May 2009 - Reliance Entertainment

Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori & Rakesh Roshan Attend Cocktail Reception & Walk The Red Carpet At Cannes Film Festival

Posted on May 16, 2009September 3, 2018 by reliance

Mumbai, May 16th, 2009: Following the first look unveiling of the film ‘Kites’ on May 15th, 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival, BIG Pictures hosted a grand cocktail reception for the ‘Kites’ cast, crew and international buyers and distributors.

Thereafter Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Rakesh Roshan along with Prasoon Joshi walked the red carpet to attend a screening of the Hollywood film ‘Bright Star’ directed by Jane Campion, who Hrithik is a fan of. For the evening, Barbara was dressed in a black Roberto Cavalli gown and Hrithik Roshan sported a tuxedo designed by Anaita Shroff Adajania.

For all of you thinking this is Jr. Roshan’s first time on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, you stand corrected. This is in fact his second time. The first time was actually 14 years ago. Hrithik says, I was here 14 years ago as an assistant to the Film Federation of India J Om Prakash, who was also my grandfather. I remember walking the red carpet and got a few glimpses of all the stars and felt pretty insignificant at that time.

Barbara adds, This is my first time in Cannes. Kites is a beautiful love story and I am so happy to be here with this movie particularly because I feel very proud of it. I am really excited to be in Cannes.

‘Kites’ also stars Kangana Ranaut, Nick Brown and Kabir Bedi in pivotal roles. ‘Kites’ is being marketed and distributed worldwide by BIG Pictures. The film is being readied for release in the last quarter of 2009. Two versions of the film are being readied. In the international markets, ‘Kites’ will release in the English language version where as in India, the film will release in the Hindi version, which has been shot simultaneously.

BIG Pictures is marketing 18 news films at the Cannes Film Festival over and above its vast catalogue of films.

About BIG Pictures

BIG Pictures, motion pictures brand of Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd, plans to invest US$300 million into Indian based film productions till December 2010. It has distributed several films in markets such as North America, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates and the new division will be responsible for securing and facilitating deals with key distributors in all other markets to reach over 100 countries worldwide.

In 2009, BIG Pictures has 18 films lined up in seven different Indian languages catering to a varied audience across the world. The Incompatible (Ijjodu in Kannada), Afterword (Shob Choritro Kalponik in Bengali), Kutty Srank- a sailor’s story (Kutty Srank in Mayalam and The Window (Janala in Bengali) received their debut screenings during the European Film Market 2009.

About Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (RBEL, www.rbe.in) is the flagship media and entertainment arm of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (www.relianceada.com). It has a significant presence in filmed entertainment (film production, distribution, exhibition and TV content), broadcasting, studio infrastructure, processing, digital services, music, home video, animation, events, out of home, gaming and new media.

BIG Pictures, RBEL’s motion picture brand, has built a formidable Indian film production slate in English, Hindi and several other Indian languages, which it markets and distributes worldwide. The slate has projects with leading production houses and marquee Indian directors, both mainstream and world cinema, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, David Dhawan, Anurag Basu, Kunal Kohli, Priyadarshan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra, Shaji N. Karun, Shyam Benegal, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, M.S. Sathyu and Amol Palekar.

In Hollywood, RBEL has signed development deals with Julia Roberts’ Red Om Films, Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks’ PlayTone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures, Brett Ratner’s Rat Entertainment.

BIG Pictures Unveils First Look Of ‘Kites’ At Cannes Film Festival 2009

Posted on May 15, 2009September 3, 2018 by reliance

Mumbai, May 15, 2009: BIG Pictures, motion pictures brand of Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd today unveiled the first look of KITES, its tent pole international production at a press conference held in Cannes.

Present at the conference were Indian superstar Hrithik Roshan, Mexican actress Barbara Mori, director Anurag Basu and writer, producer Rakesh Roshan. The cast and crew unveiled a teaser trailer and some key art posters of KITES (www.kites-thefilm.com). This will be followed by a cocktail reception hosted by BIG Pictures, today evening for KITES cast, crew, international buyers and distributors.

Sunir Kheterpal, Chief Operating Officer, BIG Pictures, says, “KITES brings together India’s premier production house (Filmkraft & Producer Rakesh Roshan), Top Acting Talent from India (Hrithik Roshan) & Mexico (Barbara Mori), International Crew and India’s most well known name in the global filmed entertainment business (BIG Pictures). We are extremely proud to be associated with Filmkraft for marketing and distributing KITES and have put together a diverse team with relevant international experience to take the Film to the widest possible international audiences. Cannes 2009 is the beginning of this exciting journey.

Producer Rakesh Roshan adds, Filmkraft is India’s most, forward looking film production house. With each of our film we have tired to push the envelope with path breaking technique, story telling and novel presentation. A film like KITES has never been attempted in India before. This is our attempt to tap the mainstream international audience and we are hopeful that with an able partner like BIG Pictures, we will be able to meet this objective

Director Anurag Basu says, I am glad Rakesh Roshan and Hritik Roshan entrusted me with an opportunity to direct KITES. It has been an enriching experience to shoot the film with an international team across world cites. I am happy that KITES is getting such great exposure at Cannes Film Festival, the world’s biggest film market.

Actor Hrithik Roshan says, KITES is a story of love that goes beyond barriers, boundaries and cultures. With an internationally renowned crew and crisp story telling we have attempted to create a film which we feel has a scope to reach wider world audience and set new benchmarks.

Actress Barbara Mori says, KITES is my first international experience of working in a film with Indian cast and I must say it has been extremely overwhelming. I have cherished every moment of being a part of this film it’s been like being part of a family. I am glad KITES is being marketed at the Cannes film festival and looking forward to the response the film gets. KITES is being marketed extensively across international platforms. BIG Pictures is leaving no stone unturned in promoting the film at the Cannes Film Festival. The cast and crew of the film will be present during all activities related to KITES at the Cannes Film Festival.

KITES also stars Kangana Ranaut, Nick Brown and Kabir Bedi in pivotal roles. Two versions of the film are being readied for release in the last quarter of 2009. In the international markets, KITES will release in the English language version where as in India, the film will release in the Hindi version, which has been shot simultaneously.

About BIG Pictures:

About Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd:

Anurag Basu, Kunal Kohli, Priyadarshan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra, Shaji N. Karun, Shyam Benegal, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, M.S. Sathyu and Amol Palekar.

Reliance BIG Entertainment And Creative Partnerships’ First Development Slate

Posted on May 14, 2009September 3, 2018 by reliance

Cannes, May 14th 2009. In the 12 months since Reliance Big Entertainment, the flagship media and entertainment arm of Indian conglomerate, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), first introduced its innovative development/production financing deals, called Creative Partnerships, more than twenty individual projects have been approved.

The initial seven deals, with Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Films, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, and Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures, were announced during the Cannes Film Festival 2008 by Reliance Big Entertainment Chairman Amit Khanna and President Rajesh Sawhney. These were followed by deals with Julia Roberts’ Red Om Films and Brett Ratner’s Rat Entertainment.

Among the highlights of the development slate are:

Saturn Films: ‘Voodoo Child’ with writer John Collee.
JC 23 Entertainment: ‘O’Gunn’ with writers Ed Cannistraci and Fred Seton.
1492 Pictures: ‘Things They Left Behind’, the Stephen King short story about 9/11 survivors, has been optioned. As has Thurston Clarke’s
book, ‘The Last Campaign’, and David Dorfman’s script, ‘It’s A Miserable Life’.
Rat Entertainment: ‘Youngblood’ based on Rob Liefeld’s iconic graphic novel, ‘Infinity’ with writer John Collee; and ‘John Delorean Project’
with James Toback
Red Om Films: ‘Dan Eldon Project’.

Amit Khanna commented, ‘It has been a very active and satisfactory first year and we have been delighted by the quality of the individual projects being presented to us for development financing. There are many others in the evaluation/ negotiation stages and I’m confident of moving into the filmmaking stage on several projects before the end of the year’.

Khanna continued ‘These creative partnerships call for Reliance to co-finance production the US Studio where existing first-look deals are in place. From the conversations to date, we know that the respective studios welcome our development silos and our subsequent co-financing ability. We have broken completely new ground by empowering some of the best talent in Hollywood’.

All nine deals provide for the creation of a development fund silo for each of the production entities and the possibility that Reliance may also co-finance projects that emanate from these development deals. For any greenlit projects utilizing Reliance co-financing, the filmmakers will enjoy ownership of their content as well as full creative and fiscal freedom.

Reliance Big Entertainment, as it focuses on media investments outside of India, sees the development deals as the first major building block in the creation of a virtual studio, or new-generation media company. They are part of Reliance Big Entertainment, long-term strategy for media investments in Hollywood, as it continues to build a fully integrated movie company with substantial holdings in production, distribution and exhibition.

The deals also secure Indian rights for the films which Reliance co-finances. Additionally, Reliance expects to attract suitable productions, with appropriate incentives, to India, where BIG Pictures, a division of Reliance Big Entertainment is the largest film producer and owns physical studios and facility companies.

For the U.S. studios, the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group provides a partner with expertise in India, which has one of the most successful domestic filmed entertainment industries in the world but which remains a challenge for non indigenous product.

Reliance Big Entertainment continues to launch Indian and international initiatives across different media and entertainment verticals.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was instrumental in brokering the deals and is advising Reliance Big Entertainment on its Hollywood strategy.

Big Pictures’ ’13 B- Fear Has A New Address’ Officially Selected At Shanghai International Film Festival

Posted on May 14, 2009September 3, 2018 by reliance

Mumbai, May 14th, 2009: BIG Pictures, motion picture brand of Reliance Big Entertainment, supernatural thriller ’13B- Fear Has A New Address’ has been official selected at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival, to be held from 13th June to 21st June. The film will be screened in the International Panorama Section which turns out to have a total number of over 300,000 annual audiences.

Commenting on this, director Vikram K. Kumar says, I am absolutely ecstatic that 13 B is being showcased at Shanghai International Film Festival, a prominent Asian film festival. 13B is receiving commercial and critical acclaim and I am happy for everyone involved with the film.

’13B- Fear Has A New Address’ stars R Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Sachin Khedekar, Murali Sharma and Poonam Dhillon. It released in India on 6th March, 2009. The film was the first Indian film to be shot and released simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil language original versions. The Tamil version of 13B is named ‘Yaavarum Nalam’

About Shanghai International Film Festival: Shanghai International Film Festival (www.siff.com), originated in 1993, is hosted by the State Administration of Radio, Film & Television and Shanghai Municipal Government; and organized by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group. Upon successful organization of the first two editions, the festival was soon accredited by FIAPF as one of the competitive feature film festivals. With successful 11 editions in the past 16 years and backed up by fast growing Chinese movies and a globalized film industry worldwide in general, Shanghai International Film Festival has consolidated on its own developing strategy, focusing on a clear and integral structure of the four major sections – Film Competitions, SIFF Mart, Film Forum and International Panorama. The Shanghai International Film Festival is China’s largest and only A category film festival.

About Reliance Big Entertainment Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (RBEL, www.rbe.in) is the flagship media and entertainment arm of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (www.relianceada.com). It has a significant presence in filmed entertainment (film production,distribution, exhibition and TV content), broadcasting, studio infrastructure, processing, digital services, music, home video, animation, events, out of home, gaming and new media.

BIG Pictures, RBEL’s motion picture brand, has built a formidable Indian film production slate in English, Hindi and several other Indian languages, which it markets and distributes worldwide.The slate has projects with leading production houses and marquee Indian directors, both mainstream and arthouse, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, David Dhawan,Anurag Basu, Kunal Kohli, Priyadarshan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra, Shaji N. Karun, Shyam Benegal, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, M.S. Sathyu and Amol Palekar.

In Hollywood, Reliance Big Entertainment has signed development deals with Julia Roberts’ Red Om Films, Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks’ PlayTone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures and Brett Ratner’s Rat Entertainment.

Reliance Big Entertainment associate company ADLABS is India’s largest film processing, exhibition and services company.

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (www.relianceada.com) is among India’s largest private sector, business houses and has interests in communications, financial services, health, energy, infrastructure and media & entertainment.