The record label T-series Bhushan and Reliance Entertainment have signed a deal to collaborate on ten upcoming films. The leaders of the production houses, Bhushan Kumar and Shibasish Sarkar informed that they would collaborate to produce ten feature films with a budget of 1000 crore Indian rupees (135 million US dollars). The movies range from big-budget blockbusters to low and small budget content-oriented films.
T-Series, led by its chairman and marketing director Bhushan Kumar, is the largest music record label in the country. It started as a music label in 1984 and subsequently transformed itself into a successful film studio.
The Anil Ambani owned Reliance Entertainment Ltd is a successful media group that has produced more than 300 commercially and critically acclaimed films.
Shibasish Sarkar is the CEO of the group. The film houses have worked together on the music marketing front for more than 100 films. This project is the first time they are collaborating on film production.
According to Kumar and Sarkar, the companies anticipate a long-term relationship in content creation. The deal is one of the most extensive collaborations in Bollywood.
The movies will be path breaking and momentous, says Sarkar
According to the production houses, the movies will span varied genres, including Hindi remakes of Tamil blockbuster films, a courtroom drama, an espionage thriller, historical biopics and comedies.
The list of the filmmakers onboard includes Pushkar and Gayatri, Srijit Mukherjee, Sankalp Reddy and Vikramjit Singh. The filmmakers who had collaborated with the Reliance group before will also join the line-up.
The statement by T-series and Reliance Entertainment said that the different films are in various production stages.
They expect to complete the collaborative project in the next 24 to 36 months. Some movies will be released as early as next year, and at least four of them will have a big screen worldwide release.
Reliance media group’s CEO said that he looks forward to making “pathbreaking and momentous films” in the project.
Bhushan Kumar expressed the same sentiment when he added that the films would be unconventional for the Bollywood audience.
He also said that the collaboration is happening at the right time and will strengthen the ties between the two groups.
The film houses expressed hopes for the opening of theatres in the country
This enormous financing effort in Bollywood comes when all the movie halls are shut down due to the pandemic.
Even though the states are gradually reopening them, most theatres remain shut across the country.
Since March of last year, a large part of the film-goers worldwide has shifted to OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Certain Indian filmmakers used this opportunity to move to OTT platforms, while others delayed the release of their movies.
T-series and Reliance Entertainment have delayed releasing many of their potential blockbuster movies that have been ready since last year.
According to some of India’s cinema chains, the film industry loses 4 billion rupees monthly due to theatre closures.
Bhushan Kumar stated that they could not make such a significant investment with just OTT in mind.
He worries that Maharashtra, a vast market that contributes 30 to 50% of Bollywood’s total theatrical earnings, has not opened its theatres until now.
The filmmakers added that they expect the Covid19 situation to recover soon. When confronted with the question of a third wave, Sarkar expressed hopes on the country’s vaccination drive. “We should be out of [the third wave] in the next few months,” he said.
read more :Major Fallout Between Reliance And T-series
