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Tag: Chhayabani

  • Balaji Telefilms eyes regional expansion; seeks local partners

    Balaji Telefilms eyes regional expansion; seeks local partners

    MUMBAI: Even as the promoters have upped their stake in the company in the light of Star selling its 26 per cent stake, Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) has set sight on the regional television programming space for expansion.

     

    The production house, which recently wrapped up the seventh season of Nach Baliye on Star Plus, plans to launch as many as 10 shows in Bengali and southern languages. Moreover, in order to break into the regional space, BTL is also eying tie-ups with local partners.

     

    “Our plan is to have three – five shows each in Bengali and Southern languages by the end of FY2016,” the company said in its annual report.

     

    This apart, BTL is also mulling launching a few of its Hindi shows in regional languages. The first of these would be the telecast of the Zee TV show Kumkum Bhagya, on Zee Bangla. At the same time, the production powerhouse is also eyeing tie-ups in the south, which will yield three to four shows.

     

    It may be recalled that in December 2014, BTL had entered into an alliance with the Kolkata-based Chhayabani to form Chhayabani Balaji Entertainment and create distinctive, contemporary and clutter breaking television content for Zee Bangla.

     

    Also under consideration is the plan to launch its celebrity sports reality show Box Cricket League in the regional space. At the same time, BTL has set a target to launch six new shows in the Hindi general entertainment channels (GEC) space this fiscal. While plans are underway to launch a comedy show on the lines of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, BTL is also readying a high concept fiction show for Star Plus.

     

    With audiences patronizing the Balaji brand, the company’s key focus is to improve its bottom line during FY2016.

     

    “We aim to be more process-driven, rather than personality-driven. With changing dynamics of the industry, we are aiming to capitalise our capabilities in making high-concept fiction and non-fiction shows. To begin with, we are coming up with a high concept, high fiction show for Star TV. We are confident of the ratings of our new shows, especially reality based shows,” the company said.

     

    On the movies front, BTL has a strong pipeline of movies lined up for FY16 and FY17.  With aspirations to become the number two entertainment studio going forward, the production house has in its kitty 8 – 10 films like Azhar, A Flying Jatt, Suspect X, Naatak, and Bhool Se Naam Na Lo Pyaar Ka, among others.

     

    Not ignoring the fast-developing digital space, BTL is also in the process of creating its own IP and genuine B2C content to tap the burgeoning platform.

     

    That said, BTL seems poised to spread its wings and fly even more so now with BTL group CEO Sameer Nair, armed with his business acumen, adding extra stars to the creative prowess of Ekta Kapoor.

  • Balaji Telefilms and Chhayabani announce strategic partnership

    Balaji Telefilms and Chhayabani announce strategic partnership

    MUMBAI: Television and film production company, Balaji Telefilms, has entered into an alliance with Kolkata-based company, Chhayabani, to create distinctive, contemporary, clutter breaking television content.

     

    Chhayabani Balaji Entertainment will be developed as a unique platform that will initially produce television content and gradually scale up to explore other creative opportunities, while also becoming a magnetic hub attracting talented people – technicians and artists, to work together in a collaborative manner.

     

    Chhayabani is highly acknowledged for its glorious heritage in the area of entertainment, in Kolkata. This collaboration brings together two media houses with distinctive strengths to explore new formats of television presentation, create exciting high-end scripted content, while also attracting high quality talent.

     

    Commenting on the development, Balaji Telefilms joint MD Ekta Kapoor said, “Balaji is at a very exciting phase of growth. Within the Indian entertainment space, over time we have created our own unique position across both – the films and the television businesses, which by nature are two completely different disciplines. Our aim is to explore how best we can leverage Balaji’s competitive strengths to create exciting entertainment across media that will propel our growth. We are delighted that Chhayabani emerged as the most preferred partner for Balaji given their cinematic excellence and their tremendous passion to produce quality entertainment products.”

     

    Added Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair, “We have always believed that growth is collaborative, which has also been our operating philosophy in a super-dynamic industry. We are very excited to partner with Chhayabani and as evident, the synergies are extremely strong. This collaboration helps us build a unique and robust platform that allows us to explore a very wide variety of avenues, given our respective creative strengths and the huge libraries of film and television content which we aim to leverage as we move forward.”

     

    Chhayabani director Saugata Nandi said, “It is gratifying to finally see a long cherished idea culminating into a strong association between Balaji and us — with a common vision of drawing the best creative talent available in the region to generate never-before-seen content for a very culturally driven and art-oriented Bengali audience. While Balaji holds the numero uno position in the television and film industry in India, Chhayabani has the distinction of being laced with an enviable reputation of being the torch bearer of the golden era in Bengali television and cinema. Through this platform we look forward to present very distinctive content that talks the universal language of emotions and instantly connects with the viewer.”