Film Production
InHouse promoters launch film company Metalight
MUMBAI: At a time when the Hindi movie industry is going through probably its worst ever slump, a new vertically integrated company announced today that it was making the plunge into the film business. Metalight Productions is being positioned as a “strategic motion picture venture” cutting across genres that will churn out 12 films a year once it is fully onstream.
Making the announcement at a media briefing today, executive director Ajay Shanghavi said Rs 200 million has already been spent on the venture and over the next three years a total of Rs 820 million would be pumped in to get the business going fully.
Sanghavi said Metalight at present has three films ready for release – Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar, 3 Deewanein and Satta. The total “landed cost” (includes production, marketing distribution) for Dil Vil was Rs 90 million, Sanghavi said, adding that Rs 40 million was the money dished out for each of the other two movies.
By the end of this fiscal six movies would be released, with two more under production by that time, Sanghavi said.
Queried as to what kind of returns the company was expecting, Sanghavi said between 35 and 45 per cent net profit was what he was looking at.
Voicing the corporate mantra, Sanghavi said Metalight has three operational divisions with separate heads handling production, distribution and exhibition. He stressed that what Metalight was looking to do was to have a regular output of films that would be made on time, within specified budgets and produced, distributed and exhibited by the company itself. The exhibition division will enable Metalight to directly reach the viewer by controlling and managing theatres under the brand name ‘Prime’.
Heading the production division is Wg. Cdr. Ramesh, the man who set up Ramoji Rao’s Film City on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The distribution team is led by Ravi Nallapa and the exhibition division by Richard R Miranda.
Metalight is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore-based Production Facilities Pvt. Ltd, which also owns TV software company InHouse Productions. Production Facilities’ investors are the Indian stakeholders of Sony Entertainment Television India Pvt Ltd.
Film Production
Arka Mediaworks onboards 88 Pictures as animation studio partner on ‘The Eternal War – Part 1’
Arka Mediaworks announces that 88 Pictures, the acclaimed animation and visual storytelling studio known for its cutting-edge CGI and cinematic artistry, is on board as the animation partner for the highly anticipated Baahubali: The Eternal War, a groundbreaking two-part 3D animated feature film set in the globally beloved Baahubali universe.
Baahubali: The Eternal War represents a bold new chapter in the Baahubali saga envisioned for national and international audiences and crafted with the ambition of delivering one of India’s most ambitious and globally benchmarked animation projects to date.
88 Pictures will execute the animation production, bringing to life the film’s richly detailed worlds, epic battle sequences, and larger-than-life characters with its signature blend of artistic vision, performance-driven animation, and advanced production pipelines. Working closely with the film’s creative leadership and technical partners, the studio aims to set new benchmarks in animation quality, cinematic storytelling, and global scalability.
This animated epic follows the successful re-release of Baahubali: The Epic (the combined theatrical version of the original live-action films) on 31 October 2025 across India and the USA. During the film’s interval, legendary creator and director S.S. Rajamouli (Baahubali 1 & 2, RRR) stunned audiences with a surprise teaser for The Eternal War – Part 1. The video immediately went viral, garnering widespread national and international acclaim across LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube for its ambitious visual style and scale.
Produced by Arka Mediaworks and led by co-founder and CEO Shobu Yarlagadda – producer of the iconic Baahubali duology, The Eternal War brings together fantastic storytelling and cutting-edge animation.. The film is directed and written by acclaimed animation filmmaker Ishan Shukla (Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, Star Wars: Visions – “The Bandits of Golak”) and screenplay by Scott Mosier (The Grinch). Mihira Visual Labs, the studio co-founded by Yarlagadda anchors the film’s animation, visual development, and execution.
The partnership with 88 Pictures brings significant pedigree to the project; the studio is well-regarded for its work on high-profile international titles including DreamWorks’ series Trollhunters, the HBO Max original series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Disney’s animated short An Almost Christmas Story to name a few.
Yarlagadda shared, “We are happy to onboard 88 Pictures as the animation studio partner for our prestigious and most expensive animated film from India. We believe that their expertise and capabilities will allow us to produce a first-of-its-kind, world-class animated feature film from India.”
88 Pictures founder & CEO Milind D. Shinde said, “Baahubali changed the way cinema is perceived and became a defining milestone that turned the tide for Indian live-action filmmaking. Expanding the franchise into an entirely new universe—at a never-seen, never-done scale—through an animated feature created in India for a global audience is set to redefine how the world views Indian animation. We are truly thrilled to be part of this landmark project and to bring it to life under the visionary direction of Ishan Shukla, guided by the experience and leadership of acclaimed producer Shobu Yarlagadda.”
Shukla expressed, “Eternal War requires a level of visual and emotional precision that can only come from teams who truly understand both craft and intent. Working with 88 Pictures, alongside Mihira Visual Labs, has been a deeply collaborative experience. This association brings together technical excellence and creative sensitivity, enabling us to translate an ambitious vision into a compelling cinematic reality.”
Baahubali: The Eternal War – Part 1 is scheduled for release in 2027
