Film Production
India-UK co-produce ‘The Far Pavillions’ for $150 mn
MUMBAI: MM Kaye’s novel The Far Pavillions, which speaks of an Englishman being raised as a Hindu during the British Raj and falls in love with an Indian princess, is being remade for TV by a UK-India duo at a budget of $150 million.
Beautiful Bay Productions, run by India-based Michael Ward and Britain’s Collin Burrows, is targetting 30 episodes of one hour each. The cast and crew will prominently be from the two countries while post-production will take place in London and the shooting will be in India.
Thirty years ago, the novel was made into a three-episode mini TV series by HBO starring Ben Cross, Amy Irving, Omar Sharif, and Christopher Lee. Ward has condensed the novel into a play. He said, “It’s the perfect time to take my stage adaptation of Mollie Kaye’s masterpiece much further and deeper into its Indian cultural landscape, and to invite the best of Indian and British talent to contribute towards turning it into a high-end television series authentically written and cast for a global audience,” he said.
London mayor Sadiq Khan is touring Mumbai as part of the UK-India Year of Culture. “It represents the best of British and Indian talent and sends a clear message to the rest of the world that London is open to partnerships, to collaboration, to creativity and for business,” said Khan.
British Film Commission Film London chair Adrian Wootton added,“This adaptation promises to be a sumptuous spectacle in its own right but it’s also indicative of how our above- and below-the-line talent can come together to create a production that harnesses everything from Indian locations to London’s world-famous post-production expertise.”
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
