Collaboration is the buzzword in the Hindi film industry and one of the companies to jump on the co-production bandwagon is DAR Motion Pictures, a fully-owned subsidiary of DAR Capital.
Within the last two years, the company has coproduced Mahesh Manjrekar?s City Of Gold, Vikram Bhatt?s Haunted 3D as well as the Karisma Kapur-starrer Dangerous Ishq. Interestingly, it has also ventured into long-term creative and business partnerships with film-makers like Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Nikhil Advani, etc. ?Film-making is a collaborative effort.
With intelligent film-makers approaching us to collaborate with them, this is a great time to be in the film business,? says Arun Rangachari, Chairman, DAR Media.
This year, the company?s co-production slate begins with Nikhil Advani?s D-Day ? a coproduction with Advani?s Emmay Entertainment ?that is set to release in July. DAR Motion Pictures is also a presenting partner for Vasan Bala?s Peddlers produced by Guneet Monga?s Sikhya Entertainment. Besides, the company has co-produced Anurag Kashyap?s Ugly with Phantom Films ? a production house formed by Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena ? and is likely to extend this collaboration to two more ventures. Interestingly, DAR is also a part of ensemble productions like Monsoon Shootout and Lunchbox. While the former has been co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt (Pardesi Films) and Arte France, Lunchbox, starring Irrfan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui has international co-producers like ASAP (France), Roh Films (Germany), Cine Mosiac (New York). Meanwhile, their in-house productions include Haraamkhor and Mickey Virus.
“D-Day, Lunchbox, Ugly and Mickey Virus have been funded by us entirely while the others have been co-funded by DAR. While D-Day is our most expensive film, Ugly and Lunchbox are in the mid-range. We are very clear with our funding philosophy. We plan the budgets from the ground level with zero per cent claim attached,? says Rangachari insisting that if a particular film costs ` 10 crore, it is priced at the same amount. ?So, there are no inflated costs involved.
I always believe that a film never fails, it is the budgets that fail. Plus, we are not just pure financiers but seriously involved in the production and creative aspects as well. We also look into marketing and distribution since we have an integrated distribution model and after releasing The Dark Knight Rises in India successfully last year, the industry has started taking our distribution platform seriously,? he adds. Moreover, last November, DAR Mentor- Cap Film Fund ? jointly promoted by DAR Media Private Limited and MentorCap Management Private Limited, an investment advisory firm ? received approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under its new AIF guidelines. With an initial corpus of ‘100 crore, the fund has a tenure of five years with a liquidation option for investors after three years. As the fund was opened into the market early this year, the fund will be used to invest in the company?s next slate of projects likely to begin during the second quarter of the year.
?In our country, film funds don?t enjoy a very privileged status and the independent investors require certain handholding, but what makes our film fund unique is that the co-investors will be valued at the same level as our company and their investment will be insured,? says Rangachari adding that the company intends to work with five to 10 investors instead of connecting with 100-odd investors and according to SEBI guidelines, the minimum individual investment in the fund is’ 1 crore.
About the company?s expected return on investments this year, Rangachari says, ?The projected figures will be too vague because the film?s have not released yet. We are still newbies in the industry and have a long way to go.?