Reliance talks big numbers, to spend $1 bn on films

BIG DEAL: Reliance BIG Entertainment will be producing and distributing 69 feature.

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Cannes: A major announcement was made at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. Over the next two years, the Anil Ambani led Reliance BIG Entertainment will invest one billion dollars in the production and distribution of films.

A whopping one billion dollars – that’s what Reliance BIG Entertainment, the media and entertainment arm of the Reliance Group will invest in India's film industry over the next two years.

The company will be producing and distributing 69 feature films in nine languages - and this investment by Big Entertainment is more than the cumulative of all the other players in the industry put together.

Reliance Big Entertainment Chairman Amit Khanna said, “To be a significant global player, we believe we need to raise the bar. We need to aspire more."

Deals for producing films include projects with various Bollywood filmmakers. Like Producer and Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra who will be making two films Broken Horses and Talisman which is based on the Chandrakanta fables starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra says, "The Reliance tie-up took almost six months. They will market it worldwide."

Big Entertainment has also signed a deal with Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment for a sequel to Don starring Shah Rukh Khan.

There are also film production deals with Shyam Benegal, Madhur Bhandarkar, Vivek Agnihotri and Sudhir Mishra. Reliance will also be opening distribution offices in India, the UK, US, South East Asia, Middle East and Australia.