Latest news with #KaranSharma
News18
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Rajkummar Rao Reacts To Patralekhaa Praising His Dance Moves In Bhool Chuk Maaf
Last Updated: Directed by Karan Sharma, the feel-good rom-com features a stellar ensemble cast alongside Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi Rajkummar Rao, who surprised fans with his groovy dance moves in the recently released song Bhool Chuk Maaf, has now reacted to his wife Patralekhaa's sweet praise for his performance. The actor winning over not just fans but also his biggest cheerleader—his wife. The actor is currently gearing up for his next release, Maalik. Taking to her Instagram stories, Patralekhaa shared a song video and 'Those moves @rajkummar_rao." Reacting to the post, the actor wrote, 'Love'. Directed by Karan Sharma, the feel-good rom-com features a stellar ensemble cast alongside Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi, including Seema Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra, Zakir Hussain, Raghubir Yadav, and Jay Thakkar. Recently, in an interview with News18, Rajkummar had told us that he found BCM's concept unique. 'The way Karan has written the whole story, keeping this time loop in it, the comedy in it, the characters' arch, and in the end, there's a very beautiful social commentary also that we are making. So, it just came together very nicely for me," he shared. After lighting up the big screens, Bhool Chuk Maaf is expected to drop on Amazon Prime Video just two weeks after its theatrical release. A part of News18's review of the film read, 'The initial build-up features well-crafted dialogues, humour, and convincing performances by Rao and Gabbi (who plays Titli). Rao's impeccable delivery of one-liners, with the perfect accent and timing, is particularly entertaining. Debutant director Karan Sharma dedicates most of the first half to establishing the loop, though the script could have benefited from more depth there. Having said that, the songs enhance the beauty of the film's setting and the picturisation of Banaras is something that will break the stereotype associated with the place." Maddock Films took to Instagram to celebrate the heartwarming response Bhool Chuk Maaf received on day one. 'They didn't just come to watch – they came to feel, laugh, cry, and celebrate together," the post read. They added, 'Families across the country are giving their hearts to this one." First Published:
Forbes
09-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Combined Power Of LinkedIn And Email Marketing For Driving Sales
Karan Sharma is a digital commerce expert and the co-founder at Kinex Media Inc, a creative digital agency in Toronto. As social platforms continue to evolve with new features, they're increasingly influencing purchasing behaviors. As a result, the buyer's journey has transformed dramatically. According to research by GWI, 71% of B2B decision makers say that social media influences their decisions when they're considering new products for their companies. For many of these buyers, their purchasing journey begins on LinkedIn. You can leverage this shift by using LinkedIn to build trust with your audience and then connecting with them through personalized email campaigns that drive conversions. Let's take a look at how. LinkedIn has evolved from a professional networking site into a powerful platform where you can build genuine relationships with your brand's audience. To effectively build trust and engagement, you should empower your company's most valuable assets: your people. One survey found that content shared by employees leads to eight times more engagement than content shared directly by brands. This effectively humanizes the brand and helps foster a deeper sense of trust. This phenomenon underscores the power of employee advocacy, where companies encourage their teams to share positive news, insights and industry expertise about their workplace. This approach not only amplifies the brand's reach exponentially but also injects a crucial layer of authenticity, making the brand's voice more relatable and trustworthy to its audience. To cultivate this, you can proactively provide clear guidelines on brand messaging, offer a repository of content ideas or even pre-written posts that employees can easily customize and share, and publicly acknowledge their contributions to foster a culture of sharing. Implementing formal advocacy programs, providing training on LinkedIn best practices and celebrating employees who actively contribute can turn every team member into a genuine brand ambassador. For example, you might designate an internal content champion to curate shareable articles or organize friendly internal competitions to boost participation and reward engagement. Beyond leveraging personal profiles, you can further ignite engagement through interactive content. Sharing elements like LinkedIn polls and carousels actively encourages audience participation, which in turn drives greater brand awareness. Polls offer real-time insights into customer preferences and pain points, helping brands segment audiences and tailor communications. You can regularly create polls on industry trends or customer challenges. Carousels visually break down complex information or case studies. By integrating these, you can transform your brand's LinkedIn presence into a vibrant community, fostering authentic connections. Turning social media engagement into email subscribers is a critical next step in the digital marketing funnel. Here are some key tactics to turn LinkedIn followers into loyal, high-intent subscribers: • Offer lead magnets: To grow your email list effectively, offer valuable resources like e-books, reports, templates or webinars as lead magnets. For instance, a B2B SaaS company might offer a 'Comprehensive Guide to Optimizing Sales Funnels.' You can offer these on LinkedIn via organic posts linking to landing pages, through LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms in paid campaigns or through profile resources. When a lead magnet directly addresses audience needs and offers significant value, it boosts conversion rates because the perceived benefit outweighs sharing personal information. • Create simplified forms: Limit required fields on lead capture forms to reduce friction and increase sign-ups. Collect essential information initially (name, email) for higher conversion rates, and then gather more details through targeted nurturing. Building an email list is just the first step—how you engage with your subscribers is what truly drives results. Sending messages that are relevant, engaging and conversion-focused is the key. This requires personalization. AI tools can help you craft personalized subject lines, body copy and calls to action at scale. By analyzing audience data, AI tools ensure that every email feels individually tailored, even when targeting large subscriber lists. For instance, you could share personalized e-book offers with your subscribers. Consider adding interactive elements to your emails as well. Adding components like quizzes, sliders or clickable product recommendations within emails can boost engagement and increase time spent with the content. These elements not only improve the user experience but also generate valuable data about customer preferences for future segmentation. To accurately assess the success of a LinkedIn-to-email strategy, look beyond superficial metrics and concentrate on key performance indicators. This involves tracking conversion rates, specifically the percentage of LinkedIn interactions that lead to email subscriptions. Additionally, be sure to consistently analyze engagement metrics like email open and click-through rates to gauge content resonance and how well it addresses audience needs. To understand the financial efficiency of your efforts, calculate your customer acquisition cost (CAC) by adding up all of your direct marketing and sales expenses (e.g., LinkedIn ad spend, lead magnet content costs, email platform costs, relevant team salaries) for a defined period and then dividing this total by the number of new customers acquired through that specific funnel during the same period. The formula looks like this: CAC = total sales and marketing costs/number of new customers. Finally, measure your pipeline velocity—the time it takes from initial LinkedIn engagement to deal closure. This helps you pinpoint bottlenecks and optimize the overall sales process. Integrating your LinkedIn and email marketing efforts is an effective, efficient way to build trust, engage audiences and drive conversions. By using LinkedIn to attract and nurture leads and leveraging personalized email campaigns to convert them, you can achieve sustainable growth and enhanced brand loyalty. For chief marketing officers, founders and marketers, the key takeaway is clear: Stop siloing your platforms. The modern growth engine is not about being everywhere—it's about being intentional and strategic with the platforms you choose to engage on. Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
India Box Office: Rajkummar Rao's ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf' Crosses $8 Million
A poster of the new Hindi film 'Bhool Chuk Maaf'. After days of legal tussles and public controversies, Maddock Films released their new Hindi film Bhool Chuk Maaf in theatres on May 23. Despite the back and forth regarding the platform for its release, the film had a decent opening and went on to make nearly $9 million in ten days at the box office. Directed by Karan Sharma, Bhool Chuk Maaf stars Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi in lead roles. Bhool Chuk Maaf made an opening collection that crossed the $4 million-mark worldwide in its first weekend, despite the controversies around the release of the film. It managed to post a decent weekend figure at the box office. Rao's latest social comedy managed to score an average figure at the box office, earning nearly $9 million worldwide in ten days at the ticket windows. Indian actors Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi feature in the Hindi movie 'Bhool Chuk Maaf'. The film ... More made a decent opening weekend collection at the box office. In India, Bhool Chuk Maaf scored around $950,000 on the first day at the box office. The collections saw a significant rise over the weekend. The film scored $1.2 million and $1.5 million on Saturday and Sunday in the Indian markets. It managed to cross $500,000 earnings in India on its first Monday. It also scored a similar figure on Tuesday, its fifth day at the box office. Globally, the film made a $1.1 million opening on Friday. The three-day worldwide box office total for Bhool Chuk Maaf stood at $4.09 million. The collections dropped more than fifty per cent on the first Monday for Bhool Chuk Maaf. Nonetheless, the film managed to maintain a decent graph over the weekdays. It closed the first week in India at nearly $5 million. The ten -day total for the film stood at $8.3 million in India and $8.8 million worldwide. The drama and chaos began when Maddock Films announced that Bhool Chuk Maaf would get a direct-to-digital release. The announcement came just a few hours ahead of its scheduled theatrical release on May 9. Things soon went downhill with PVRINOX, the Indian theatre chain, seeking a stay on the direct-to-digital release and a compensation of nearly $6 million. After an Indian court ordered stay on the release, the parties reached an agreement and the film was scheduled for a theatrical release on May 23. The makers of Bhool Chuk Maaf are now left with a small window of two weeks between the theatrical and digital releases. Prime Video will premiere the film on June 16. Indian star Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi on a poster of 'Bhool Chuk Maaf'. Soon after the theatrical release, a social media post by PVR INOX CEO Kamal Gianchandani labelled the film as a genuine hit, slamming those who wrote off Bhool Chuk Maaf for a lack of appeal and riding on discount offers. Gianchandani's post also declared that theatres and big screens were revived in the month of May 2025, bringing audiences in 'big numbers'. Karan Sharma (Maharani fame) has directed and written Bhool Chuk Maaf which stars Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi in lead roles. The film also boasts of a stellar cast in supporting roles including Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Zakir Hussain, Ishtiyak Khan, and Raghubir Yadav. Tanishq Bagchi (Shershaah, Kesari) composed the music for the film which has lyrics by Irshad Kamil (Tamasha, Kabir Singh). Set in a small town in northern India, Bhool Chuk Maaf traces the lives of a love-struck couple set to get married. They have reached this point after several hardships they underwent to ensure the groom bagged a government job. However, just a day before the wedding, they are trapped in a weird time loop and the wedding day never seems to approach. How is this possible? What went wrong? How do they break the loop? The answer to these questions forms the crux of the film. While Rao and the rest of the cast try their best to uplift the film, the writing does not quite live up to the expectations of a social-comedy film. More often than not, Bhool Chuk Maaf turns too preachy for a comedy film. While the comedy is light and fun, especially in the first half, the social issues that the film attempts to highlight appear either forced, or too fluffy. In a story about the obsession for government job for a groom, the vast potential to explore the socio-economic aspects of unemployment remains wasted. Rao essays the role of the unemployed boy who takes some wrong turns to ensure a government job and get married. He displays his acting charms to his best, but the character itself lets him down. Here is a man who does not want to make any real efforts - not for himself, his own survival, not even for the marriage he so desperately wants. It gets worse when he is lauded as a social worker for deciding to undo all the efforts everyone else made to get him what he wanted. Gabbi's role is restricted to playing the cute, completely in control but emotionally out of control middle-class girl who passionately wants to get married to her love without defying her traditional and authoritarian dad. Bhool Chuk Maaf could have been a much funnier and more impactful film than it is. Certainly not among the best among Rao's filmography.
India Today
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Bhool Chuk Maaf box office Day 9: Rajkummar Rao's film smashes Rs 50 crore mark
Rajkummar Rao's 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' is enjoying a good run at the box office. The film has crossed the benchmark of Rs 50 crore net in India within nine days of its release, and is promising to continue its wrapping its first week at around Rs 44.1 crore nett, the Karan Sharma directorial entered its second weekend on a decent note. It collected around Rs 3.25 crore nett on its second Friday. However, the second Saturday showed fabulous growth, reaffirming the audience's faith in the day-wise box office business of 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' after 9 days - nett collection (Source: Sacnilk)Friday: Rs 7 croreSaturday: Rs 9.5 croreSunday: Rs 11.5 croreMonday: Rs 4.5 croreTuesday: Rs 4.75 croreWednesday: Rs 3.5 croreThursday: Rs 3.35 croreFriday: Rs 3.25 croreSaturday: Rs 5.15 croreTotal: Rs 52.50 crore'Bhool Chuk Maaf' has got no competition at the box office from a Hindi release. No big film has been released in theatres, and it has already moved past 'Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning' and 'Raid 2'. The film received mixed reviews from the audience and critics. However, its performance seems to indicate that the audience has agreed with it, especially in the heartland markets. 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' is now eyeing the benchmark of Rs 100 crore. It will be interesting to see if it manages to reach there or by Maddock Films, it is a time loop comedy set against the background of a wedding. The film stars Wamiqa Gabbi alongside Rao, and also features Seema Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra, and Raghubir Yadav, among others, in important roles. IN THIS STORY#RajKummar Rao
Time of India
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
‘Bhool Chuk Maaf' Box Office collection day 8: Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi's comedy-drama nears Rs 50 crore
and 's latest film 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' has been making audiences smile – and the box office ring – ever since it hit cinemas. In just eight days, the small-town romantic comedy has earned over Rs. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 47 crore, as reported by Sacnilk, and is now inching closer to the Rs. 50 crore mark. Not bad at all for a film that faced delays and big-screen competition! A bright start for a charming tale Directed by Karan Sharma, 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' released in cinemas on 23 May. Despite a few delays before release, the film got off to a strong start, opening with Rs. 7.2 crore on day one. The first week brought in Rs. 44.3 crore in total – a fantastic achievement for a film that isn't backed by heavy action or massive budgets, but instead by strong storytelling and warm performances. As per early estimated by Sacnilk, the eighth day added another Rs. 3.15 crore to its name, bringing the total up to Rs. 47.45 crore. That means the film may cross the Rs. 50 crore milestone very soon. Day 8 occupancy On its eighth day, 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' recorded an overall Hindi occupancy of 10.90% in cinema. Viewership grew steadily throughout the day, with morning shows starting at 5.27%, afternoon shows rising to 11.80%, evening shows at 11.21%, and night shows peaking at 15.32%. What is 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' about? Set in the spiritual city of Banaras, 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' tells the story of Ranjan, played by Rajkummar Rao. He's madly in love with Titli, played by Wamiqa Gabbi, and wants to marry her. To do that, he needs to get a government job – or so he believes. But things take a turn when he breaks a vow made to Lord Shiva and ends up in a complicated mess. What follows is a heartwarming and funny tale of love, second chances, and doing the right thing. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The story strikes a lovely balance between humour and emotion, which seems to have clicked with audiences, especially families. 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' review A review by ETimes gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said, 'The first half takes a bit too long to get to the point with innumerable songs added for no rhyme or reason. Humour is largely clean and safe if you excuse the occasional 'tatti jokes'. It's the second half that changes the game. It is here that the film addresses growing apathy, isolated existence, and self-centric living.' B-Town Shines at Bhool Chuk Maaf
