The Hindu Business Line : Carving Dreams plans crossover films with mass appeal

Celebrity and talent management company Carving Dreams Entertainment (CDE), which recently signed a $100-million co-production deal with Hollywood Studios International to produce five movies over the next three years, aims to take the crossover movie phenomenon to the next level by endowing such movies with mass appeal.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Neeraj (Bunty) Bahl, Director, CDE, said, “Crossover movies have made a great beginning with directors such as Mira Nair and Gurinder Chadha. We’re making our movies out and out commercial and mass affairs so that they appeal to everyone.”

Mr Bahl said the 50:50 venture would produce two big-budget movies of $35 million (Rs 15 crore) each.

Actors and technicians from both sides would feature in the projects, which would be shot in India, West Asia and Europe. This venture would give many Indian actors a foothold in Hollywood.

The movies will be shot in both English and Hindi simultaneously.

“So far, crossover movies have used ‘Hinglish’, but because we want to make mass entertainers, we are shooting them separately in both the languages.

Outside India, the target is completely a world audience,” said Mr Bahl, adding that filming of the first movie is likely to begin in August 2008 and release not later than Diwali the same year.

Carving Dreams has an in-principle agreement with Akshay Kumar to play the lead role in the film. Mr Bahl will be meeting the agents of Hollywood stars Salma Hayek, Eva Greene (the latest Bond heroine) and Jessica Alba to sign one of them as the leading lady.

‘Feel-good film’

On the theme of the film, Mr Bahl would only hint that “it’s a feel-good film with an ensemble star-cast and the story’s a bit about getting people together for a very big job, like Ocean’s Eleven”.

It will be “most expensive and lavish,” he added. About $3-5 million of $35 million will be spent on marketing.

Hollywood Studios International, an entertainment holding company, was set up to create award-winning entertainment which succeeds both artistically and commercially. The company recently completed a financial audit and is filing the appropriate paperwork to begin trading in the US.