ITV

Tag: Jodhaa Akbar

  • Spuul inks deal with UTV; to stream ‘PK’

    Spuul inks deal with UTV; to stream ‘PK’

    MUMBAI: Online streaming service for Indian cinema and television content, Spuul has added the highest grossing Hindi movie of all time PK in its catalogue. Along with PK, subscribers can also watch other UTV titles like Rang De Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar, Kai Po Che, Barfi, Dev D and Chennai Express amongst others.

     

    All movies will be available across platforms like web, mobile (iOS, Android), Smart TV (Samsung, Panasonic, LG) Airplay on iOS, and Chromecast on Android. Spuul will be offering these movies to subscribers in India, UK, Middle East and other major territories around the world.

     

    Spuul global CEO Subin Subaiah said, “As one of the leading providers of Bollywood content to viewers across India, Pakistan, UK, US and Middle East, we are constantly investing in growing our library by adding new, popular and in many cases, offbeat titles to our list. PK’s addition to our rich UTV catalogue is yet another step in this direction.”

  • Morocco’s Marrakesh Film Festival will honour Hrithik Roshan by screening four of his films

    Morocco’s Marrakesh Film Festival will honour Hrithik Roshan by screening four of his films

    MUMBAI: The nine-day Marrakesh Film Festival that starts Friday, will play host to quite a number of Bollywood film personalities, all of whom are special invitees to the international film festival.

    Bagging top honours is actor Hrithik Roshan. "He has the maximum number of films being screened at the festival," commented a source. Four of his films namely Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Jodhaa Akbar, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Agneepath will be screened at the festival.

    "More importantly, the four films will be screened at the main square to all the dignitaries and invitees at the festival," the source declared.

    Shah Rukh Khan will also share the stage with him on one of the days, as he also played the lead role in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Shah Rukh‘s recent release, Jab Tak Hain Jaan, which also happens to be Yash Chopra‘s last directorial venture, will also be screened.

    Amitabh Bachchan and director Karan Johar are also among the special invitees to the Marrakesh fest.

  • Morocco to host 100 years of Indian cinema with special tribute to Yash Chopra

    Morocco to host 100 years of Indian cinema with special tribute to Yash Chopra

    MUMBAI: A centenary celebration of Indian cinema has been planned in Marrakech, the third largest city of the African Nation Morocco.

    The gala will kick off on 1 December and will see an Indian delegation led by Amitabh Bachchan comprising of film actors like Hrithik Roshan, Tabu, Abhay Deol, Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra and Sridevi among others.

    Bachchan said, "I remember with deep gratitude, my last visit to Marrakech in October 2003 and the warmth and the hospitality that was extended to us during our short stay. I look forward to the pleasure of being there again."

    It is also said that the occasion will also have a special tribute for the late Yash Chopra whose last directorial venture Jab Tak Hai Jaan will be screened. According to sources, Shah Rukh Khan would be present for the occasion.

    Films that will be screened during the festival include Don, Don 2, Jodhaa Akbar, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Student of the Year, English Vinglish, Veer Zaara and Barfi!.

  • Three UTV films to screen at the Shanghai Intl Film Festival

    Three UTV films to screen at the Shanghai Intl Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Three films from the UTV stable, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Dhobi Ghat and Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, have been selected to be screened at the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival to be held in Shanghai from 16 to 24 June. The films will be presented in the Panorama Section of the festival.

    Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu has been produced by UTV and Dharma Productions and directed by Shakun Batra, while Dhobi Ghat is produced by Aamir Khan Productions and directed by Kiran Rao and has UTV as its distributor. Bollywood is produced by UTV and Shekhar Kapur and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Jeff Zimbalist.

    Disney UTV executive director – syndication, International distribution and Disney Media Distribution, Studios Amrita Pandey said, “China is a booming market for movies and is growing at a scorching pace. There is an increasing interest for Indian content in many Asian markets like China, South Korea and Taiwan. We recently released Delhi Belly in mainstream cinemas in Hong Kong and we have seen an encouraging response.

    “At UTV, we send our movies to film festivals in our focus markets and The Shanghai International Film Festival is a perfect platform to showcase our movies and to get an opportunity for 3 movies is a rare honour!”

    UTV Motion Pictures‘ foray into newer markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latin America, South Korea, Turkey, Romania, Russia, and Italy has led to the wider showcasing of films produced by the studio.

    In the past, many of UTV‘s titles including Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday!, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Chillar Party and Welcome to Sajjanpur and more recently Delhi Belly and Paan Singh Tomar have travelled in the festival circuit.

    Earlier, UTV‘s Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer Jodhaa Akbar was screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2009.

  • UTV announces movie syndication deals over $1 mn

    UTV announces movie syndication deals over $1 mn

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has announced multiple syndication deals in various territories amounting to over $1 million. The motion pictures division of the UTV said that the deals are primarily for terrestrial TV rights and satellite rights for films in UTV‘s library.

    The company has signed a deal with broadcaster Channel 4 in UK for two of its library titles – The Blue Umbrella and Kaminey for a limited period.

    In Sri Lanka, UTV has licensed terrestrial television rights for four films including Tees Maar Khan and Guzaarish to a local broadcaster for a three year period. It has also signed a deal with an Indonesian distributor for terrestrial television rights for multiple films including Tees Maar Khan, Chance Pe Dance, and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

    On the domestic front, UTV has signed a non-exclusive deal with Zoom to broadcast titles from its library including films like Jodhaa Akbar, Chance Pe Dance and Goal for a limited term.

    UTV has also licensed the terrestrial television rights for India territory for seven movies including Tees Maar Khan, Guzaarish, and Chillar Party. Feeding the current demand for HD content, UTV has licensed a few titles to Star TV for its HD channels only.

    UTV has also licensed SVOD rights of multiple film titles to Videocon for its D2H platform. UTV clarified that all these are short term deals. UTV has also licensed to Star HD channels to provide HD formats of leading movies for their recently launched HD channels, some of which are, Dev.D, Kaminey, Fashion, A Wednesday, Jodhaa Akbar and Life in a Metro among others.

    UTV Motion Pictures Sr VP, international distribution and syndication Amrita Pandey said, “UTV has a strong and growing catalogue of popular titles, which will do well for broadcasters world over. We are continuing to monetise these titles long after their initial exploitation period.”

  • ‘We want to be strategically well entrenched in the Bollywood market’ : Siddharth Roy – UTV Motion Pictures CEO

    ‘We want to be strategically well entrenched in the Bollywood market’ : Siddharth Roy – UTV Motion Pictures CEO

     

    UTV Motion Pictures Plc (UMP Plc) has emerged as one of the top film production companies, challenging established players in scale and box office hits across different genres and budgets. The roster includes Jodhaa Akbar, Race, Fashion and Mumbai Meri Jaan.

    Listed in Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, UMP has set its eyes on good scripts, filmmakers, and talent while scaling up. Taking a cautious approach on film acquisitions, the company’s focus has been to set up a good team and produce movies on their own.

    UMP has also attempted to line up an international IPR basket with movies like The Namesake and The Happening. The adventure has been mixed so far and 2009 could see a retrenchment of such plans, though a $2 million project is being produced singularly by UTV for the first time in the US.

    Riding with a series of hits, UMP targets a revenue of Rs 3-3.5 billion this fiscal. The company has also inked syndication deals with Zee and Colors to maximise revenue opportunities while retaining the first airings for UTV’s Hindi movie channel.

    Finding the turf too competitive and price-driven at this stage, UTV has exited the home video business. The company inked a deal with Moser Baer, licensing for five years the home video rights for 25 movies produced till June 2009.

    With Walt Disney an equity partner, UTV has grabbed the distribution rights of Disney’s Hollywood content for the Indian market. This has not halted UTV from entering into a string of relationships with Hollywood majors including Fox.

    In an interview with Sibabrata Das, UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur talks about the challenges that film producers face with pressure on star costs and RoI (return on investments) and how the company has grown into a powerhouse in such a short span of time.

    Excerpts:

    UTV has cut costs in its broadcasting operations due to economic slowdown. Will the motion pictures business see a similar scale back plan?
    We will maintain the same pace as we did in 2008. There is no scale back plan. We released 10 movies in 2008. For 2009, we have 15-18 movies in the release pipeline.

    The capital employed in the movie business till the first half of Fy’09 is Rs 7.26 billion. Will the deployment see the same pace?
    Yes, we will maintain that pace – or even deploy more capital. We could see some rationalisation in star prices and production costs. We have started talking to talent and they are being receptive. We are also trying to generate more efficiencies in the production process and in the print and publicity expenditure.

    The Namesake and The Happening has been UTV’s efforts to build an international IPR basket. Will 2009 see a retrenchment in these plans as we don’t hear of any movie with Will Smith or others kicking off in the year?
    We are making a $2 million film called Ex Terminators. This is the first time that UTV will be producing on its own a film in the US. We realise that holding an IPR for Hollywood movies has great value as the DVD market is very strong in the US. The threatical exploitation is, in any case, a perishable commodity. But we want to be strategically well entrenched in the Bollywood market. We will be involved in international projects on an opportunistic basis. We are still in talks with Will Smith and are trying to find the right script and movie to make with him.

    In a bid to scale up, several Indian film studios have burnt their fingers by acquiring movies at high cost. Has UTV consciously decided to stay out of such acquisitions?
    A few months ago, acquisition costs had really shot up, making it difficult to recover money from some projects. But studios have their own strategies as they are in different stages of life cycle. Our focus, though, has been to put in place a production and development team. We have also cemented a strong relationship with talent.

    Acquisition prices will see a change as we are entering a period of economic slowdown. Though we acquired two movies (Race and Kismat Konnection) out of the 10 that we released in 2008, it is not part of our overall business plan. Our strategy is to produce our own movies. We are not looking at acquisition to scale up.

    Do you see pressure on revenues this fiscal because of recession?
    We expect our turnover to grow to Rs 3-3.5 billion this fiscal. And in FY’10 we hope to notch up Rs 4-5 billion. This will not include the revenues from The Namesake and The Happening.

    ‘We could see some rationalisation in star prices and production costs. We have started talking to talent and they are being receptive‘

    How much did two of your biggest hits – Jodhaa Akbar and Race – contribute to the kitty?
    They accounted for 30 per cent of our total revenues in 2008. But we also had hits in Fashion, Welcome, Aamir, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and The Happening.

    Our business model is to produce a few big budget movies while lining up mid-range and small films. We do not want to put all our eggs into one basket. We make movies in different genres, with different makers, and in different budgets. We are developing various labels to address different segments. The common thrust across all the segments is to have quality that is really consistent.

    Will the RoI improve in the coming years?
    The RoI for studios is dicey. While for single producers it is good, for distributors it is difficult. For us, it falls in the 10-15 per cent range. It should stay similar in FY’09. Cost structures (star cost) make any change in RoI difficult.

    UTV Motion Pictures did a deal with Disney to distribute their Hollywood content in India. How big a revenue opportunity will this throw up?
    India is a small market for Hollywood content. We will be paid a commission by Disney for disitributing the movies. We want to maintain the revenue opportunities with more prints and language dubs.

    Walt Disney has done a co-production with Yash Raj Films. But despite having a stake, why haven’t they gone ahead with a joint Bollywood movie project with UTV?
    We are talking to them on various scripts.

    Why did UTV decide to exit the home video business?
    We want to focus in the content creation and aggregation business. We will be in the theatrical distribution business because we want to have a presence in the last mile to the exhibition theatre. There is tremendous competition in the home video segment and based on commercial and strategic considerations, we decided to license our home video rights to Moser Baer for the next five years. Moser Baer will have the rights to all our movies that are released till June 2009.

    We will handle the home video business in overseas markets and have offices in US, UK and Dubai.

    Will we see a more aggressive regional movie lineup from UTV in 2009?
    Mainstream film producers getting into regional cinema will happen, but it will not be their main activity. Regional language films are heavily dependent on theatrical revenues. Satellite TV and home video rights, in fact, are sold together and form a minor portion of the revenue mix. Though the launch of regional channels has led to a rise in revenues from TV rights, it is still not large enough for us to justify making more movies in this space.
    ‘For us, the RoI falls in the 10-15 per cent range. Cost structures (star cost) make any change in RoI difficult‘

    Do Bollywood films make a more strong multiple revenue stream?
    Theatrical accounts for 55-60 per cent of the total revenue kitty while satellite rights make up 15 per cent and home video 5-7 per cent. Music and overseas rights contribute 10 per cent each. Going forward, home video and music will increase while satellite rights will fall as broadcasters come to terms with the slowdown in the economy.
    Will UTV continue to do syndication deals?
    We have done syndication deals with Zee and Colors. We will continue with the syndication model as we have our own Hindi movie channel. Unless, of course, we get a very good pricing for a 3-year or 5-year deal.
    Will UTV’s big drive in 2009 be scaling up?
    Our focus in 2008 was to get the team in place and work with right scripts and talent while scaling up. We will continue to build on that in 2009. We will explore all revenue opportunities including new ones like pay-per-view (PPV) on DTH. We offered Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye to DTH operators on PPV mode within a short time of theatrical release. This is a massive opportuinity in future and we intend to properly monetise the satellite market in a big way.
    UTV has invested in gaming companies. How are you exploiting the new media opportunities?
    We have mobile gaming for all our movies. For developing console gaming, it would require a long lead time and we do not have the product yet for it.