Vistaar Religare Film Fund will be infusing funds of over $ 1 million (Rs 5 crores), the cost involved for print and advertising (P&A) for Walkwater Media’s forthcoming film Victory. The film stars Hurman S Baweja and Amrita Rao in the lead. Confirming the development to Businessofcinema.com, Vistaar Religare Film Fund chairman and managing director Sheetal Talwar says, "We are happy to be associated with Mr Manmohan Shetty – a man who understands the dynamics of the film production space and is a visionary."
When questioned about the dynamics of the deal he said, "We are minority investors in the movie and will be taking care of the P&A spends for Victory. This is a first of its kind of deal in India. We are equity investors in this project and not debt investors, therefore we will be sharing the upside of this deal."
While such deals are common in Hollywood, this deal is the first of its kind in the Hindi film industry. Such a deal ensures that the risks along with the profits are shared between parties. It also ensures that everyone associated in the value chain benefits and makes money, instead of being shortchanged.
Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, Shetty adds, "This is a landmark deal as it is happening in India for the first time that a third party is putting in the money for P&A. Such deals are common in the US but not so in India. What is important is not the fact that someone else has put in the money, but because such a deal means that the risk is divided and everyone is benefited."
This deal will see VRFF as one of the presenters of the film that is scheduled to release on 30 January, 2009. Ideally the print and advertising cost of a film is at 15 – 25 per cent of the film’s budget.
