Eros International Media Ltd (Eros International), a
leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, announced its
current film production line up for 2017-18. The Company plans to produce over
50 films across multiple languages, making it the largest slate by any Indian
studio this year, offering a diversified slate of marquee and content-driven
films. In addition to this strong production slate, the Company will also
continue to selectively acquire content on an opportunistic basis.
The company has ramped up its own productions with an
exciting line-up under development, encompassing a significant number of
releases across budgets, genres and languages through key partnerships
including talented producer-director, Aanand L Rai and their joint production
entity Colour Yellow Production, Viki Rajani's NextGen Films and Trinity
Pictures, Eros’ in-house franchise label.
Commenting on the company’s strong pipeline, Sunil Lulla,
Managing Director, Eros International Media Ltd said, “We are delighted to
collaborate with some of the best creative forces in the business and build a
strong portfolio of films. We continue to see great opportunity in nurturing
talent, creating IP in-house and remain focused on delivering our promise to
provide wholesome entertainment to audiences with a right mix of popular and
content driven cinema”.
Following the critical and commercial successes of
Raanjhanaa, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Nil Battey Sannata and Happy Bhag Jayegi,
Eros continues its association with Aanand L Rai and will roll out eight more
titles with Colour Yellow which include Rai’s directorial venture starring Shah
Rukh Khan, a quirky romantic comedy Shubh Mangal Savdhaan by south director RS
Prasanna, two films Mukkebaz and Manmarziyaan will be helmed by Anurag Kashyap
and Rahul Sankalya's Nimmo. Post the success of Happy Bhag Jayegi, director
Mudassar Aziz will reunite on a film he will direct along with another
interesting collaboration with Navdeep Singh (of NH10 and Manorama Six Feet
Under fame) for a project that is currently in the scripting stage.
Additionally, a Malayalam film Moothon starring Nivin Pauly that Rai will be
co-producing with Ajay Rai and Alan McAlex, to be directed by Geetu Mohandas,
who’s last film Liar's Dice was India’s official entry at the 87th Academy
Awards is also in the pipeline from the banner.
Speaking on the association, Aanand L Rai said, “Eros and
Colour Yellow share an amazing synergy which reflects in the kind of films we
make together, showcasing Indian ethos that touch hearts. What makes this
association special is how, as partners, the teams bond and celebrate each
project together”.
Eros' new slate also boasts of five films in association
with Viki Rajani's NextGen Films, namely the blockbuster actor-director
duo—Tiger Shroff and Sabbir Khan’s action-packed musical Munna Michael, Sushant
Singh Rajput’s space odyssey Chandamama Door Ke, directed by Sanjay Puran Singh
and directors Rahul Dholakia and Sabbir Khan’s next projects along with another
project titled Make in India to be announced soon. Director Rahul Dholakia
adds, “Eros and NextGen are very established film companies. Looking forward to
partnering with them in my next venture”.
Trinity Pictures, the company’s visionary venture, its
in-house franchise label has five franchises across new and diverse genres
lined up in the next couple of years— a spy-superhero film, Sniff directed by
Amole Gupte, a live action bilingual (Hindi and Tamil) elephant film to be
directed by multiple award winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon, ace director
Krish’s buddy cop film which will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously,
featuring popular lead actors from both South and Bollywood and two Indo-China
co-productions, a first for any Indian studio—Kabir Khan’s travel drama and
Siddharth Anand’s cross-cultural romantic comedy. “It’s exciting to jointly develop the
Indo-China project with Eros and I hope we create new milestones together. This
project will reach out to a much wider audience, new geographies and territories
opening up the fastest growing film market of the world, China”, added director
Kabir Khan.
Eros will release the much-awaited third instalment of
the popular Sarkar franchise, Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar 3 and Vikram Motwane’s
vigilante drama Bhavesh Joshi with Phantom Films this year. With a focus on
creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Eros is working with a pool of talented
and established directors on board including Homi Adajania and Sriram Raghavan
(Badlapur 2) in association with producer Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films, Sujay
Ghosh (Reunion), Raj & DK (Farzi) among others. Sequel to hit political
thriller drama Nayak - Nayak 2 penned down by K.V. Vijayendra Prasad of
Baahubali & Bajrangi Bhaijaan fame will also go on floor this year.
The Indian studio also continues to expand its regional
presence this year with more than 25 releases across Bengali, Marathi, Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi. Following their double success together with
Bengali films Belaseshe and Praktan, Eros will release director duo Shiboprasad
Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Posto this year. Also on the anvil is director
Moinak Bhowmik’s Bibaho Diaries, Double Feluda director Sandip Ray’s next, two
projects by Sujoy Ghosh, Kamleshwar Mukherjee’s Goodnight City and a project
each by directors Ranjan Ghosh, Raja Chandra and Rabi Kinagi.
The company has also greenlit two Telugu projects by ace
directors Chandu Mondeti (of Premam fame) and Maruti in association with
IDream’s production division.
Also, slated to release are four Marathi films - Baghtos
Kay Mujra Kar by Hemant Dhome which makes a strong statement on the current
state of Shivaji’s forts across Maharashtra, sequel to the hit Coffee Ani
Barach Kahi by Prakash Kunte and another two films in association with Everest
Entertainment.
Eros’ Tamil slate will offer a range of titles by
established directors as well as new talent which include Ramu Chellapa’s
Enkitta Mothathe, Suresh Sangiah’s Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu, Manikandan’s
Kadasi Vivasayi, Bharath Krishna’s Nervazhi and another project with director
Venkat Prabhu.
Post the release of the legendary tales of Char
Sahibzaade and Banda Singh Bahadur, the company has also announced Punjabi
films - 3D animation Guru Tegh Bahadur and Jaita, to be directed by Harry
Baweja.
Following the success of its Malayalam releases like
Happy Wedding, IDI etc., Eros continues to make successful inroad into
Malayalam cinema with multiple releases coming up including C/o Saira Banu
starring Manju Warrier, Amala Akineni, directed by Antony Sony Sebastian;
Ranjan Pramod’s Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu with Biju Menon and Aju Varghese as leads; Sunday Holiday directed by Jis Joy starring
Asif Ali, Sreenivasan, Lal Jose and Asha Sharath and another film to be
directed by Thomas Sebastian.
This year will also see Eros’ debut into Kannada cinema
with the release of Aake in association with K S Dreams and Nakshatra
Productions, directed by K M Chaitanya and starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and
Sharmila Mandre.
Speaking on his association with Eros, leading Bengali
director Shiboprasad Mukherjee said, “It’s been great to partner with Eros who
recognize the importance and potential of regional cinema, opening newer
markets in India and overseas”.
Jyoti Deshpande, Group CEO, Eros International commented
“With this film slate, Eros demonstrates two fundamental strengths, firstly its
firm footing on a dominant market leadership position built on the pillar of a
wide, diverse portfolio of films and secondly its ability to foresee market
trends and adapt swiftly to step up its own production and co-production model
over the content acquisition model. While the demonetization in India was a
temporary cloud over the business affecting footfalls in the short run, we see
great opportunities including a cashless economy driving accelerated adoption
of ErosNow(1), one of the leading OTT services in India with over 2 million
paying subscribers and over 55 million users worldwide. A compelling film slate
with winning budgets and not just winning scripts, backed with a well-oiled
global distribution network that consistently opens new markets for Bollywood
coupled with strong pre-sales and a game-changing early mover ErosNow(1)
digital strategy, positions Eros uniquely to capitalize on the rapidly growing
Indian entertainment sector.”
About Eros International Media Ltd
Eros International Media Ltd. (BSE Script Code: 533261;
NSE Script Code: EROSMEDIA) is a leading global company in the Indian film
entertainment industry that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films
across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media.
Eros International is part of Eros International Plc, which became the first
Indian media Company to raise capital and be listed on the New York Stock
Exchange. Eros International has experience of over three decades in
establishing a global platform for Indian cinema. The company has a competitive
advantage through its extensive and growing movie library comprising of over
2,000 films, which include Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films for
home entertainment distribution. Eros International has built a dynamic
business model by combining the release of new films every year with the
exploitation of its film library. For further information please visit:
www.erosintl.com.
