Oct 6, 2008

Entertainment - SRK's Red Chillies to pump Rs 100cr for three films in 2008

KOLKATA: After superhit Om Shanti Om and soon-to-be-released Billo Barber, Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment is going to invest Rs 100 crore to reel out three more movies this year. This includes a Rs 60-crore flick with computer-generated special effects starring the King Khan himself and two medium-budget films, each with a budget of Rs 20-25 crore. Talking to ET on the sidelines of a Nokia event here on Saturday, Mr Khan said the title of the big-budget special-effects film has been tentatively decided as Ra.one. “We will finalise the script, cast and director for the two medium-budget films by this month,” he said. Red Chillies also plans to set up a film studio in India on the lines of the Hollywood studios. “This will be one-of-its-kind project in Bollywood. We will require huge space for this. We are yet to finalise the location, but it will not be viable to build this project in Mumbai,” Mr Khan added.

Shah Rukh has decided to make a major foray into television show productions through a separate entity under Red Chillies, called ‘Idiot Box’. “We will focus on production of lifestyle shows and will provide a cinematic experience to TV shows. We are currently finalising the shows which will soon start production,” Mr Khan said. Elaborating on the revenue model, Mr Khan said he intends to retain the distribution rights of all the movies produced by him. “We have retained the distribution rights of Billo Barber. The cash flow from these movies will be ploughed back into the forthcoming movies,” he said. Apart from movie and TV production, Red Chillies also has presence in TV commercial production, leasing of movie production equipment and visual effects. “We have already done special effects for Om Shanti Om, Chak De and Drona. We plan to double the present headcount of 140 employees in this venture by this year,” Mr Khan said. Mr Khan said he is also open to the idea of roping in a big industrial house for co-productions in the future. “We might even look at vernacular movies. Red Chillies has a huge in-house talent pool from across India which might be utilised for such movies. But nothing is finalised as of now,” he added. Talking about his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, Mr Khan said the franchisee has made a profit of about Rs 5 crore in the first year. “We would like to quadruple it in the forthcoming season. However, there are no plans to dilute equity in any of the ventures,” added King Khan.

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