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Tag: Vikram Malhotra

  • Abundantia Entertainment unveils its strategic blueprint

    Abundantia Entertainment unveils its strategic blueprint

    MUMBAI: Abundantia Entertainment Private Limited, India’s first independent motion pictures studio, today unveiled its business blueprint and confirmed its film slate for 2014 and 2015. The company also announced the arrival of new strategic investors to support its growth and expansion plans. Built with the vision of producing and supporting progressive, high-quality entertainment content, Abundantia has made strong strides, especially in its motion pictures business, in a short span of time.

     

    Founded in August 2013, Abundantia was incepted by Vikram Malhotra who, in his earlier avatar as COO of Viacom18 Motion Pictures, built a formidable reputation on delivering successes with new-age, clutter-breaking cinema. Vikram has to his credit some of the biggest and most memorable films of the last 3-4 years and also deep relationships with talent in the film and TV business in India.

     

    Driving the model of creating ‘talent-studio partnerships’, Abundantia has firmed up an impressive line-up for the first two years of operations of its motion pictures business. Combined with a strategic stake acquisition of Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures, promoted by Rajnish Khanuja, the studio announced multiple film deals with production houses led by some of the hottest names in the movies business in India. Top-lining the slate are projects with Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday, Special 26), Shoojit Sircar (Vicky Donor, Madras Café) and Nikhil Advani(D-Day, Kal Ho Na Ho) as well as up-coming talent like Soumik Sen (Gulaab Gang) and a clutch of first-time directors. The slate of 11 films across the first two years carries a combined value of approx Rs. 250 crores and will see these leading directors not only make their own films but also creatively produce work in their respective production houses. At various stages of production, the slate will witness releases starting as early as mid-2014.

     

    In line with its vision and growth drive, Abundantia also announced the arrival of new strategic investors in the form of RW Media (RWM) – a company with significant interest in the Indian media and luxury space. RWM along with a Singapore-based investment fund have acquired a strategic significant minority stake in Abundantia, which will continue to be held in majority, and independently managed, by Vikram Malhotra.

     

    Sharing more about the company’s plans and announcing the new investors, Vikram Malhotra, Managing Director and CEO of Abundantia Entertainment said, “Abundantia is created with a focus to produce and support innovative and impactful content. Our aim is to build a robust business on the back of strategic partnerships on the creative and distribution fronts with like-minded individuals and organizations. In under a year from inception, we have managed to forge strong relationships resulting in an enviable line-up on the motion pictures front. Now, and with an eye on the future, we are delighted to get on-board RW Media and its partners. I look forward to joining hands with our new investors and building a world-class entertainment company”.

     

    Speaking on the investment and RWM’s perspective on the business, Reena Wadhwa, (Chairperson – RW Media), said: “RW Media is a firm believer in the growth story of India’s entertainment, lifestyle and luxury verticals. In Abundantia Entertainment, we see a company that has a global vision, progressive mindset and an unflinching focus on quality. Combined with Vikram’s track-record of success, understanding of the audience and drive for Abudantia to be the best, we have no doubt that this is the company of the future. We are proud to partner Abundantia as it makes its way to the next level”.

     

    Ashok Wadhwa of the Ambit Group, who was instrumental in forging this relationship, added, ”Globally, the media & entertainment business is witnessing a transformation. In India this industry is set to double over the next five years. I see a clear inflection point and organizations that can raise their game are poised to unlock and deliver significant value. In Abundantia and Vikram there exists a premier organization and credible leadership that has the capability to rise to the top. I am delighted that RW Media and a reputed investment fund from Singapore have recognized this potential and have decided to join hands in what promises to be an exciting journey for the company”.

     

  • Jayesh Muzumdar to head Viacom18’s regional movie business

    Jayesh Muzumdar to head Viacom18’s regional movie business

    Mumbai: Viacom18 Motion Pictures has appointed Jayesh Muzumdar to head its regional film business, a space the company is foraying into.

    This will be Mazumdar‘s additional responsibility as he is also Viacom18 Motion Pictures‘ director- commercial affairs.

    In his new role, he will be reporting to Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Vikram Malhotra, who is serving his notice period at the company till July.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, Viacom18 Motion pictures is making its foray into the regional cinema space with a robust slate for 2013.

    This move comes in the light of the brand’s vision to be a pan India studio and hence reach out to the audiences who consume cinema in varied regional languages.

    The studio will be reaching out to audiences across markets and will launch new movies in five languages.

    Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats said, “Foraying into regional cinema is in line with our vision for Viacom18 to have a strong presence in the regional entertainment space – both television as well as films. Geographic and linguistic segmentation is a key component of our growth strategy as we move ahead, and the good news is that we’ve already firmed our plans in five key regional markets. As we move into other languages, we hope to replicate our model and success in those markets as well.”

    In its inception stage, the studio’s regional division has a pipeline of six movies across Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali.

    The Tamil and Telugu titles include the remake of the studio’s 2012 hit ‘Kahaani’. The remake will be directed by Shekhar Kammula and stars superstar ‘Nayanthara’.

    The Marathi movies include the sequel to the popular hit ‘Zapatlela’, which would make it Marathi cinema’s first sequel and 3D film; 72 Miles, a movie based on the commercially successful novel of the same name and directed by the award-winning director Rajiv Patil; and ‘Kumari Gangubai Non-Matric’ that brings a TV character on the big screen for the first time.

    ‘Bhitu’, creatively produced by Neeraj Pandey and starring the Bengali superstar Jeet and ‘Reunion’ (working title) creatively produced by Sujoy Ghosh are the movies lined up in Bengali.

    ‘Bhajji in Problem’ is a Punjabi film featuring Punjabi superstar Gippy Grewal and directed by Smeet Kang. This film will also feature cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Honey Singh and Akshay Kumar (in a cameo) as part of the cast.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Vikram Malhotra said, “We are now firmly on the path of our ambition to be a pan-India movie studio. With incremental growth coming from regional markets, Viacom18 Motion Pictures will now extend its understanding of path-breaking content and innovative marketing skills to connect with regional audiences. Our partnerships with best-in-class talent across languages underscores the trust and belief that our creative partners put behind our studio".

  • Viacom18’s Inkaar gets Siyaram’s Mistair as style partner

    Mumbai: Mistair, a division of Siyaram Silk Mills, has associated with Viacom 18 Motion Pictures‘ next ‘Inkaar‘ as a style partner.

    Mistair has launched special collection called “Powerplay” in association with the movie that is set to release on 18 January.

    Siyaram Silk Mills managing director and chairman Ramesh Poddar said, “We are very happy to be associated with Viacom 18 motion pictures movie ‘Inkaar‘ as their Style Partners. This gave us an opportunity to display our corporate collections by Mistair from the house of Siyaram Silk Mills for the New Age fashion conscious youth who opts for stylish formal wear to create an impression in their workplace.”

    The entire range of Powerplay is available at select retail outlets. Keeping in mind the young age segment that Mistair caters to, Powerplay has been offered in vibrant colours, thereby making it a complete techno-commercial collection, the company said.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra said, “Inkaar is a story set in Corporate India. The story revolves around the relationship and aspirations of two characters, Rahul and Maya, played by Arjun Rampal and Chitrangda Singh, who work in the same office. The film, like its lead stars, is contemporary, chic, glamorous, hard-hitting and powerful. We are pleased to be associated with a brand like Siyaram‘s Mistair which reflects the same values and talks to the target audience of Inkaar”.

    The association between Mistair and ‘Inkaar‘ was facilitated by Carat Fresh Integrated, an experiential marketing agency of Aegis Media India Group.

  • Youth marketing’s mantra: Listen, learn and engage

    MUMBAI: That the social media and digital platform is the present and future of marketing is no longer a surprise or a secret. Also, the fact that marketing needs to be customised to engage the youth is well known and accepted by now. Building on these two tenets of modern day marketing, a panel of six experts discussed the nuances of this phenomenon at the MTV Youth Marketing Forum held here today.

    Nike India marketing head Avinash Pant opined, “While the environment and lifestyle trends have changed, I believe the fundamentals of marketing are still the same.”

    The youth, according to him, are looking for inspiration and love innovation. So it is still a matter of getting the message through to them, but in ways that do not pile the communication on them; they should engage them.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Vikram Malhotra pointed out, “The youth is no longer just a segment of the audience. It has become tHE segment. Thus, it has become important to open up engagement channels in ways that the youth want, and not what we think is best for the brand.”

    In other words, it is time brands shifted from the manufacturer mindset of dishing out content and information they want the audience to hear and use and go on the field and create experiences for engaging the youth.

    Social media can no longer be considered an optional or secondary aspect of marketing plans as it has become a necessity, especially when targeting the youth. While it is true that it isn’t only the youth that access the digital platform and social media, it is a fact that they are the first and most frequent users.

    “I feel that there are some products that will gain maximum footage through the use of social media. My personal experience says that the success of my movie Shaitan was because of the conversation that happened online,” offered film director Bijoy Nambiar.

    Giving yet another example of the same, actor Aayushman Khurana said, “We experienced something similar with Vicky Donor. The YouTube video and word of mouth has made a great impact on the audiences.”

    What makes conversations with the youth online interesting is the fact that it is a generation that is ready to experiment and voice its opinion. The youth are not afraid to put it as it is and this can be a major leveraging point for the brands. The trick is to internalize the conversations that your brand generates among the young netizens.

    To tap into it brands, need to keep in mind that the youth is on-the-go and need to keep up with them. The trick is to listen, learn and engage. The youth also do not mind taking risks and, in fact, enjoy engaging in something that has a risk quotient. The important thing is to keep pace. The conventional modes of thinking and organising need to be reworked or changed in a way to tune in with the youth.

    Tata Docomo DGM marketing Sumeet Pahwa added, “Also remember that the youth likes to take ownership, thus involving them in brand conversations so that they feel like they are part of the co-creation process. It goes a long way in making an impression on their psyche.”

    The marketing forum concluded that apart from listening, learning and engaging the youth, it is important to believe on your gut feeling as well. The pace at which the youth change their perceptions and preferences calls for prompt intuitive and informed marketing moves by marketers. It makes sense to look beyond the obvious and experiment when your TG likes taking risks.

  • ‘We aim to be among the top 3 studios in the country within 3 years’ : Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra

    ‘We aim to be among the top 3 studios in the country within 3 years’ : Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra

    Knocked down by a model that relied heavily on acquisitions, Network18 founder-promoter Raghav Bahl has reworked on the movie production business that he has moved to a joint venture company with Viacom as a partner.

     

    Having snapped up The Indian Film Company that was listed on London‘s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Bahl will now have movies rolled out from Viacom18, the company that also houses Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, MTV India, Nick and Vh1.

     

    A cautious spender this time, Bahl has earmarked Rs 1.20 billion for a seven-movie slate that will run through early 2012. The peak funding requirement in a three-year horizon will be Rs 2.50 billion

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Sibabrata Das, Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra talks about the mistakes learnt from Studio18, the focus on building a sustainable capability and the company‘s revival plans.

     

    Excerpts:
     
     
    The Indian Film Company churned out several hits like Ghajini, Singh is Kinng, Jab We Met, Welcome and Golmaal Returns in the initial years. Why it suddenly collapsed and couldn‘t survive the downturn?
    TIFC had a great run in the first two years. Then came the downturn in the industry. The business model of acquisition was fraught with risks and it lost more value share than the others.
     

     
    One year of stupidity wiped out the hard work that TIFC had initially done. What did it do fundamentally wrong for this to happen?
    In 2006 and 2007 capital was easily available to the industry and the acquisition model suited the business environment at that time. But the risks are much higher than the market and the operating margins much thinner. In the changed climate, the model needed to be revisited.

     
     
    Was the team not capable to change in the changing times?
    Clearly, the team at that time chose to stick to the then existing model and could not read fully into where the market was heading. The motion pictures business is a dynamic and competitive one and your eye needs to be constantly on the ball. A large part of the focus at that time was on distribution and not on building capabilities to create and produce films. This industry needs a model that is fundamentally sound but agile enough to suit the operating environment.

     
     
    How is the business model more protected now?
    We have moved away from the old business model of trading and acquisitions. We won‘t be making first copy ready made acquisitions. We are de-risking by building IP and our own creation. Even in co-productions, we will be involved at every stage. We will be a streamlined organisation that is nimble footed and is focused on profitability, sustainability and capability. We are, in short, rebooting the business.
     

     
    Why was the movie business shifted to Viacom18 before working on a revival plan?
    I can‘t comment extensively on this as it happened before my time here. But for Viacom18 which is in the entertainment broadcasting space, the movie production business is only a logical extension – particularly when the business was being revisited. Movies are a fundamental part of the entertainment space in India.

     

    Studio18 is now rebranded as Viacom18 Motion Pictures. A linked advantage to this realignment of the business is the immense synergies that we will draw from the multiple media platforms that Viacom18 has.

     
    ‘We are 20-25% de-risked before entering into a movie project because of our integrated model. We have a good non-theatrical revenue opportunity with Colors, the upcoming movie channel, MTV and Nick‘   
     

     
    How much of the movie business is led by the need to feed content into Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, the upcoming Hindi movie channel, MTV and Nick?
    We are, in fact, 20-25 per cent de-risked before entering into a movie project because of our integrated model. We have a good non-theatrical revenue opportunity with Colors, the movie channel, MTV and Nick. Incidentally, Colors currently happens to be the leading acquirer of motion pictures content.

     
     
    Sources say the revival plan includes an investment of Rs 1.20 billion for the first line up of movies and a peak funding requirement of Rs 2.50 billion over three years. Why is Viacom18 taking such a cautious approach?
    I can‘t comment on the financials. But fundamentally, we are going to be prudent in capital spending. We have lined up a slate of seven movies through early 2012, with Players being the most expensive (sources say Rs 400 million upwards). We are doing four films with first time directors.

     

    We will kick off our slate with a rom-com titled ‘Tanu Weds Manu‘ that will hit the screens on 25 February. This will be followed by two films that are co-productions with Anurag Kashyap – Michael (Working Title) & Shaitan. These films are set for release in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.

     

    The roster also includes Gang of Waseeypur (2 Series), Buddah (starring Amitabh Bachchan) by Puri Jaganathan, and David Dhawan‘s Chashme Baddoor.

     

    We will weigh the financial success of each movie. The first two years will be a crucial build-up. In the third year, we will review the business and change track accordingly.
     

     
    Is this the best time to stage a comeback with the inflationary costs correcting to a great extent?
    Irrationality has definitely been thrown out of the window. There is a need for further correction in star costs but we will spend our pennies very carefully. Besides, our marketing costs will be 10-15 per cent lower due to the wide reach of our channels like Colors, MTV, Vh1 and Nick.
     

     
    How wide will the movie slate be?
    We are going to have a minimum threshold of six movie releases a year. We are in no hurry to deploy capital. We are in no hurry to produce the costliest movie. We are in a hurry to get it right. We are building our business brick-by-brick.

     
     
    Will you be producing smaller movies under a different brand name?
    An important part of the gameplan is to produce movies in the urban-youth genre under the brand of ‘Tipping Point Films‘. This kind of targeted movies will also be content for MTV. We have projects in the urban-youth genre in co-production with Irock Media.

     

    As for animation movies, we are evaluating them along with our partnership with Nick. But there is nothing concrete on this front.

     
     
    Is regional language movies on the agenda?
    We are very keenly watching the regional space, particularly Marathi and Bengali. The cultural and economic dynamics are different. We will spend the next few months understanding that market.
     

     

     
    Viacom18 has plans to launch Marathi and Bengali language entertainment channels. Will you wait till then before you decide on movie projects in these languages?
    The movie projects are not linked to the launch of the regional channels. While we will share a relationship with the channels if and when they come, we are not inter-dependent for the launch of regional language movies.

     
     
    What is the distribution gameplan?
    We will distribute our own movies. We have our outfits in Mumbai, Delhi and UP territories. The distribution network is being expanded to the South markets, Rajasthan and the North. We will also handle overseas distribution. We will continue to build on our backbone and take up other movies for distribution if the costs are rational. 

     
    Will you get into the home video segment as well?
    We are not entering this segment. The way consumption is happening is changing very fast – you have satellite release windows shortening, new media is growing and 3G is coming. Besides, one has to tackle piracy.

     
    How do you plan to scale up?
    The scale-up plan will involve creating franchise properties that will have a sliding cost model while upping box office revenues. Players is positioned as a franchise property. We plan to have 2-3 properties by 2012. We aim to be among the top three studios in the country within three years – at least in terms of profitability.