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Even as Bollywood remains wary of announcing dates for theatrical releases, studios and producers are wooing audiences to cinemas by lining up content for next year as they expect the Covid-19 situation in India to improve.
In one of the Indian film industry's biggest collaborations, T-Series and Reliance Entertainment have joined hands to produce more than 10 films across varied genres, including big-budget tentpoles as well as mid and small-budget content-rich films.
This giant collaboration brings two major Bollywood production houses together with an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore ($182.4 million).
Mr Bhushan Kumar's T-Series and tycoon Anil Ambani owned Reliance Entertainment have worked together on the music marketing front for more than 100 films. Now for the first time both studios will collaborate to produce a slew of films, marking the start of a long-term relationship for content creation.
The extensive line-up of films is in various stages of development. Bejewelled with three big-budget blockbusters, the lineup also features films headlined by some of India's most revered on-screen and off-screen talents.
Others in the pipeline are Hindi remakes of Tamil blockbuster action thrillers, a mega historical biopic, an espionage thriller, a courtroom drama, a satirical comedy, a romance drama and a film based on shocking true events.
T-Series is the largest music record label in India and one of the top successful film production companies.
Reliance is a leading media and entertainment company in the country with more than 300 commercially and critically acclaimed movies in its portfolio.
In recent years Reliance has produced several hits under its partnerships with Rohit Shetty, Imtiaz Ali, Neeraj Pandey, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Ribhu Dasgupta and S. Sashikant.
The new slate of films will be produced in the next 24 to 36 months under the aegis of some of these partnerships and with other promising filmmakers such as Pushkar and Gayatri, Vikramjit Singh, Mangesh Hadawale, Srijit Mukherji and Sankalp Reddy.
At least five films will have big-screen releases worldwide, starting next year.
The deal, one of the largest financing efforts in recent Indian film-making history, is a bold gamble at a time when many producers in India are abandoning theatrical releases during the pandemic and turning to over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Amazon and Netflix for premieres.
Like in other countries, lockdowns and curbs to contain the spread of Covid-19 have caused a surge in demand for digital streaming in India, as people crave entertainment at home. But big producers say that lavish budgets cannot be recouped without cinemas.
Mr Kumar, who is the chairman and managing director of T-Series, said: "After working on music marketing together, this collaboration has happened at the right time and this will just strengthen our ties. We hope to give our Hindi film audiences new and unconventional films."
Mr Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment, said: "This partnership with Bhushan will surely mark the beginning of a great feat in the Indian film industry as we move on to offer a bouquet of path-breaking and momentous films to our audiences." Indo-Asian News Service
