MUMBAI: Optical disc major Moser Baer forayed into the movie production business with filmmakers like Samar Khan, Anant Mahadevan, Anthony D’souza and Anubhav Sinha on board. Now the company is also eyeing the South Indian language space.
Moser Baer is planning to produce films in Tamil, Telegu and Malayalam. Confirming the development to Businessofcinema.com Moser Baer chief operating officer G Dhananjayan says, “For Tamil film production we have signed a three film deal with Prakash Raj’s Duet Movies. Together these movies are being made on a budget of approximately Rs 10 crores (Rs 100 million). While the first movie is nearing completion, the other two will go on floors in October.”
Two Malayalam films are also in the pipeline. “We are in the process of signing up with a big director but I can’t reveal the name. This movie will be simultaneously made in Tamil as well. So we will sign an actor who is well known in the Tamil and Malayalam industries. Apart from this we also make one or two more movies in Telegu.”
Elaborating on the decision to foray into movie production in South India Dhananjayan says, “Since we are already the largest home video players, with presence in every language, it is a logical extension to produce your own content.”
Prakash Raj’s Duet Movies has previously produced seven films independently. With Moser Baer, the three Tamil films are Velli Therai (Silver Screen) starring Prithivi Raj, Gopika, and Prakash Raj. It is inspired from a Malayalam movie Udayananatharam starring Mohanlal which released in 2005. Viji will direct the film with some modifications to suit the Tamil audience. Moser Baer has bought the remake rights of Udayananatharam. This movie will also be dubbed into Telegu to tap audiences in Andhra Pradesh and is slated for a November release. Moser Baer will also release the film in Malaysia and Singapore.
Radha Mohan will direct Abhiyum Naanum (Abhi and I), which stars Prakash Raj and Trisha as father and daughter. This movie will also be dubbed in Telegu. Jeevan will direct Mayilu (Peacock) which will have a new star cast. He has earlier worked as a cinematographer on many films and this will be his first film as a director. Ilayaraja will compose music for this film. These two movies are slated to release around April next year.
