Film Production
Relativity Media & B4U forge broad partnership
MUMBAI: Another large US independent global film and TV production studio-cum-distributor-cum financier is making its way into India. At least it has announced its intentions to do so. The Ryan Kavanaugh headed Relativity Media – which has 200 Hollywood films with a claimed box office revenue of $17 billion worldwide- has chosen to partner with steel baron Lakshmi Mittal-Kishore Lulla-Gokul Binani -backed B4U in a joint venture. The announcement was made in Cannes by Kavanaugh and B4U CEO Ishan Saksena just as the week was ending and the Cannes Film Festival was going past the half way mark.
The joint venture will – according to a press release – “leverage their combined expertise, relationships and resources to create and distribute highly-engaging long and short form entertainment and sports content in India that will span a variety of mediums including film, television and digital.”
It clearly elucidates what the duo will do through the new initiative:
·Distribute future Relativity films and other select entertainment content in India and the surrounding regions
·Co-finance, co-produce and distribute Indian language films and television shows as well as acquire projects in the U.S. and Indian markets
·Distribute third-party content in India and select Bollywood films in the U.S.
·Create and launch a new pay television channel in India focused on Hollywood content in both English and Hindi
·Launch RelaTV– a digital streaming technology platform to deliver compelling short and long form content to Indian consumers
·Co-produce a slate of Hollywood films including The Best of Me
Around $100 million will be available to the joint venture to roll out its ambitions.
But Hollywood-Bollywood collaborations have not been something to write home about. UTV tried to forge partnerships with Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and with M Night Shyamalan but did not get too far. Reliance Entertainment’s partnership with Dreamworks has done reasonably well. The YRF Entertainment co-produced – withPierre-Ange Le Pogam and writer Arash Amel – Grace of Monaco premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last week, but has got scathing reviews as being poorly directly and scripted.
Both Kavanaugh and Saksena believe their coming together will be fruitful. Says Kavanaugh: “This strategic partnership represents an exciting opportunity for Relativity to significantly expand our presence in this vibrant and growing marketplace while creating a bridge for developing and sharing content between Hollywood and Bollywood.”
“By 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country, and its citizens are adopting new technology platforms – from smartphones to smart TVs – at a dramatic rate. Thejoint venture positions us well to deliver enthralling content across rapidly emerging distribution channels.”
Added Saksena: “B4U has always been at the helm for delivering Bollywood content in India and internationally. This joint venture with Relativity is the natural step in our progression to build a creative film studio and unique technology platform. Our joint venture provides a platform to bring the best of Relativity’s intellectual property, production skills, and unique monetizing strategies to India, while also providing Indian talent access to global audiences.”
The $100 million fund will be under Saksena’s management who is reportedely close to Mittal’s son-in-law Amit Bhatia and is a managing director at the latter’s investment company Swordfish Investments. He worked very closely with Bhatia and helped him turn around the Queens Park Rangers football club in 2010.
Thanks to Lulla’s involvement with B4U, the joint venture is likely to have access to the Eros International’s large Hindi film catalogue – probably the largest for Indian films. Which should help it build up the pay television channel and streaming media service – RelaTV – for India along with Relativity Media’s slate of films and TV shows. Lulla has in recent times forged alliances with HBO for two local pay TV channels – HBO Hits and HBO defined – and with Endemol for production of films in India.
Saksena – who has had experience managing Queens’ Parks Rangers – will in all probability be bringing all that to bear on the sports side as he tries to get the best expertise out of Relativity Sports.
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
