MUMBAI: Less than a year after entering the home entertainment market, Moser Baer Entertainment has now become the largest content owner of Hindi home video titles. The company’s latest acquisition is that of about 1000 titles from Ultra for approximately Rs 700 million (Rs 70 crores).
While Reliance ADAG’s BIG Music and Home Entertainment was in talks with Ultra for their library too until a couple of days back, sources inform Businessofcinema.com that the deal did not materialise as Ultra did not want to part with its entire library.
When contacted, Moser Baer CEO entertainment Harish Dayani refused to comment on the same, whereas Ultra managing director Sushilkumar Agrawal was unavailable for comment.
Moser Baer has acquired the Bollywood film library of Ultra comprising 1000 film titles. This deal now makes Moser Baer the true giant of Bollywood home video library, with almost 2500 titles under its belt. Recently the company also acquired the home video library of BR Films comprising 30 films including Baghbaan.
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Some of the other companies whose Hindi films’ library it has acquired are Indus (600 titles), Bombino (550 titles), Captain Video (400 titles) and Venus (200 titles). Moser Baer had also pocketed films from individual producers like Shakti Samanta, Shivaji Ganeshan (AVM) amongst others.
Sources add that BIG Home Entertainment was very keen on the deal and had an eye on Ultra’s entire library. However Ultra wanted to retain some titles under their company name with an aim to continue as active players in the market. Hence the deal went kaput. A source adds, “Additionally, Ultra’s asking price for the library did not suit BIG Music and Home Entertainment, which was another reason why the deal did not go through.”
After Moser Baer’s acquisition, Ultra holds rights to a mere 20 odd titles, which it has retained with itself.
Some of the blockbusters in Ultra’s catalogue include Sholay, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Maine Pyaar Kiya, Koi… Mil Gaya, Kaho Na Pyaar Hai amongst others. Ultra also has the home video rights of other films like Mukta Arts, Rajshri Productions, Yash Chopra, Yash Johar, Rakesh Roshan, G P Sippy, Pramod Chakraborthy, N N Sippy and Shakti Samantha. The repertoire also includes classic films of Filmistan, Gemini, Guru Dutt, Prasad Productions and Homi Wadia.
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