24.6.08

Anil's BIG Entertainment Plan

Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd has made no bones about its ambition to be one of the largest media and entertainment companies globally on 18 May the company announced a splashy entry into Hollywood with a plan to “develop” films with George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures and Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, virtually the who’s who of the American movie industry.Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, part of an Indian conglomerate controlled by telecommunications and finance mogul Anil Ambani, is in talks with finance Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in a new venture. Unlike other foreign investors who have stepped towards Hollywood—and taken some grief for their efforts—Reliance has deep experience in the film business. Ambani is a relative newcomer to the movie game, but his wife, Tina Munim, is a former Bollywood star.
Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd chairman Amit Khanna, a Bollywood director and producer, and the company president, Rajesh Sawhney, a former newspaper group executive, have laid out ambitious plans that include creating a $10 billion (Rs43,000 crore) entertainment company that would be one of the world’s largest. They envision nothing short of remaking Hollywood.
After several good years, entertainment companies in India are finding that they have plenty of money but not enough places to spend it.
Reliance is exploring around 30 projects, of which it expects eight to 10 to go into production over the next two years. While the production budgets will range from $25 million to $150 million (Rs106.5 crore to Rs639 crore), the company is projecting a revenue stream of at least $1billion through these films. But Hollywood appears to be just one element of the game plan.
Reliance’s larger blueprint includes plans for one of the largest broadcast networks in the country, the biggest portfolio of businesses in mobile and Internet gaming, social networking, classified portals, as well as movies and video rental services. And a presence in physical music and video distribution, besides making Hollywood and Indian films.Four to six television channels are likely to be launched before year-end and the DTH service.
Reliance Big Entertainment has finalised 69 films in nine languages for production and distribution over the next two years. The films include those in collaboration with India's leading production houses and Reliance's own in-house films. Amongst the prominent deals include -two film deal with Vidhu Vinod Chopra including a mainstream English language film Broken Horses , a six film deal with Excel entertainment promoted by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani including Shah Rukh Khan starrer Don II . There is also a two film deal with director Shyam Benegal, four film deal with Madhur Bhandarkar, three film deal with Vivek Agnihotri and two film deal with Sudhir Mishra.Big Entertainment has also signed up with Amitabh Bachchan's A B Corporation to jointly produce films. The four directors shortlisted are Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Rohan Sippy, Sujoy Ghosh and Balki.
Revenue from India’s movie industry hit $2.2 billion in 2007, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, less than one-tenth that of Hollywood. But Bollywood is expected to double in size by 2012, thanks to 13% annual growth, versus less than 3% in Hollywood.
Still, at their roots, Hollywood and Bollywood are starkly different industries, starting with the The financing of Bollywood films has historically been a less-than-transparent business, with cash flowing in from organized crime and black markets. In recent years, though, public corporations have been drawn to the industry and banks in India and beyond have been making loans.

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