Targetting the big BO

Joy Ganguly

ENTERTAINMENT: A Kolkata production house is now aiming big with Bollywood films.

Joy Ganguly, 26, has learnt his lesson early "" it doesn't pay to produce a niche, bilingual film. So after making an English-Bangla crossover movie, his Kolkata based production house, Moxie Entertainment, quickly switched to making Hindi films.

A suspense thriller Via Darjeeling featuring Bollywood actors Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni and Parvin Dabas is the first off the block and the film is being shot in Kolkata, Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

Moxie's first full length feature film "" it's still looking for distributors though "" was The Bong Connection directed by Anjan Datt.

"We realised that it was no point making such a niche film that we find it difficult to release it," says Ganguly.

He believes that the only way to break into the national film scene was through a Hindi film. Little surprise, then, that the script for Moxie's second Hindi film "" a political thriller "" is also ready.

Via Darjeeling is being directed by Arindam Nandy, the creative head of Response, a boutique agency in Kolkata. Surely, the little known film producers must have found it tough to convince Mumbai film actors to work with them.

"Not really. Our technical team is known. The director of photography, Abhik Mukherjee, has shot Bunty aur Babli, Raincoat and Chokher Bali," says Ganguly.

The film is being edited by Arhgyakamal Mitra who worked on Raincoat and Chokher Bali while Prabuddha Banerjee, the sound designer of Devdas and Munnabhai is the music director and sound designer for the current production.

Ganguly also clarifies that Via Darjeeling is not an art film adding that Moxie makes low and medium budget mainstream cinema. But how does the company raise money for its films? "We're banking on private investors for this project and also talking to financial institutions to raise money," says Ganguly.

But can a Kolkata-based company make it in Bollywood? "Being in Kolkata has a huge cost advantage," says Ganguly, who studied business management at the University of Pittsburg in the US. He returned to India in 2004 to set up a multimedia company.

In January 2005, however, he set up Moxie Entertainment that started out with advertising films and documentaries. Last year, the company got into feature films.

Moxie, Ganguly says, is committed to producing films crafted by young directors, writers and technicians.

The idea is to develop, produce and market Indian films which target domestic and global audiences. "We hope to produce national films from Bengal."

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THINKING OUT OF THE BOX

Nagesh Kukunoor: His film, Hyderabad Blues was released in 1998. A small budget film, it was one of the first few films to arrive in India with a "multiplex cinema" tag. His other films include Teen Deewarein, Hyderabad Blues II and Dor.

Homi Adajania: Called Being Cyrus the "first English film from Bollywood". The film starring Saif Ali Khan catered to the niche audience and did well.

Rahul Bose: He directed Everybody Says I'm Fine, starring Koel Purie.