Hindi
PPC gets creepy, to invest Rs 1 billion in horror flicks
MUMBAI: Making your skin crawl, your hair rise and giving you sleepless nights. That‘s the objective of entertainment company Percept Picture Co (PPC). And at a time when Bollywood is getting cautious, PPC is getting aggressive about foraying into the horror genre.
The company has floated a new movie production arm, ‘PPC Horrotainment‘ that will focus only on producing small and mid budget horror flicks.
PPC will pump in approximately Rs 1 billion into its newly launched banner out of its internal accruals to roll out a slate of 10 movies over a period of three years.
The first project to be launched under the new arm will be ‘Grrrr….‘ directed by Priyadarshan. This will be followed by releases like Mumbai, Vehem, 13 and 888.
“We are looking at making investments in the region of Rs 800 million to Rs 1 billion to produce 10 films, to be made over three years and released over four,” says PPC COO Navin Shah.
The entertainment company plans to keep the cost of its productions in check and not get too adventurous about budgets, as has been the case with some other filmmakers recently. “The budget of the films will be stringed at around Rs 80 million,” Shah explained.
According to Shah, the invest requirements of any Bollywood horror flick is still minimal in India and hence, companies can remain optimistic of a higher return on investments while keeping the production costs tight.
When quizzed why PPC had opted for the creepy and crawly genre, Shah ventured, “When it comes to Indian consumers, the horror genre definitely carries huge potential amongst all. However, it still remains highly untapped in Bollywood. As the demand is more while the supply remains almost nil, we decided to explore this new space.”
Cinema goers had better gear up for the blood and gore.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
