Hindi
Reliance Entertainment infuses $200 mn in DreamWorks
MUMBAI: Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s dream of conquering Hollywood continues unabated even after a slate of releases from the joint venture with Steven Spielberg‘s DreamWorks Studios failed to impress the box office.
Ambani-promoted Reliance Entertainment has agreed to infuse fresh funding of $200 million in a new deal that calls for a slimmer DreamWorks. The ambitious six movies a year announced in 2009 has been scaled back to three to five starting next year.
The new arrangement, providing a lifeline to the studio, comes after a series of negotiations that began late last year as the global economic crisis hit DreamWorks had. The studio had slashed its spending on development and production.
When contacted, a Reliance Entertainment spokesperson declined to comment.
In 2009, DreamWorks had raised $325 million from Reliance Entertainment for a stake. It had got another $325 million in debt.
The releases of the science-fiction ‘I Am Number Four‘ and the big-budget ‘Cowboys & Aliens‘ bombed. Though Academy Award nominee ‘The Help’ was a hit, but the remake of ‘Fright Night‘ didn’t succeed. ‘Real Steel’ and Spielberg‘s own ‘War Horse‘ put up moderate performances.
Hindi
Hansa Entertainment launched to produce across OTT, TV and film
New venture from R K Swamy Hansa Group eyes multi-language stories for digital-first audiences.
MUMBAI: Hansa Entertainment has just stepped into the spotlight because when a legacy media house decides to script its next act, even the credits get excited. Hansa Entertainment Private Limited has been incorporated to develop and produce original programming across digital, television, OTT platforms and theatrical features. The company will create short-running series, long-running series and original films for OTT, alongside standout theatrical ventures. It will also launch a podcast platform called Hansa Spotlight and produce content for the fast-growing vertical drama format. Stories are initially planned in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Kannada.
The venture is founded by Sruti Swamy and Siddharth Swamy, drawing on the rich legacy of Hansa Vision and the broader R K Swamy Hansa Group. Sruti brings creative expertise with a master’s in architecture, interiors and design from Milan and a postgraduate degree in business management from the Indian School of Business. Siddharth contributes a data-driven perspective, having studied data science at Imperial College London.
Sujatha Narayanan has been appointed CEO of Hansa Entertainment. With over two decades of experience in creative content curation and production across film and OTT, she is also a well-known film columnist and media entrepreneur.
R K Swamy Hansa Group executive chairman Srinivasan Swamy said, “The launch of Hansa Entertainment marks an exciting new chapter. The new entity is the brainchild of the next generation and will be independently managed by Sruti Swamy, who is the Director and the newly appointed CEO.”
Hansa Entertainment director Sruti Swamy added, “I am very optimistic about the future of Hansa Entertainment, given the content explosion and the opportunities offered by new technologies for production.”
Hansa Entertainment director Siddharth Swamy noted, “The idea is to grow a contemporary production house that creates compelling stories for today’s multi-platform audiences while drawing inspiration from the rich storytelling traditions that audiences have appreciated over the years.”
Hansa Entertainment CEO Sujatha Narayanan said, “Hansa Entertainment will evolve as a story-first, IP-driven entity. We have already put together a smart team of interesting and dynamic creators who will helm our vertical dramas, shows and films.”
In the ever-evolving world of Indian entertainment, where stories now travel faster than the scripts that birth them, Hansa Entertainment is stepping onto the stage with fresh ink and big ambitions proving that even the best legacies know when it’s time for a compelling sequel.
