MUMBAI: Now watch Bigg Boss in a feature film. Endemol, the owner of the franchise, will transform its celebrity reality show Bigg Boss into a movie in three Indian languages.

Endemol India is associating with Select Media Holdings? film production arm, Moving Pictures, to jointly produce a horror comedy based on the experiences of the people in the Bigg Boss house.

The movie will be in made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

Currently in the scripting stage, the film is slated to go on floors in early 2013. The cast will include a mix of Bollywood and television actors. Some previous contestants of the Bigg Boss house are also being approached to act in the movie.

Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar said, "The success of Bigg Boss has achieved epic proportions, where we have seen that it has become a part of people?s daily lives. One of the biggest advantages is its ability to cut across people of all age groups. We are certain that we will be able to replicate the success and recreate the unpredictability of this format on the silver screen as well."

Select Media Holdings director Nitin Tej Ahuja added, "Bigg Boss is one of the most popular entertainment properties in India, and therefore a perfect fit for us as a production house focused on quality commercial cinema. As a concept and a format, Big Boss inherently has a fabulous cinematic potential and we are looking forward to working with Endemol India in bringing this very exciting property to the big screen."

Mumbai: Marathi general entertainment channel ETV Marathi is gearing up to launch a new game show titled Divided on 30 July.

Having acquired the format from Talpa Distribution, the show is being produced by Endemol India for the channel.

Divided will air every Monday and Tuesday at 9.30 pm, and will be hosted by Marathi cinema and television personality Adesh Bandekar.

Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar said, "Divided in our view marks the coming of age as far as regional game shows go. We are particularly excited of it airing on ETV Marathi, as we are certain that the zest and fervour of the show will appeal to a mass audience that the channel caters to. We at Endemol are constantly looking at beefing up our regional content and Divided is a significant step in that direction."

ETV general manager Prasanjit Singh Roy added, "It has been our persistent endeavour to give differentiated content to our viewers. After tremendous response of our previous shows like WOW, High Tension and DNA we are once again coming with a unique game show Divided which will be hosted by popular anchor Adesh Bandekar. We are confident that Divided and Adesh will spell Magic once again at 9.30 pm on every Monday and Tuesday."

Divided is a format created and developed for television by Talpa, the company of media entrepreneur John de Mol. This game show has been running in UK, Slovenia, Estonia, Korea, Italy, Chile, Netherlands Turkey and Malta.

"We are very excited with the response received for Divided world over. This game show has been running successfully in many regions and we are happy that the Indian audiences will now get to experience this exciting and nerve-wracking game show," Talpa Distribution managing director Maarten Meijs added.

Each episode of the show will see three contestants come together in a race against time to win cash prizes. The episode will unveil a set of 13 questions that increase in value but are bound by time. With every second that ticks away, a part of the available cash prize is lost. The contestants, instead of playing against each other will have to arrive at common consensus within a stipulated time frame to accumulate the cash prize. To win Divided, the contestants must make a unified decision at all times.

MUMBAI: Endemol India is launching a new laughter series titled ?Laugh India Laugh? on Life OK.

Starting 15 July, the show will air every Sunday at 10 pm.

Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar said, "We are very delighted with the launch of the refreshing new series called Laugh India Laugh. We are happy to have the laughter franchise back on air on Life OK. The new contestants with their versatility and talent will have the whole nation in splits."

Laugh India Laugh is a competition amongst 22 stand-up comedians. The contestants have been selected from India as well as from different countries across the world. Shekhar Suman and Chunky Pandey will form the judging panel of the show, accompanied by Mika Singh in the show?s first week.

The show will also have performances by popular artists such as Raju Srivastava and Chandan Prabhakar.

Mumbai: A month after Peter Chernin?s company acquired 49 per cent stake, Endemol India has restructured its operations to keep in line with its growth strategy that will be built on four verticals - Television, Regional, Fims and Digital.

For the television vertical, the company has appointed Abhishek Rege, a senior executive at Viacom18 Media overlooking their business operations for the US, as chief operating officer. Doris Dey has moved from Balaji Telefilms to join as fiction head. She was creative director and also wrote scripts of shows like ?Bade Ache Lagte Hai?, ?Kya Hua Tera Waada?, ?Parichay? and ?Pavitra Rishta?.

"The last one year has been very exciting for Endemol India, with the new concepts being accepted wholeheartedly and the existing formats progressing to their much awaited seasons. As we move into our next phase of growth, it?s critical to have a structure that supports our ambitions and fuels expansion. Going ahead, our core focus will be on the four verticals," says Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar.

The Endemol operational structure will have teams that will look after regional and films separately. The teams are in place and the company will announce their heads soon.

In the regional segment, Endemol will focus on developing content for regional TV channels.

The company will have both Hindi as well as regional films with Dhar directly overseeing the operations.

"We will soon launch and announce initiatives in the digital and film space," Dhar says.

On the television front, Rege will overlook strategic operations specific to the production of new shows while Dey will be responsible for driving the fiction properties and concepts that will engage and entertain the viewers.

"Abhishek and Doris come with a vast experience and I am convinced that both the professionals will drive our most ambitious phase," avers Dhar.

Endemol, the biggest non-fiction content producer in India, has big plans for fiction as well. "We are looking at producing Indian fiction content for international markets also. Its time for looking at fiction more seriously and we may look at retaining the IP," Dhar tells Indiantelevision.

On the non-fiction front, Endemol India will continue with its current structure. It does not have a head for non-fiction. Instead, the company has group heads for different formats like song & dance, reality and game shows.

The Chernin Group (TCG)?s Asian media investment arm CA Media had picked up 49 per cent stake in Endemol India last month. Incidentally, CA Media?s India head Rajesh Kamat earlier worked as chief executive officer of Endemol India.

Post stake sale, Endemol India?s plan is to grow as a leading producer of television, film and digital content.

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MUMBAI: Armed with $200 million capital infusion from Providence-led group of investors, Peter Chernin has made his maiden investments in India.

The Chernin Group (TCG)?s Asian media investment arm CA Media has started its innings in India with the acquisition of stakes in production house Endemol India and a music, live events and youth media company.

CA Media has picked up 49 per cent stake in Endemol India, a company where its chief executive officer Rajesh Kamat worked as India head. Incidentally, this is CA Media?s largest investment in Asia, though no financial details are revealed.

CA Media will help Endemol India grow as a leading producer of television, film and digital content. Endemol will seek to have a strong presence in the Indian film sector while boosting its presence on the television front.

?Endemol is a stable and mature business and is poised to leverage the growth explosion in the Indian content space. Our alliance will ensure that Endemol will achieve growth across screens, demographics and genres,? said Kamat.

Endemol India MD Deepak Dhar will lead the production house as CEO. Said Dhar: ?In CA Media we see a great strategic partner, which will help us in achieving inorganic growth. Our alliance with them will provide us with the expertise, relationships and resources for us to become a major player in Indian film and regional television, whilst further building our leading position in the entertainment space. We?re all extremely excited about this development and look forward to sharing further details of our plans in due course.?

Endemol India was set up in 2006 and has produced hit shows like Fear Factor, Big Boss and Deal or No Deal.

Dhar said that the company will soon restructure to focus on films, events and live events.

CA Media has also picked up an undisclosed minority stake in Only Much Louder (OML). This investment was done along with Zodius, an investor and operator of digital media, commerce and services.
 
CA Media is looking at OML Entertainment as developing into a youth power activator. Founded in 2002, it currently operates under a large-format music festivals division, a full-fledged production house, a digital wing and an artist management and bookings enterprise.

?OML operates in a category that?s nascent right now, but holds immense potential in time to come. With about 65 per cent of India?s population under 35 years, we are extremely bullish about the value that OML can unlock in this segment,? Kamat said.

Added OML Entertainment founder and CEO Vijay Nair, ?This investment marks a new phase in the evolution of OML where we will be focussing not only on live on-ground properties, but actively looking at amplifying them through television and digital media. CA Media and Zodius are the right partners to guide us and work with us on strategically scaling up OML and build it to its true potential.?

CA Media is eyeing further acquisitions in India. Kamat said that the company will be acquiring stake in media, entertainment, and technology sectors. It will also be investing directly in start-ups to create synergies in the businesses.

The company will initially focus on India, China and Indonesia in Asia. Its plan is to team up with local entrepreneurs, strategic partners, and financing sources to launch new enterprises, enhance the growth of businesses in their formative stages and selectively pursue later-stage transactions.

CA Media was formed in November 2010 by former News Corp president and COO Chernin and former Star head Paul Aiello. Later in April 2011, the company appointed former Colors CEO and Viacom18 COO Kamat as India CEO.

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