Bollywood goes to Hollywood

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Kolkata: If Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dabur, Godrej and Bharat Forge can do it, so can Bollywood biggies. In one of the biggest cross-border entertainment deals announced late Wednesday, the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group said it is infusing an initial $825 million (around Rs 4,000 crore) into one of Hollywood’s biggest funds-strapped studios — DreamWorks — whose co-founder and partner is, of course, the redoubtable Steven Spielberg of ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List fame.

The new motion picture company formed by Reliance BIG Entertainment and DreamWorks—the new company will continue to be called DreamWorks—will produce five-six films a year. The deal will give Reliance Big Entertainment, the Indian marketing and distribution rights of the films that DreamWorks will produce every year, while Walt Disney will retain the global marketing and distribution rights for them.

“Bollywood is in the spotlight like never before,” said an analyst, and the worldwide success of Slumdog Millionaire has just added to the buzz. At Cannes this year, Indian films were sought after by buyers, though not many were sold.

Ambani too made his global pitch at Cannes last year, saying his company would set aside $1 billion for its filmed entertainment business that would include collaborations with many Hollywood studios including Spielberg’s DreamWorks. In Hollywood, BIG Pictures has development silos with Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hank’s Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures Brett Ratner’s Rat Entertainment and Julia Roberts' Red Om Films.

So, what does this deal mean for India? “It will open doors for Bollywood in Hollywood,” said another analyst, “but you will need to have big pockets too to deliver.” “India is an emerging market but Hollywood is the biggest player and if you want to be a global player, it’s important to be present in both sides of the spectrum,” said Amit Khanna, chairman, Reliance BIG Entertainment. “For the last 12 months, we have been talking about being an Indian player on the global stage—the deal underscores that intent,” he added.

If Danny Boyle shot on location in Mumbai last year, expect a host of directors, including Spielberg himself, to land in India soon to “check out” possibilities.

When Boyle was here, he helped Anurag Kashyap with the shooting of DevD — he has been acknowledged in the credits. Hollywood studios are already here co-producing Bollywood films—okay, Warners’ Chandni Chowk to China and Sony’s Saawariya didn’t exactly sizzle at the box-office, but nobody can fault their production qualities.