the best user experience, whether on-ground or online and to that effect, has developed the first-of-its-kind video streaming platform solely for live entertainment in India – ‘BookMyShow Online’, marking its entry in the streaming business. Complementing its cinemas business, the firm also launched ‘BookMyShow Stream’, India’s largest home-grown transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) platform hosting award-winning and critically acclaimed content from around the world. BookMyShow also houses India’s most extensive organic reviews and ratings engine for movies and has driven technology innovations, such as the m-ticket and Movie Mode, impacting tens of millions of users and the industry at large.

With continued support from marquee investors like TPG Growth, Stripes Group, Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), Accel and Network18, BookMyShow has constantly demonstrated category leadership, growing beyond India with operations in UAE, Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka amongst others. The Mumbai-headquartered company counts Ticket Green, Eventifier, Masti Tickets and Townscript amongst its key investments in the sector. BookMyShow is also committed to society at large, by way of its charity initiative BookASmile, which supports special causes to enrich the lives of the less fortunate across India through entertainment-led experiences.

For further details, please contact: 

media@bookmyshow.com