Lanco entertainment arm lines up 4 more films

Basking under the success of its maiden movie "� Evadigola Vadide, Larsco Entertainment Private Limited, the wholly-owned entertainment arm of the Rs 2,000-crore Lanco Group, is lining up four more Telugu movies at an estimated investment of Rs 21 crore.

The company also has plans to foray into the development of television software, besides setting up theme parks in the state.

Speaking to Business Standard, L Sirisha Sridhar, producer of Larsco Entertainment and a whole-time director of Lanco Group, said, "Buoyed by the success of our maiden venture, we have decided to beef up our activities in the film industry. To start with, we are coming up with a dance musical titled Style at an investment of over Rs 6 crore. The movie stars dancers-turned-directors Prabhu Deva and Lawrence, and Raja and Kamalini Mukherjee of Anand fame. Shooting and post-production of the film would be completed by August, and the movie would be released before Dasara."

Lanco Group, which is into power generation, information technology, civil construction, property development and manufacturing, ventured into the Telugu film industry with the formation of Larsco Entertainment Private Limited in 2003.

Larsco forayed into film production with the Rs 4-crore comedy film, Evadigola Vadide. The film was released in 2005 and is all set to celebrate its silver jubilee in July.

Sirisha said the other three projects that the company has announced are at the scripting and casting stage.

"Script writer Veeru Potla, who gave runaway hits like Varsham and Manasantha Nuvve, will make his debut as a director in one of three films, while topline directors Neelakanta and Chandra Siddhartha have been signed up for the other two. At a conservative estimate, the budget for each of these films will vary between Rs 3 crore and Rs 5 crore. The scripts have almost been finalised, and the films will go on floor by 2006,"she said.

On Larsco's plans of foraying into the development of television software, Sirisha said, "We are endeavouring to become developers of premium television software across diverse genres including sops, sitcoms and game shows. We are currently in talks with leading Telugu entertainment channels Gemini and Maa TV. Once everything is in place, we plan to take the projects to floor by this year end," she said.

Sirisha said that the company is also looking at setting up theme parks in the state.

While refusing to discuss the time frame or investments, she said, "Film production will always be our thrust area. Now that we are also planning to enter the television software arena, we plan to come up with other projects including setting up of theme parks and educational institutions in the state, at a later stage and in a phased manner."