MUMBAI: Anil D Ambani owned Reliance Entertainment and producer duo Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia’s Friday Filmworks has formed 50:50 joint venture for production of movies called Plan C Studios.
The combination will benefit from the creative and production strength of Friday Filmworks, and leverage the global marketing and distribution capabilities of Reliance Entertainment.
Reliance Group group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said, “We are delighted to partner with creative minds like Neeraj and Shital. This relationship is in line with our continuing strategy in the media and entertainment business, of partnering with like minded and successful individuals, while playing the role of supportive investors on our part.”
Plan C Studios will kick start with Akshay Kumar starrer, the period drama, Rustom, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai. Other projects include Pandey’s cinematic version of his novel, Ghalib Danger and films helmed by Shivam Nair, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, Anurag Singh, Anvita Dutt and Shree Narayan Singh.
Commenting on the partnership, Pandey said, “The partnership with Reliance Group is very significant and welcome, as it enables us to further raise the bar on our continued strategy of developing cutting edge commercial content. We like to keep pushing the envelope, and this partnership will greatly expand our vision.”
“The alliance with Reliance Group and our continued success at the box office, are a welcome and clear vindication of our focused strategy. Reliance's significant global and domestic distribution and monetization network, not just perfectly complements our distinct content, but will also ensure highest value creation for all our partners and stakeholders,” added Bhatia.
Pandey’s first film A Wednesday in 2008 won the National Award. Subsequently, he directed Special 26 in 2013, and Baby in 2015, both widely appreciated and enjoyed huge commercial successes. Pandey is currently on the floors with M S Dhoni – The Untold Story - one of the most anticipated films of the year.
Reliance Entertainment has produced, distributed and released more than 170 films in multiple Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, etc.
Internationally, Reliance Entertainment has partnered for over the past 7 years with iconic film producer and director, Steven Spielberg, in the formation of DreamWorks Studios and announced the continuation of that relationship with the formation of Amblin Partners in December 2015.
In India, Reliance Entertainment has recently formed an exciting partnership with Phantom films, a company created by talented directors and producers.
