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Thinksmart gets into expansion mode

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K Rajani Kanth Chennai/ Hyderabad
Last Updated : Feb 14 2013 | 9:43 PM IST
Betting big on the surging demand for film restoration, Hyderabad-based Thinksmart, a provider of visual effects, graphic designing and editing to films, is embarking upon an expansion plan that would see the company invest close to $5 million in its existing facility at Tirupati by mid 2007.
 
The nine-year-old studio, patronised by Telugu film actor and producer Manchu Mohan Babu, is also simultaneously lining up plans to set up an 800-seater facility at Visakhapatnam.
 
"There is a huge unsaturated demand for film restoration in India and we see a tremendous growth with a potential of around $1 billion in this segment. In a bid to capture a major chunk of this pie, we have decided to dedicate the facility at our group's Sri Vidya Niketan Educational Institutions in Tirupati to film restoration activities, and in the process pumped in around Rs 18 crore over the last one year. We are now looking at investing $3-5 million more in this facility and recruiting 140 more professionals by mid 2007," budding film actor and chief executive officer of Thinksmart, Vishnu Manchu, told Business Standard. The company currently employs 70 professionals.
 
The company had bid for Budweiser's 30-second advertisement campaign, to be aired during the Superbowl-2007, last month in Canada and made it to the final five entries.
 
Besides, it is bidding for a special effects project from Hollywood. "If we could pull these projects up, we should be taking our total headcount to around 300 by the end of January or mid-February 2007," he said.
 
Stating that film restoration, at present, costs producers a fortune, Vishnu said the company was currently developing a software to cut down the cost of film restoration process. "The software, being developed in-house, is in the mid-stage and we expect a breakthrough by March," he said.
 
On the Visakhapatnam facility, he said the company had already acquired five acres of land and was now working out the financial modalities.
 
"We are planning to set up an 8-lakh sft, 800-seater facility in the port town with an investment of around Rs 76 crore, including land cost. The project will be ready by 2008," Vishnu said.
 
The company is currently in negotiations with a few venture capital firms and banks to raise funds for its expansion plans, and expect them to reach fruition by March.
 
Thinksmart has to its credit over 70 projects including 15 Hollywood films under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). It recently completed special effect works on four Telugu films that are slated for a Sankranti release.
 
These include Prabhas-starrer Yogi, Adilakshmi, and Dhi with Vishnu Manchu in the lead. "The 2007 summer would see 60 per cent of the south Indian films having the Thinksmart mark," he said.
 
The studio is also coming up with a '24 Frames Factory' for development of television and mobile content. "To start with, we are developing a reality show in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil. The show will go on floors in January 2007 and will be telecast after the cricket World Cup," Vishnu said.
 
Thinksmart, which has overseas offices in Los Angeles and California in the US, is set to open an office in London by January 2007. It posted a turnover of $3 million last fiscal and expects to close the current financial year with a topline of around $6 million.

 
 

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First Published: Dec 15 2006 | 12:00 AM IST

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