HONG KONG – The Indian Film Company, which last year floated on London's AIM stock exchange, has struck a series of production and rights acquisition deals.

It has entered a co-production deal with Abbas Mastan’s shingle Burmawala Brothers to produce "Life Partner," which will be directed by Rumi Jaffery and star Govinda, Fardeen Khan and Tusshar Kapoor. Pic will be released in late 2009.

In a separate deal with Arshad Warsi’s Shooting Star Films tifc has set up "I Believe in Angels" to be helmed by Kabir Kaushik and star Warsi. Pic is tentatively scheduled to release by Q1 2010. Company is also financing Dev Benegal's "Road Movie," with helmer Benegal's August Entertainment. Production will begin in Aug with delivery skedded for May 2009.

TIFC, which is backed by the TV18 group, also acquired worldwide distribution rights to "Shortkut – The Con is On" from Anil Kapoor Film Company. The film is directed by Neeraj Vohra and stars Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao. The film is scheduled to release in the second half of fiscal 2009.

TIFC acquired the Indian theatrical and satellite rights for "Gajni," which company says is Aamir Khan's only release in 2008 and one of India's biggest Indian productions of the year. Film, a Hindi remake of the blockbuster Tamil film, also called "Gajni," is directed by A.R. Murgadoss and has music by A.R. Rahman.

Locking in talent is becoming increasingly important to India's big studio and distribution groups. TIFC signed two-picture deals with Sanjay Ghadvi, helmer of Bollywood hits "Dhoom" and "Dhoom–II," and with "Partner" helmer David Dhawan. Deal includes a sequel to "Partner" titled "Tom and Jerry" co-produced with Sohail Khan Productions and starring Salman Khan, Govinda and Lara Dutta.

Deals were announced as an annex to quarterly trading results of TIFC. "We have continued to enjoy success during the quarter, building a solid portfolio of investments. At the same time we have achieved increased revenues from our existing assets as well as realizing the value of some investments in order to invest in new opportunities," TIFC and Studio 18 CEO Sandeep Bhargava said.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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