Ram
Gopal Verma in Joint
Venture
NEW
DELHI: With
the houses of Tatas
and Birlas as well
as some other industrial
groups having made
public their plans
to enter the entertainment
business, the film
industry is witnessing
a major phase of
corporatisation.
Following this trend,
K Sera Sera Productions
Ltd, a new NRI-promoted
entertainment software
company, has announced
the setting up of
a joint venture
with one of the
most prominent Indian
film-makers, Ram
Gopal Verma Corporation.
Commenting
on this development,
Verma said, "My
intention is that
I want to have partnership
with people who
have same kind of
belief and courage
which is needed
to make something
different and someone
to back me up completely
on that basis. So
we are intending
to do concept-oriented
movies. Hard-hitting
movies without the
safety net of the
so-called mainstream
conventional thinking."
The announcement
was made in a mega
press conference.
Ash Pamani, chairman
of K Sera Sera,
looked confident
about the enterprise.
He said, "In Ram
Gopal Verma, we
saw the extreme
professionalism
of his young creative
team and we were
highly impressed
with the quality
of his production.
It was just a puzzle
coming together
where he provided
the creativity of
his production along
with the creativity
of our marketing
and exposure to
the global markets
which made this
deal happen."
One
of the pioneers
of commercially
successful parallel
cinema, Verma has
maintained a consistent
knack for delivering
some of the most
original and refreshing
films generated
by the world's most
prolific film industry.
After 'Satya', films
like 'Kaun', 'Company'
and 'Road' from
the Varma banner
have kept the beacon
burning, pointing
the way for other
budding film-makers
who would have never
attempted to step
off the beaten path
but for the success
Verma achieved.
Although it would
be too much to claim
that the new breed
of middle of the
line film-makers
got inspired only
by Varma, he does
remain one of the
most respected film-makers
in the industry
today. What matters,
however, is that
it is the success
of personalities
like him that sends
out positive signals
in an industry that
is known to churn
out masala films
by the dozen every
month.
His
new venture with
K Sera Sera Productions
Ltd is initially
meant for the joint
production of four
Hindi feature films.
Several more projects
would be announced
later. The four
films are: 'Darna
Mana Hai', 'Daya',
'Chala Vinod Tiwari
Film Banane', and
'Nimmi'. 'Darna
Mana Hai' is scheduled
to be released in
April 2003 and is
already 50 per cent
complete. The film
has a top rated
star cast comprising
Nana Patekar, Vivek
Oberoi, Shilpa Shetty,
Antara Mali, Saif
Ali Khan, Aftab
Shivdasani, Sohil
Khan, Sanjay Kapoor
and Isha Kopikkar.
Even the industry
insiders are going
ga-ga over the move,
calling it as a
path-breaking one.
A noted film analyst
said, "It's a path-breaking
thing because what
happens is that
when you have investors,
corporates and NRI's
wanting to fund
films, that itself
is a positive sign.
We have always been
saying that outside
fund, funds from
cleaner sources,
should come in and
if it comes in and
people like Ram
Gopal Varma take
the initiative to
announcing films
with corporate houses
and financial institutions,
well, this becomes
a trend. It definitely
gives birth to a
trend because in
this process other
producers also stand
to gain."
The recent popularity
of films like 'Monsoon
Wedding', 'Bend
It Like Beckham',
'Let's Talk', 'Mr
and Mrs Iyer' and
a score of other
movies is indeed
encouraging, pointing
to a maturing audience
and film-makers
who have a mind
of their own. But
the K Sera Sera
Production Ltd is
well aware of the
uncertainty involved
in the business
of film-making.
Keeping this in
mind, the company
is also entering
into tele-films
to de-risk the business
model. The company
also plans to produce
tele-serials.
But with the entry
of corporate sector
and the NRI money
flowing in, what
everyone would be
looking forward
to is improving
the success rate
and bringing down
the number of failures
to as low a level
as possible, as
the last couple
of years have been
the worst ever that
the industry has
faced.
January 20, 2003
