#VanakkamTwitter: Kamal Haasan most talked about Tamil entertainment personality

Twitter hosted Vanakkam Twitter, a summit focused on the regional entertainment scene and its rise on Twitter.

Over the years, the South Indian entertainment industry has drastically moved up to the forefront of online conversations, with millions of people turning to Twitter to find out what’s happening in the world of South Indian cinema.

As part of the summit, acclaimed film personality and superstar Kamal Haasan spoke about his views on the evolution of social media and importance of Twitter and communication in today’s world. Based on latest Twitter data, Kamal Haasan  is ranked as the most talked about male celebrity in the Tamil film industry on Twitter from January - May 2018, followed by Rajinikanth , Suriya Sivakumar, Prakash Raj  and Anirudh Ravichander.

Also present at #VanakkamTwitter were Baradwaj Rangan and Dhivya Dharshini , renowned personalities from the Tamil cinema fraternity. Baradwaj Rangan  discussed the digital presence of South Indian cinema and celebrities on the platform.

We have something exciting coming up for you today. Follow the hashtag #VanakkamTwitter to see what's in store! pic.twitter.com/sGUy3MiKp8

— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 28, 2018

The summit also hosted a live performance by 7UP Madras Gig by Sony Music South. As part of that, the new track, Raati, was launched by Santhosh Dhayanidhi via live stream exclusively on Twitter.

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Speaking on Twitter’s role in transforming fan interactions, Keya Madhvani Singh, Head – Entertainment Partnerships, Twitter India said, “People come to Twitter to see what’s happening in the entertainment world. The Indian entertainment industry converges on Twitter to connect with those fans who want first-hand information; presenting a unique opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with a receptive audience.

Through #VanakkamTwitter, we intended to familiarize the Tamil and Telugu film industries with Twitter's new products and best practices, thereby enabling them to reach out to fans across the globe. Going forward, we are focusing on building newer avenues and partnerships to delight fans of Tamil and Telugu films and enhance their experiences.”

In a candid chat, Kamal Haasan shared with Dhivya Dharshini how he joined Twitter and why he thinks the platform is critical, while Baradwaj Rangan threw light on the evolution of Indian cinema from the South of the country.

I will be at #VanakkamTwitter later today, and you can catch a live-stream of my conversation on my Twitter handle. If you have Q’s for me, Tweet them with #AskKamalHaasan and we’ll try and answer some of them. Stay tuned!

— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) June 28, 2018

At #VanakkamTwitter, actor and politician Kamal Haasan said “To me Twitter is the equivalent of the walls that the Marudhu brothers used for political graffiti. It was this medium through which I expressed the anger I had. Personal and otherwise. I became a political Twitter user because of this.We are all reachable, but Tweeting makes it easy. It makes science faster and communication faster. Twitter can be used for science, politics and to exchange thoughts. It is a fantastic platform that wasn't available to Edison and Einstein or Gandhiji, it is available to us. We can use Twitter to reach miles and miles ahead or wallow in it like a video game and not go anywhere. We need to use this momentum for the way forward.”

On the launch of the band’s latest track, Sanujeet Bhujbal, Senior Director Marketing, Sony Music India said, “We are extremely excited to partner with Twitter for Madras Gig and to present a LIVE showcase for the 3rd single from this successful property. We at Sony Music India have been using Twitter aggressively to engage and communicate with music fans. As a leading label in the South, we have strategically invested in both Soundtracks and the Pop market and are seeing a massive growth opportunity for music from South India across all Digital platforms. We also believe the music consumption in South will increase to nearly 30% and we only see it growing from here-on.”

Playing an important role in scaling up the engagement quotient, Twitter has been partnering with various South film organisations to deliver #OnlyOnTwitter experiences like special emojis that are triggered by regional hashtags, with the most recent example being #Kaala-- that has generated over 7.2 million conversations on Twitter so far.The inaugural #VanakkamTwitter triggered online and offline conversations around the progressive outlook of South Indian entertainment, and was a huge success among speakers, partners, guests and the people on Twitter.