The Hindu Business Line : Moser Baer unit forays into film production

Chennai, Sept. 6 Moser Baer Entertainment, a division of optical storage media manufacturer and home entertainment company Moser Baer, has announced its foray into Tamil film production.

The Rs 2,000-crore company has lined up six films — three Tamil films and three Hindi films — to be released between November 2007 and March 2008.

According to Mr G. Dhananjayan, Chief Operating Officer, Entertainment Business of Moser Baer, the company has commenced two of its three Hindi films. It has teamed up with Duet Movies, a Tamil film production company founded by actor Prakash Raj, as equal partners to produce three Tamil Films — Vellithirai, Abhiyum Naanum and Mayilu.

“It is a logical extension for us to enter into film production, having established our home entertainment business across the country. We not only wish to distribute content but also to produce them so that we are present in the entire value chain of the entertainment business,” said Mr Dhananjayan.

The company has earmarked around Rs 30 crore for all the six films. “However, budget is not a constraint,” he said.

It expects the entertainment division to contribute at least Rs 250 crore to its total revenues this fiscal. Film production business is expected to contribute 20 per cent of this.

Currently, the division is present in the home entertainment market with VCDs and DVDs of films in all major Indian languages.

It has acquired copyrights/exclusive licence for more than 8,000 titles, which according to Mr Dhananjayan, is around a third of all movies produced till date in the country.

Moser Baer sells its film DVDs at Rs 34 and VCDs at Rs 28. The company, apart from selling its products through a dealership network across the country, currently has eight exclusive brand outlets and plans to open another 10 shops very soon. “Our intention is to open at least 300 EBOs in another two years,” he said.

On BSE, the company’s stock gained Rs 2.65 to close the day at Rs 213.85.

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