- Production starts on 9th September
- Slated for release in early 2009
- Indranil Sengupta’s debut
BIG Pictures, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, announced its first collaborative effort with the legendary Buddhadeb Das Gupta for his Bengali film ‘Janala’, in a press conference at the Topaz Banquet at Hotel Hindustan International here in Kolkata.
The conference was attended by Buddhadeb Das Gupta, members of the cast and Mahesh Ramanathan, COO, Reliance BIG Pictures.
Buddhadeb Dasgupta is one of India’s foremost directors, with masterpieces such as ‘Duratwa’, ‘Charachar’, ‘Andhi Gali’ to his credit. He is known and revered for his outstanding contribution to surrealist cinema in national and international circuits and was recently honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the Spain International Film Festival.
As the title itself suggests, ‘Janala’ narrates the story of a middle aged man who visits his old small town school and wishes to contribute to its renovation and upliftment; a task that is well beyond the man’s financial means. The film speaks through the window around which the story is woven. said Buddhadeb Das Gupta.
The film will mark the debut of the Indranil Sengupta and Sahana Sen on the big screen. The starcast also includes Swastika Mukherjee, Shankar Chowdhury and Tapas Pal.
Commenting on the occasion, Rajesh Sawhney, President of Reliance Entertainment says BIG Pictures aims at providing quality content that would appeal to the audiences across geographic and linguistic divides. The sensibilities of the Bengali Cinema and culture are acclaimed the world over. Big Pictures is proud to associate with Buddhadeb Das Gupta’s ‘Janala’ and be a part of this tradition of bringing meaningful cinema to viewers.
About Reliance Big Entertainment
Reliance Big Entertainment is the flagship Media and Entertainment Company of Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, with significant presence in film entertainment, broadcasting and new media ventures.
RBEL is investing over USD 1 billion in its Filmed Entertainment business and will commence roll-out of its first set of Indian movies later this year.
The company has already signed a slew of top-end directors/producers, including Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Shyam Benegal, Sudhir Mishra, Vipul Shah, etc. Reliance Big Entertainment also acquired majority stake in ND Studio in Karjat earlier this year. Company has also built a state of the art animation studio in Pune: BIG Animation, which will release its first movie later this year.
Reliance Big Entertainment recently announced development silos with Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hank’s Playstone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Jay Roache’s Everyman Pictures.
Adlabs, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Company, operates largest number of multiplex screens in India. Adlabs recently acquired 251 screens in the US and 51 screens in Malaysia.
Reliance Big Entertainment recently acquired iconic Lowry Digital Images, a leading image enhancement and restoration services company in the US.
The company has the largest FM radio network spanning 44 stations, offline and online movie rental business BIGflix.com, and owns other leading new media initiatives like Zapak.com [No. 1 online games portal in India], BIGadda.com [No. 1 Indian social network] and Jump Mobile [leading mobile gaming company that recently tie-up with Manchester United].