MUMBAI: Shemaroo has acquired the overseas distribution, home video and satellite rights of four movies namely Fool and Final, Dhamaal, Jimmy and the colour version of Naya Daur (the latter is being released by Ravi Chopra). On the other hand, Shemaroo has also acquired the overseas and satellite rights for Nehle Pe Dehla.

According to industry sources the above mentioned deals are collectively worth approximately Rs 250 million (Rs 25 crores).

Confirming the development to Businessofcinema.com, Shemaroo vice president Hiren Gada says, “We have acquired the rights of these movies, however, I won’t be able to disclose the amount at which these have been bought. We have been content aggregators in the satellite and home video space for quite some time now but we entered into the overseas market only three years back with old re-issue catalogue movies.”

Nehle Pe Dehla, directed by Ajay Chandok, stars Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Kim Sharma, Mukesh Rishi and Shakti Kapoor. The film is made in a budget of Rs 180 million (Rs 18 crore). The movie is produced by Mahendra Dhariwal. “The overseas and satellite rights of Nehle Pe Dehla were sold for Rs 57.5 million (Rs 5.75 crore) and the rights of the Delhi territory were for Rs 20 million (Rs 2 crore). The movie will be released on 2 March,” informs Dhariwal.

Firoz Nadiadwalla’s Fool and Final, stars Sunny Deol, Shahid Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Javed Jaffrey, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu, Arbaaz Khan, Ayesha Takia and Sameera Reddy. The film is slated to release in April this year and is directed by Ahmed Khan.

Comedy movie Dhamaal stars Sanjay Dutt, Sohail Khan, Arshad Warsi, Aaftab Shivdasani, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapoor and Javed Jaffrey. Directed by Indra Kumar, the film is co-produced by Kumar and Ashok Thakeria.

Jimmy will be Mithun Chakraborty’s son Mimoh debut film and is directed and produced by Raj N. Sippy and Nawman Malik respectively.

Shemaroo, on the other hand, is targeting to release at least 12 – 15 projects in the overseas this year. However, not all of them will be theatrical releases. “Some small budget films may not be released theatrically in the overseas market. We will be releasing them on direct to video. We recently released films like Anwar and Ahista Ahista on direct to video in the overseas market,” Gada informs.

When queried as to whether the colour version of Naya Daur will be released theatrically, Gada says that the film will see a “limited” theatrical release and details will be finalized closer to the release date.

The satellite rights of the above mentioned movies have not yet been sold to any broadcaster. “Talks are on with all broadcasters for the satellite rights of these movies. However, we haven’t sold them to anyone yet. Things will get finalized only close to the release dates or post the release of the movie,” says Gada.

Movie production

Shemaroo’s latest movie production venture Manorama is slated to release in mid 2007. Shooting of the small budget political thriller based on the water scandal is currently underway. The movie is being directed by ad filmmaker Navdeep Singh and stars Abhay Deol, Raima Sen and Gul Panag.

The company is targeting to produce two – four films a year. “From Apil 2007 to March 2008, we are looking at producing and releasing at least two films,” says Gada. However, Gada was loathe to reveal the investment being pumped in for these.

Shemaroo has also signed on directors like Priyadarshan, Rohit Shetty and Niraj Vora for movies. While the casting for one project is on at present; pre-production work for two other movies is currently underway. “We are also in the process of signing on more directors but at present nothing is finalized,” says Gada.

The company has also expanded its post-production studio recently. “We have added digital intermediate processing to our post-production facilities, which also comprises a high-end Spirit 4K machine that enables fast conversion of the film’s negative from analogue to digital at a very good resolution,” adds Gada.

with inputs from Johnny Vaz

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