Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), which recently signed a mega three-film deal with Sony Pictures, will kick off its first film under the deal with Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, a Rs 70 crore project, with a possibility that the engagement with Sony may be widened to more projects and a deeper relationship in the future.

Alongside, PNC is also bringing in private equity funding for its film projects, and plans to do more such PE deals in the coming days.

Speaking to FE, PNC chairman Pritish Nandy said Raghupati? directed by Nandy’s son Kushan, will be a heist action-comedy and will be shot extensively on location in Las Vegas. The cast for the film is being finalised. The two other films will be conceptualised soon, Nandy said.

The three-movie deal is the first instance of a Hollywood movie company signing such a pact with an Indian company, he said. There is a distinct possibility that there could be greater engagement between PNC and Sony even after this deal. “However, it would be presumptuous of me to say what exactly will happen,” Nandy said, without divulging further details.

Nandy said PNC was also going to get more funds into projects, rather than into the company itself. PE funding, he said, had already come into Mirabai Not Out, another PNC film where DQ Entertainment (DQE), which was the company’s partner on the animation front, had got involved for the first time in a live action film. Mirabai… is also being released globally by Sony Pictures.

“We are also going to get in PE funding for Sudhir Mishra’s Aur Devdas,” he added. While DQE put in around Rs 6.5 crore in Mirabai as a private equity investor, Rs 12 crore is expected to be raised for Aur Devdas.

DQE, a firm listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) is partnering PNC for the animation version of Ramesh Sippy’s classic 1970s classic Sholay, for which PNC had bagged the rights from the Sippys in a mega $100 million deal which includes an animation film, a remake, a prequel and a sequel.

“The animation film is being worked out, and we are in the ideation stage on the remake. Whatever we do, we will not get into the typical Bollywood films. I firmly believe the time for typical Bollywood films is over,” Nandy said.

PNC’s next release is the Rahul Bose-Mallika Sherawat starrer Ugly aur Pagli. Thereafter, the company will release Mirabai Not Out.

Other films on the anvil are Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, and Ek Tho Chance, with which acclaimed director Saeed Akhtar Mirza marks his return to direction after several years. The PNC stock remained largely flat in a buoyant market, gaining 0.48% to close the day at Rs 52.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.