MUMBAI: The Times of India Group’s film subsidiary company – Mirchi Movies is set to produce seven Hindi films. Plans are also afoot to foray into regional (South) language films.
The production house, which entered the big screen space with the Saif Ali Khan starrer Being Cyrus in 2005, has a slate of seven Hindi films in the offing along with a few projects in the South.
Mirchi Movies will also be foraying into the South with Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam language movies like Manjadikuru (Malayalam) and Vellithera (a Tamil comedy movie) that will hit the screens soon.
Speaking to Businessofcinema.com about their expansion, Mirchi Movies COO Munish Purii says, “We have been planning these films for the last two years. We will be making mainstream mass films. The films that are in the pipeline will be dished out over the next 24 months.”
Among Hindi films, Hari Puttar, a comedy of terror featuring Zain Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Vijay Raaz, will release first. This is an 85 minutes live action film with four minutes of animation.
Mirchi Movies will then release Hoshiyaar Hawaldar, which is being directed by Puneet Sira.
Amongst the other films in Mirchi Movies’ kitty in the development stage are Kal Kya Hoga, College Campus (a remake of the Malyalam hit Chocolate) and Don Ko Love Ho Gaya.
The first amongst the remaining two films is Mujhe Zinda Karo, which is a co-production with Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik’s Karol Bagh Films and Entertainment. This film is based on a real-life incident. Additionally Rang De Basanti’s writer Kamlesh Pandey is also penning a film called New Bharat vs New India for Mirchi Movies. Yet another untitled film is also slated to hit floors soon.
The Hindi films will be made on a budget of Rs 120 – 150 million (Rs 12 – 15 crores). On the other hand, the South films will be made on a budget of Rs 50 – 70 million (Rs 5 – 7 crores).
When queried as to whether Mirchi Movies will be embarking on any big budget movies, Purii says, “We are looking at two of them, but it’s too early to talk about them.”
