Mumbai Mantra, the media business of the $6.7-billion Mahindra group, is now looking at the film industry with fresh strategies in mind. Already having established its presence in the Hindi film industry, the company is now all set to explore the Hollywood front and has already finalised an international co-production film slated to be released by the end of next year. It is investing around $1.6 million (Rs 7.84 crore) in the project. Andrey Purushottam, CEO Mumbai Mantra, said, ?Since the industry is showing signs of recovery, we are looking at coming back in a proper fashion.?
Co-production of movies is on the rise, with Hollywood production houses like Paramount Films, Warner Brothers and Fox Searchlight, eyeing this space. Mahindra?s venture into Hollywood follows the $825-million deal between Reliance Big Entertainment and Steven Spielberg?s DreamWorks SKG.
Smita Jha, associate director, PwC said, ?There is a limited pool of talent in production houses in India. This is an intelligent move by Mahindra, since at present, Hollywood collaborations have become a trend in the Indian film industry. Investing in films is a good and risky business and Indian film players have realised the importance of Hollywood tie-ups. This, in a way helps in building a brand both nationally and internationally. An association of international players helps bring in expertise in the technical space and equipment, along with good revenues.?
While Mahindra group is excited about its first Hollywood venture, it has held back entry plans into the television space for two years. To put together Mumbai Mantra?s strategy for their venture into the digital and television industry, it has roped in Viren Popli, former senior VP and head of the mobile entertainment division, Star India.
Admitting that the television venture is still being planned, Purushottam said, ?Mumbai Mantra is not just looking at films and the film industry, but we are looking at entering new media and also the television domain. However, it?s too early to talk about these areas as we are exploring this in a phase-wise manner.?
With its recent Hindi release Acid Factory, budgeted at around Rs 25 crore, the company says the sharp downturn in the film industry and the drop in the ancillary revenues limited Mumbai Mantra from engaging in huge projects in the past. This being the first major Hindi release in 2009, Mumbai Mantra has four film projects this year, compared to just two last year. Going forward, the company will come up with its second Hindi project Aao Wish Kare slated to release on November 13, 2009.
The company is also actively looking at a few more projects in the next two-three months. ?We have also experimented with Bengali and Bhojpuri films, but now our main focus will be on Hindi films. This year, we are confined to only two Hindi film projects, while in the next financial year we will be looking at seven-eight films, with at least two large projects.?
The company feels that dealing with the global recession was the major challenge faced by it last year. ?The global crisis started putting a squeeze on advertising, which in turn affected the satellite channels. Now that the situation is seeing signs of revival, we are gearing up on the content aspect and are confident of going a long way,? added Purushottam. Mumbai Mantra is fully funded by its parent company (Mahindra & Mahindra) and currently has no plans to be listed on the bourses.