MUMBAI: Adlabs and Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment announced the first of their three films joint venture. The first film is titled The Other End Of The Line and will be directed by Jimmy Dodson (Behind Enemy Lines: Axis Of Evil).

It stars Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives, John Tucker Must Die), Shriya Saran, Larry Miller (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Sara Foster (The Big Bounce), Anupam Kher and Tara Sharma.

Although the film stars actors from Hollywood and India, Amritraj insists that it is not a crossover film. He says, “The Other End Of The Line is a mainstream Hollywood film. After having made so many successful films, I am at a position to experiment a little. The primary reason for casting Indian actors is to showcase the eastern talent to the western world. Hyde Park Entertainment wants to feature Asian talent, crew and directors to the western world with a focus on India, South Korea and Japan.”

Adlabs managing director Manmohan Shetty adds, “Adlabs wanted to expand outside India, hence we associated with Hyde Park to make mainstream Hollywood films, which will focus primarily on the US market. We were very clear that we did not want to make crossover films.”

About the story of the film Amritraj says, “It is based on the lines of Pretty Woman and is an emotional romantic comedy. It is a love triangle between Shriya, Jesse and Sara. MGM Studio will distribute the movie in the US and Hyde Park will distribute it in other parts of the world. We have already pre-sold the movie to 20 countries at Cannes this year.”

The principal photography of the film will commence in a weeks time followed by a shooting spell till December in Mumbai, after which the film will be shot in San Francisco and New York. The shooting is likely to be wrapped up by March and will release by next year end.

The second movie under this joint venture is Street Fighter (based on the popular video game by the same name). The movie will release simultaneously with the Street Fighter 4 game and the producers of the game – Capcom are partners on the movie as well. It will go on floors by February 2008 in Bangkok and will feature Asian actors. 20th Century Fox will distribute the movie in the US.

Adlabs will participate as an investor in the three projects and will distribute the movie in India. When queried on the investment being pumped into these projects, Amritraj chose to remain tight lipped saying, “All I can say is that it is a multi million dollar investment.”

About Author