rediff.com Business News: London-based Indians set sights on Bollywood

A group of wealthy Indian businessmen based in London is set to shake up India's booming entertainment sector, creating what they aim will be the country's largest movie production and distribution firm.

The company, B4U -- an acronym of Bollywood For You -- already has a satellite television channel feeding Hindi movies to Indian expatriates in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East.

"Now we think the time is right to put money into India in this business," said B4U chief executive Kishore Lulla.

London-based Lulla controls the international distribution rights of about 70 percent of films produced in India's film capital Bombay, also known as "Bollywood."

Lulla launched B4U, which has some 100,000 pay-viewers and several million non-pay viewers, with two London-based metal magnates, L N Mittal and Gokul Binani, who also have interests in the Hindi movie production and distribution business.

They recently joined hands with Indian diamond exporter Bharat Shah -- also a domestic film producer and financier.

"We have decided to merge our individual movie-related businesses into B4U, making it the country's largest film production and distribution company," Lulla said.

"Our motive and mission is to provide quality entertainment using present and future digital technologies. B4U now integrates all the sectors in the entertainment industry in which we were individually involved," Lulla said.

B4U currently has 10 Hindi language films "on the floor" at various stages of production.

"Besides financing the production of some 20 films at a cost of about Rs 4 billion a year, we plan to buy up the world distribution rights for an additional 30 or 40 films," Lulla said.

B4U is also planning a Tamil language movie channel aimed at the overseas market and eventually five entertainment-related Internet portals.

"Two of these are ready. One is a Bollywood business-to-business and business-to-commerce portal and the other is a fashion portal.

"We have tied up with France's Fashion TV for the fashion portal. We have also begun broadcasting from April 15, on Fashion TV, one hour daily of Indian fashion."

B4U is also planning to begin broadcasting a one-hour Indian music band on the French-based global music channel MCM from May 1.

"We will have Indian pop, film music, classical music and fusion music some of which will be sourced from South Asian groups in London and the United States," said Ravi Gupta, the head of B4U's Indian operations.

B4U will launch itself in India next month with a 24-hour free-to-air music and entertainment television channel that will reach out to 20 million homes.

Having spent the past three months buying the domestic rights to around 1,000 Bollywood films, the company also plans to launch a movie channel here in July.

"The movie channel will be aired during premium viewing time, with at least one blockbuster being shown once a week," Gupta said.

According to Lulla, the Indian entertainment market is ripe for a major investment.

"It is good times now for the domestic entertainment industry. The market now is just right. The business is now getting corporatised," he said.

India, with 75 television channels and about 900 films produced annually is passionate about film and television entertainment, and Bollywood stars are rivalled only by cricketers in the celebrity stakes.

A slew of Indian film and television entertainment companies are set to raise the equivalent of more than two billion dollars from the domestic and overseas markets in the next six months.

A report prepared by international consulting firm Arthur Andersen forecasts domestic film revenues rising five fold to around Rs 340 billion by 2005, while television software exports are forecast to go up 17 times to Rs 58 billion.

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