‘Zee Telugu Apsara Awards’ is a first-of-its-kind initiative that celebrates women achievers across media, entertainment and other fields. This is the second edition of the awards which celebrates womanhood with a tinge of glamour, achievements and some mind-blowing performances.
The event was organized on Sunday, 9th April at Annapurna Studios 7 Acres, Hyderabad.
Legendary filmmaker, K. Viswanath launched the event along with fabled actress, Sowcar Janaki and veteran singer, Vani Jayaram. Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, Mr. Mohammad Mahmood Ali graced the event. Additional Commissioner of Police for the city of Hyderabad, Mrs. Swati Lakra was felicitated during the event and Indian Cricket Team Captain, Mithali Raj also attended the event.
This year, Zee Telugu and Facebook partnered together on an extensive digital campaign for Apsara Awards. The association kick-started with the creation of a special Voting Bot on Facebook messenger – www.m.me/zeetelugu. This was the first time in South India that an interactive polling bot for people to vote for their favorite stars was used. A live polling option where people could comment on the post to vote for their favorites and the percentage of votes for each nominee was displayed was also created for the first time in South India (eg: https://www.facebook.com/zeetelugu/videos/1344863785601157/ )
Apsara Awards 2017 also becomes the 1st in South India to showcase a continuous Pink Carpet on Facebook Live for more than 3 hours. This also marks the association with a digital content creator in Telugu Jahnavi, popular as ‘Mahathalli’. The Live feed reached more than 2.7 Million people and garnered more than 900k views. https://www.facebook.com/zeetelugu/videos/1348200155267520/
Facebook’s Head of Regional Markets India, Mr. Ankur Mehra quotes, “We are pleased to partner with Zee Telugu for Apsara Awards and look forward to strengthening our partnership.” Zee Telugu’s Business Head, Mrs. Anuradha Gudur says, “This is the first time we have partnered with any platform at this level and Facebook has been extremely supportive.”
The team is geared up to achieve an overall reach of 25 Million on Facebook for their video content.
The event was full of glitz and glamour as actresses from across generations attended the event. There were some mind boggling performances by Adah Sharma, Pragya Jayswal, Sayesha Singhal, Mehreen, Nora Fatehi and Miss Andhra Pradesh & Miss Asia Pacific International Srishti Vyakaranam along with singer Geeta Madhura who performed on some hit numbers. A powerful act on female infanticide by Drama Juniors contestants was also part of the event. Celebs like Khushboo, Shriya Saran, Rahul Preet, Nadhiya, Hansika, Keerthy Suresh, Anupama Paramerswaran, Cathrine Tresa, Ritu Varma, Niveda Thomas, Neerja Kona, singer and dubbing artist Chinmayi Sripada amongst others attended the event adding to a huge list of guests.