Erosactivity gets into top gear, announces 50 films, 40+ directors on board

The next financial year for their India econ0my is 01 April 2017-31 March 2018, and at 50 productions in the pipeline, they will have almost every week at the box office covered. It’s a multilingual black-board, and includes wiz-kid Aanand L Rai and their joint production entity, Colour Yellow Production, Viki Rajani's NextGen Films, and Trinity Pictures, Eros’ in-house franchise label.

Commenting on the company’s strong pipeline, Sunil Lulla, Managing Director, Eros International Media Ltd, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with some of the best creative forces in the business and build a strong portfolio of films. We continue to see great opportunity in nurturing talent, creating IP in-house and remain focused on delivering our promise to provide wholesome entertainment to audiences with a right mix of popular and content driven cinema”.

Following the critical and commercial successes of Raanjhanaa, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Nil Battey Sannata and Happy Bhag Jayegi, Eros continues its association with Aanand L Rai and will roll out eight more titles with Colour Yellow, which include Rai’s directorial venture, starring Shah Rukh Khan, a quirky romantic comedy, Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan by south director RS Prasanna, and two other films Mukkebaz and Manmarziyaan will be helmed by Anurag Kashyap and Rahul Sankalya's Nimmo.

Post the success of Happy Bhag Jayegi, director Mudassar Aziz will reunite on a film he will direct along with another interesting collaboration with Navdeep Singh (of NH10 and Manorama Six Feet Under fame) for a project that is currently in the scripting stage. Additionally, a Malayalam film, Moothon starring Nivin Pauly, that Rai will be co-producing with Ajay Rai and Alan McAlex, to be directed by Geetu Mohandas, whose last film Liar's Dice was India’s official entry at the 87th Academy Awards, is also in the pipeline from the banner. Speaking on the association, Aanand L Rai said, “Eros and Colour Yellow share an amazing synergy which reflects in the kind of films we make together, showcasing Indian ethos that touch hearts. What makes this association special is how, as partners, the teams bond and celebrate each project together”.

Eros' new slate also boasts of five films in association with Viki Rajani's NextGen Films, namely the blockbuster actor-director duo—Tiger Shroff and Sabbir Khan’s action-packed musical, Munna Michael, Sushant Singh Rajput’s space odyssey, Chandamama Door Ke, directed by Sanjay Puran Singh, and directors Rahul Dholakia and Sabbir Khan’s next projects, along with another project, titled Make in India, to be announced soon. Director Rahul Dholakia adds, “Eros and NextGen are very established film companies. Looking forward to partnering with them in my next venture”.

Trinity Pictures, the company’s visionary venture, its in-house franchise label has five franchises across new and diverse genres lined up in the next couple of years— a spy-superhero film, Sniff directed by Amole Gupte, a live action bilingual (Hindi and Tamil) elephant film to be directed by multiple award-winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon, ace director Krish’s buddy cop film, which will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, featuring popular lead actors from both South and Bollywood and two Indo-China co-productions, a first for any Indian studio—Kabir Khan’s travel drama and Siddharth Anand’s cross-cultural romantic comedy.

“It’s exciting to jointly develop the Indo-China project with Eros and I hope we create new milestones together. This project will reach out to a much wider audience, new geographies and territories opening up the fastest growing film market of the world, China”, added director Kabir Khan. Eros will release the much-awaited third instalment of the popular Sarkar franchise, Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar 3 and Vikram Motwane’s vigilante drama, Bhavesh Joshi, with Phantom Films this year. With a focus on creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Eros is working with a pool of talented and established directors on board, including Homi Adajania and Sriram Raghavan (Badlapur 2), in association with producer Dinesh Vijan, of Maddock Films, Sujay Ghosh (Reunion), Raj & DK (Farzi) among others. Sequel to hit political thriller drama Nayak - Nayak 2 penned by K.V. Vijayendra Prasad of Baahubali & Bajrangi Bhaijaan fame, will also go on floor this year.

The Indian studio also continues to expand its regional presence this year with more than 25 releases across Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi. Following their double success together with Bengali films Belaseshe and Praktan, Eros will release director duo Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Posto this year. Also on the anvil is director Moinak Bhowmik’s Bibaho Diaries, Double Feluda director Sandip Ray’s next, two projects by Sujoy Ghosh, Kamleshwar Mukherjee’s Goodnight City and a project each by directors Ranjan Ghosh, Raja Chandra and Rabi Kinagi.

The company has also greenlit two Telugu projects by ace directors Chandu Mondeti (of Premam fame) and Maruti in association with IDream’s production division. Also, slated to release are four Marathi films - Baghtos Kay Mujra Kar by Hemant Dhome which makes a strong statement on the current state of Shivaji’s forts across Maharashtra, sequel to the hit Coffee Ani Barach Kahi by Prakash Kunte and another two films in association with Everest Entertainment. Eros’ Tamil slate will offer a range of titles by established directors as well as new talent which include Ramu Chellapa’s Enkitta Mothathe, Suresh Sangiah’s Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu, Manikandan’s Kadasi Vivasayi, Bharath Krishna’s Nervazhi and another project with director Venkat Prabhu.

Post the release of the legendary tales of Char Sahibzaade and Banda Singh Bahadur, the company has also announced Punjabi films--3D animation Guru Tegh Bahadur and Jaita, to be directed by Harry Baweja. Following the success of its Malayalam releases like Happy Wedding, IDI etc., Eros continues to make successful inroad into Malayalam cinema with multiple releases coming up including C/o Saira Banu (former actress, happens to the name of India’s greatest actor, Dili Kumar, now 94), starring Manju Warrier, Amala Akineni, directed by Antony Sony Sebastian; Ranjan Pramod’s Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu with Biju Menon and Aju Varghese as leads; Sunday Holiday directed by Jis Joy starring Asif Ali, Sreenivasan, Lal Jose and Asha Sharath and another film to be directed by Thomas Sebastian.

This year will also see Eros’ debut into Kannada cinema, with the release of Aake, in association with K S Dreams and Nakshatra Productions, directed by K M Chaitanya and starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and Sharmila Mandre. Speaking on his association with Eros, leading Bengali director Shiboprasad Mukherjee said, “It’s been great to partner with Eros who recognize the importance and potential of regional cinema, opening newer markets in India and overseas”. Jyoti Deshpande, Group CEO, Eros International commented “With this film slate, Eros demonstrates two fundamental strengths, firstly its firm footing on a dominant market leadership position built on the pillar of a wide, diverse portfolio of films and secondly its ability to foresee market trends and adapt swiftly to step up its own production and co-production model over the content acquisition model.

While the demonetization in India was a temporary cloud over the business affecting footfalls in the short run, we see great opportunities including a cashless economy driving accelerated adoption of  ErosNow₁, one of the leading OTT services in India with over 2 million paying subscribers and over 55 million users worldwide. A compelling film slate with winning budgets and not just winning scripts, backed with a well-oiled global distribution network that consistently opens new markets for Bollywood coupled with strong presales and a game-changing early mover ErosNow(1) digital strategy, positions Eros uniquely to capitalize on the rapidly growing Indian entertainment sector.”

About Eros International Media Ltd Eros International Media Ltd. (BSE Script Code: 533261; NSE Script Code: EROSMEDIA) is a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media. Eros International is part of Eros International Plc, which became the first Indian media Company to raise capital and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Eros International has experience of over three decades in establishing a global platform for Indian cinema. The company has a competitive advantage through its extensive and growing movie library comprising of over 2,000 films, which include Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films for home entertainment distribution. Eros International has built a dynamic business model by combining the release of new

Eros International is a pioneer and innovator in Indian film entertainment. Over the past 39 years, the Eros Group has acquired, co-produced and distributed some of the most recognized and successful Indian films across theatrical, television and other formats. It has an extensive and growing movie library comprising of over 2,000 films, including recent and classic titles that span different genres, budgets and languages, and have built a dynamic business model by combining the release of new films every year with the exploitation of their film library.

India’s theatrical market comprises of both multiplex and single screen theatres, which are 100% digitally equipped. Eros distributes its content in all the 14 circuits either through their internal distribution offices (Mumbai, Delhi, East Punjab, Mysore, Kerala, West Bengal and Bihar) or through sub-distributors. Eros International Plc. which has offices in Dubai, Singapore, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Fiji and through sub-distributors.

Founded and controlled by the Lulla family, Eros has been behind major productions. Recent titles include blockbusters like Bajrangi Bhaijaan asnd Bajirao Mastaani.