Bilkul News, March 7:

Toronto based Veni Vici Entertainment Inc. has developed a formula labeled Holly-Bolly Films which, in co-production, will give Bollywood films world-wide distribution.

Veni Vici’s CEO, multi-award winning Andy Halmay, explains: “I love Bollywood films, but the world outside of India does not understand them which is why Bollywood, the world’s biggest producer of films, barely makes a dent in the top markets such as North America and Europe.

 “And that’s where the money is,” he adds, “because ticket prices are so much higher. In Tokyo tickets cost over 1,300 rupees.  In Switzerland, in Australian cities and in Oslo and London they’re not much better.  Even in North America, the average ticket price is over 500 rupees while the average ticket price in India is about 130 rupees.”

He notes that some export progress has been made by major Bollywood hits that get distribution to the vast NRI market which, at times, can add another $25 million, but those are few and far between.

He points out that even in Canada, with a population of less than 2.9% of India, hit movies have collected as much as 580 crore at the box office while in the U.S., next door, they take in ten times as much.

The formula for a Holly-Bolly Film is quite simple. It starts with a screenplay, in which the story plays out in India and in the West, the characters in the story are from both cultures, some bilingualism is injected for added credibility, music is used in a promotional manner as never before and the net result is a film appreciated by both cultures, each from its own point of view.

 Veni Vici Entertainment lines up much of the distribution in advance of production and the return potential is quadrupled when compared to a Bollywood film with similar budget but released in India only.

 Halmay’s targets for Holly-Bolly films include the world’s major film markets. He has scripts in development for co-production in China, Germany, Russia, Spain, the U.K., Italy, Mexico and Romania.

He is targeting India first with plans for three films because India has now signed an official co-production treaty with Canada, which makes it possible to obtain production funding from Canada’s Government-backed Feature Film Fund administered by Telefilm Canada.  Veni Vici Entertainment will pick up as much as 80% of any co-production.

The first project, a thriller, THE HORROR OF SURPANAKA, finds three Canadian college girls coming to India to surprise their boyfriends who had gone on an archaeological dig. When they arrive they find the boys missing and bodies of young men turn up, the work of Surpanaka, the ancient and little-known demon of Indian mythology reincarnated and wreaking havoc.

One of the three visiting college girls is the proverbial all-American kid but, in fact, is an NRI with roots in India.  The rest of the cast will be Indian.

A new band, The Hellions of Hades, will be created for this film and will produce six music videos to promote the film on world-widel social media.  70% of THE HORROR OF SURPANAKA will be filmed in India.

Halmay points out that in today’s world most major cities are Holly-Bolly cities, meaning, they have great diversity of cultures. Bollywood and Hollywood, to a degree, have remained provincial.  He bets that box office will prove the Holly-Bolly Films formula works wonders.

http://www.bilkulonline.com/infotainment/50-entertainment/bollywood-tv-world/8817-co-productions-to-give-bollywood-films-world-wide-distribution