ADAG, Farhan sign Rs 250cr deal for 5 films

Reliance Entertainment, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has signed a five-film co-production deal with filmmaker Farhan Akhtar's production house Excel Entertainment. The value of the deal is said to be around Rs 250 crore.

Excel Entertainment, promoted by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, will make the five movies over three years. A senior Reliance Entertainment executive declined to comment.

Of the five movies, two are a sequel to Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Don' and 'Voice from the Sky'.

In September last year, Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen Group (TV18) was believed to be in talks with Excel for the same.

However, according to industry sources the talks did not make much headway.

Sources added that the five films will most likely be released under Big Motion Pictures, a new subsidiary of Reliance Entertainment. In the future, the division will house all film production projects. In the past, Reliance Entertainment had tied up with director Madhur Bhandarkar for three films.

As a part of the new structure, the new arm - Big Motion Picture - will focus on film production, while Adlabs Films, in which Reliance ADAG holds a majority stake, will only deal with movie exhibition (through Adlabs Cinemas), distribution and film processing.