MTV plans digital push for TZP, Chak De! India film spoofs

MUMBAI: Post their spoofs on Dhoom with a movie titled Ghoom, MTV Networks India has now lined up three more spoofs under the MTV Fully Faltoo Films banner.

The movies, which will be the targets this time round are Taare Zameen Par, Chak De! India and Jodhaa Akbar. The Fully Faltoo films are titled Bechaare Zameen Par, Cheque De India and Jadoo Ek Bar respectively.

While Ghoom had also seen a theatrical release across five cities and ran for three weeks, this time round the push is going to be on the digital medium. Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, MTV India general manager and senior vice president creative and content Ashish Patil says, "We were bold enough last time to release the film in theatres. However, this time round we won’t release it theatrically. These are one hour movies and the push is going to be on the digital medium. We will be streaming the movies on our portal and also making it available across mobile platforms for downloads."

The MTV Fully Faltoo Film Festival will hit television screens on 20 September at 7 pm and will be aired on Saturdays. The cast of these movies include Cyrus Sahukar, MTV VJ Ayushman and ex-Roadie Shambhavi. Additionally, the three movies will also be released on home video under the Gold Home Video label. After their television premiere on MTV, these movies will also be aired on Colors, which is the new Hindi general entertainment channel of Viacom 18.

Early last year, MTV India had tied-up with Adlabs Films for the co-production of two films under the MTV Fully Faltoo genre. However, these three films are not a part of that deal. Over the last one year, while Manmohan Shetty parted ways with Adlabs Films and MTV Networks India came under the Viacom 18 umbrella.

Patil informs, "The deal that we had signed with Adlabs Films is still on. However, the pre-production cycle is elaborate and after Mr Shetty parted ways with Adlabs, there was some unclarity on these films. However, we will definitely go ahead with them and in fact we have already gone over two drafts of one of the films. The director is also more or less finalised. These movies will be on a larger scale than our current Fully Faltoo Films, which are primarily made for television."

On the other hand, Bechaare Zameen Par, Cheque De India and Jadoo Ek Bar are being produced by MTV with creative direction and writing by Runaway Productions. The latter was also involved in MTV’s last Fully Faltoo Film Ghoom and Aaila Tendulkar, which was supervised by Runaway Productions’ Sailesh Dave and his team.

Patil adds, "MTV has always been known for its lack of good taste and twisted sense of humor. Here are three disastrous, er, disaster films that will prove it beyond any reasonable doubt. So pull out your barf bags, because it’s Lights, Camera, Vomit!"