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Tag: Naveen Chathappuram

  • Balaji Telefilms joins Indus Media to enter American TV market

    Balaji Telefilms joins Indus Media to enter American TV market

    MUMBAI: One of India’s leading television and film production company, Balaji Telefilms, has marked its foray into the American television market by inking an American television series production deal with Indus Media. This deal will see Balaji secure rights to the TV series Brown Nation, a satirical comedy based on the lives of Indian Americans.

    This will be the first series under the new deal and is being planned for release in early 2015. Balaji has been scouting for collaborations with international players to produce content for various geographies across media platforms and this will be an important step to reach out to a diverse audience.

    The production house had recently roped in media veteran Sameer Nair as the group CEO to spearhead its expansion strategy and lead the way for the next level of growth by identifying unexplored avenues.

    “India is at the centre of global limelight and the timing is right for us to create path breaking entertainment on an international stage. We look forward to this partnership to extend our creative success to newer horizons,” said Balaji Telefilms joint managing director Ekta Kapoor.

    “We are extremely pleased to join with Indus in producing this series,” added Nair. “American sitcoms have influenced urban India and Indian youth across the globe. This will be a good opportunity for us to leverage our creative supremacy to enter a market not sufficiently fed with similar products,” he further said.

    “We have been looking to enter India with our proposed entertainment fund and this fits in well with our India strategy. We are absolutely delighted to associate with Balaji Telefilms to fuel our growth,” said Indus Media founding director Naveen Chathappuram.

    Added Indus Media founding director Devarajan, “I have had a long standing relationship with Balaji and this deal is a dream come true. We are very excited about our new creative and business partnership with Balaji and look forward to enhance value to all stakeholders.”

    American television has always been popular with youngsters in India. Be it ‘Friends’, ‘Two and Half Men’, ‘Big Bang Theory, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and the like. On the other hand, Indian characters have become a permanent fixture on American television sitcoms, as well as in movies. One of the main reasons for this is the dramatic growth in the size of the Indian American community in the past two decades – Indian American population grew from 815,000 in 1990 to 4.50 million in 2013. Most successful shows launched in the past five years feature a prominent Indian actor: “The Office,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “30 Rock,” “Chuck,” and “Parks and Recreation”.

    Brown Nation, directed by Abi Varghese, is currently being shot in New Jersey and has Indian actor Shenaz Treasurywala playing one of the lead roles. The comedy series depicts the everyday lives of south Asians living in America. The target market for Brown Nation is 18-45 year old Americans and NRIs. Recent comedy series such as The Office and Parks and Recreations have skewed to these age segments while casting a strong, universal appeal to all age groups.

    Indus Media recently announced its plans to launch a 50 million dollar entertainment fund to invest in films and television in American and south Indian market. With Balaji’s successful run in the film business, there could be more areas of synergy between the two partners especially the growing south Indian film market.

  • Indus Media Entertainment to enter film and TV production in India

    Indus Media Entertainment to enter film and TV production in India

    MUMBAI: The film and television industry in the country is all set to get fresh infusion of funds from Singapore’s Indus Media and Entertainment (IME) in the form of a venture capital (VC) fund worth Rs 75 crore. IME is looking at raising capital to invest in Hollywood films, south Indian films and producing TV content, with Rs 300 crore as the target and 75 per cent (Rs 225 crore) of it being invested in Hollywood. “Hollywood has a more structured work environment. There is a completion bond as to when will the film be completed as well as the exact amount of expenditure. So it makes sense to enter Hollywood,” says IME co-founder Naveen Chathappuram. 

     

    IME founding director Devarajan Venkat is of the view that India cannot be ignored. “South Indian films, Tamil and Malayalam, are our first targets and eventually after we make some profit, we will explore the Telugu market as well. Initially we will work with small budgets before moving to larger projects,” he says. Venkat adds that unlike other film producers and private equity funds, IME is here to look at opportunities that make commercial sense rather than pick projects driven by creative compulsion.

     

    Soft commitments worth Rs 90 crore have already been obtained from investors based mainly in the Middle East. Venkat is aware that people are apprehensive of VC funds, especially because this is the first off shore fund in India. Investors are being promised returns of 18 to 20 per cent. 

     

    IME’s other focus is TV production on a global scale. “The American sitcom market is booming in India, especially amongst the teenage audience. We are looking at creating original concepts that could be adapted into every language,” adds Venkat. IME aims to be genre agnostic but it knows that drama, reality and sitcom are the types that work here informs Venkat. Again, the aim is not on creativity but on commercial viability, he further informs. His own experience of 20 years in finance with the Reliance Group and Balaji Telefilms will ensure that only financially viable projects would be undertaken.

     

    Shows that will be created will be in English but with Indian sensibilities and Indian actors. Venkat believes that just as Indians can connect with American shows with American sensibilities, shows with Indian sensibilities will be gobbled up across the world, especially by the non-resident Indians as well as by Indians themselves. One such show Brown Nation is already under production.

     

    “The objective is dual- to reach out to Indians across the world and also target the niche in India. We don’t want an India exclusive product,” he adds. The show costs are in the rage of approximately Rs 60 lakh per episode or USD 1 lakh. The fact that IME is a global fund will ensure that revenues come from across the globe as only Indian revenues may not be able to sustain the costs.

     

    The fund is expected to launch by September 2014 with nearly 20 investors from across the globe and fund deployment will begin by this year end. Venkat believes that TV is not a business where one could incur loss since IME is looking at creating shows and then selling them. But IME’s focus is higher on films because of the glamour factor.

     

    IME’s offices are currently located in Singapore, Chicago and Chennai with an extension being made to Mumbai shortly. The fund will be based out of Mauritius. On the board of directors are Venkat, Chathappuram, Charles Leslie, Ramu Veerappan, T Jeyananth and PAR Subramaniam.

     

    Projects currently being worked upon are Night of the Living Dead which will see actor R Madhavan enter Hollywood and a Malayali movie featuring Fahad Fazil.

     

    Other existing domestic VC funds are Third Eye Cinema Fund and soon to launch Bend It Media Fund.

  • R Madhavan to be a part of 3D remake of ‘Night of the living dead’

    R Madhavan to be a part of 3D remake of ‘Night of the living dead’

    MUMBAI: Simon West Productions, and the Graphic Film Company, in association with 2020 Entertainment and Indus Media and Entertainment, have set Bollywood actor R Madhavan to star in the classic movie’s remake Night of the living dead: Origins 3D. Madhavan was previously seen in the movies 3 Idiots and Tanu Weds Manu.

     

    Zevbediah De Soto has directed and co-written the movie. Warren Davis II and David Reuben Schwartz will be writing it along with De Soto. The film will also star Tony Todd, Tom Sizemore, Danielle Harris, Sarah Habel, Sydney Poitier, Bill Mosley and Joseph Pilato.

     

    West, Jib Polhemus, Gus Malliarodakis and Matty Mangone-Miranda of the Graphic Film Company, Paresh Ghelani of 2020 Entertainment, and Naveen Chathappuram and Charles Leslie of Indus Media and Entertainment are producing. Meyers Media Group is handling all international rights.

     

    In this movie, a group of survivors enclose themselves in a room when a zombie plague attacks New York City. It’s being shot in a CG setting using stereoscopic 3D.

     

    Producer and CEO of 2020 Entertainment, Paresh Ghelani, says, “It’s great to help introduce American audiences to what the many fans of Bollywood films have known for years. Madhavan is a huge dynamic talent.”

     

    Producer Simon West adds, “This movie represents a whole new way of visualizing the classic zombie genre. It has a fresh and exciting style that sets it apart from all other horror films seen up until now.”