Catch every rumor spreading around Yash Raj Films (YRF) - India’s biggest entertainment house.
Bunty and Babli, the teenaged con artists of the 2005 Bollywood hit Bunty Aur Babli are headed to Hollywood, with filmmaker Uday Chopra planning to remake the film in Hollywood for a global audience with a re-written script.
Chopra, the youngest son of the renowned Bollywood producer-director Yash Chopra, has recently launched his family's film company Yash Raj Films in the US, with plans to produce Hollywood movies. He has already aligned himself as producer with two projects-Peter Glanz'sThe Longest Weekand Olivier Dahan'sGrace of Monaco. But he says he has also begun work on a Hollywood version of Bunty.
Chopra, the youngest son of the renowned Bollywood producer-director Yash Chopra, has recently launched his family's film company Yash Raj Films in the US, with plans to produce Hollywood movies. He has already aligned himself as producer with two projects-Peter Glanz'sThe Longest Weekand Olivier Dahan'sGrace of Monaco. But he says he has also begun work on a Hollywood version of Bunty.
This will be the first time an intellectual property of a Bollywood
film would be extended to Hollywood and be made into a global film after
re-purposing the script. While another successful Bollywood producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra,
has sold the rights of his hugely popular Munnabhai films to Hollywood
studios, he will not be remaking the films himself. He has, however,
retained the right to clear the re-purposed script.
If this model becomes successful, it could open the floodgates for Chopra who has a bouquet of IPRs of Yash Raj films, right from his father Yash Chopra's classics such as Kabhie, Kabhie, Kaala Patthar, Silsila, Chandni to Mashaal, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to several modern day hits that include films made by his brothers and other directors under the Yash Raj banners, like Chak De India, Dhoom and Band Baaja, Baaraat.
YRF today operates in several verticals of the entertainment space-from film production, studios, digital space, music records and film distribution. Film industry sources, who did not want to be named, pegged YRF's turnover of around Rs 200 crore-Rs 250 crore, depending on the year's slate of films, as they form the largest chunk of the revenue flow. This year, since they have still not had a big film, the figure seems lower, next year with three big films--Salaman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger, SRK and Yash Chopra's next as well as Aamir Khan in Dhoom3, YRF's turnver could be much higher.
Filmed entertainment in India is expected to sustain the growth momentum witnessed in 2011 according to the KPMG Ficci Frames report of 2012 and the Indian film industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% to touch Rs 15,000 crore in 2016.
Many Indian filmmakers have grown in size over the past few years and are now becoming ambitious enough to enter Hollywood. Apart from Chopra, a few privately held companies in production as well as post-production have launched themselves in the US, while big companies have forged joint ventures like Reliance Entertainment has with Steven Spielberg.
Chopra says he has much to gain because of the low cost model he can employ in the business. His idea right now is to make three films a year with an equity investment of $5-7 million (Rs 28 crore-Rs 39 crore, at Rs 56 to a $) in each project. "A small amount goes a long way in the US. It is all so structured and pre-sales can be encashed at banks to get you money. With $4-5 million, you can make a $25 million movie, if you got a good agent and a good script," he says.
He has employed a bunch of writers in Beverly Hills, who will re-purpose the script to suit Hollywood sensibilities. If he were to employ Writers Guild of America scriptwriters for a new script, he would have to shell out at least $70,000-$80,000 on each script. Re-purposing of course can come at a considerably lower cost, Chopra says.
If this model becomes successful, it could open the floodgates for Chopra who has a bouquet of IPRs of Yash Raj films, right from his father Yash Chopra's classics such as Kabhie, Kabhie, Kaala Patthar, Silsila, Chandni to Mashaal, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to several modern day hits that include films made by his brothers and other directors under the Yash Raj banners, like Chak De India, Dhoom and Band Baaja, Baaraat.
YRF today operates in several verticals of the entertainment space-from film production, studios, digital space, music records and film distribution. Film industry sources, who did not want to be named, pegged YRF's turnover of around Rs 200 crore-Rs 250 crore, depending on the year's slate of films, as they form the largest chunk of the revenue flow. This year, since they have still not had a big film, the figure seems lower, next year with three big films--Salaman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger, SRK and Yash Chopra's next as well as Aamir Khan in Dhoom3, YRF's turnver could be much higher.
Filmed entertainment in India is expected to sustain the growth momentum witnessed in 2011 according to the KPMG Ficci Frames report of 2012 and the Indian film industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% to touch Rs 15,000 crore in 2016.
Many Indian filmmakers have grown in size over the past few years and are now becoming ambitious enough to enter Hollywood. Apart from Chopra, a few privately held companies in production as well as post-production have launched themselves in the US, while big companies have forged joint ventures like Reliance Entertainment has with Steven Spielberg.
Chopra says he has much to gain because of the low cost model he can employ in the business. His idea right now is to make three films a year with an equity investment of $5-7 million (Rs 28 crore-Rs 39 crore, at Rs 56 to a $) in each project. "A small amount goes a long way in the US. It is all so structured and pre-sales can be encashed at banks to get you money. With $4-5 million, you can make a $25 million movie, if you got a good agent and a good script," he says.
He has employed a bunch of writers in Beverly Hills, who will re-purpose the script to suit Hollywood sensibilities. If he were to employ Writers Guild of America scriptwriters for a new script, he would have to shell out at least $70,000-$80,000 on each script. Re-purposing of course can come at a considerably lower cost, Chopra says.
