rossword, the Mumbai-based chain of bookstores in which Shopper�s Stop has a 51 per cent stake, was recently spotted sponsoring a movie festival on television. So what�s the big deal? Well, we haven�t had any homegrown bookstore sponsoring a show on a popular English channel before this. On ZMZ - the English movie channel from the ZEE Group, which was known as ZEE MGM till recently - Crossword was part of the James Bond festival. The festival ran on the channel all of October and showcased "some of the hottest" Bond movies at 8.00 pm every Sunday.

Crosswords and James Bond? The bookstore feels there is a natural fit between the two. "Those who watch English movies would quite likely be readers of English literature," says R Sriram, chief executive officer and managing director, Crossword Bookstores. As part of the promotion, James Bond DVDs and VCDs were sold at the bookstore chain. ... more