The world is not enough

CONVERGENCE

Digital entertainment is the next logical extension and a huge growth area for Eros International.

At Cannes this year, a very exclusive promotional event was held at the Nikki beach of the famous Carlton Hotel for a Hindi film Omkara which is based on Othello and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Earlier at a press meet held on a ship Five Angels, Indian actor Vivek Oberoi introducing the entire cast of Omkara stated, "The adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello is the best way to communicate to the cinema world that Indian filmdom means business." And the businessman behind Omkara is the London-based Chairman and CEO of Eros International, Kishore Lulla.

Set up in 1977, Hindi film producer and distributor Eros (named after the Greek god of Love and Passion) has emerged as the front runner in global exports of Hindi films with offices in India, the UAE, UK, Fiji, Australia and USA. It began by distributing Hindi movies to cinemas in areas with large Indian population in UK, such as parts of London, Birmingham and Manchester. Today Eros International is a global media and entertainment group of companies that owns, creates and globally distributes Hindi films in a variety of formats.

It has an extensive film library containing in excess of 1,300 titles with an extensive worldwide distribution network developed over almost three decades. Its recent successes include Main Hoon Na and Paheli, India's official entrant to the 2006 Academy Awards (Oscars). In 2002, Eros masterminded the international distribution and marketing of the BAFTA-nominated spectacular Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, which had its world premiere at Cannes. Eros' first major co-production venture, Waqt "� A Race Against Time, was the highest-grossing Hindi film in the UK in 2005.

This month, Movielink, the leading U.S. broadband video-on-demand (VOD) download service, and a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros along with Eros International has announced plans to make Indian movies available for on-demand delivery over the Internet.

The deal marks the first time Hindi films will be available via digital distribution in the U.S. through Movielink's rental service and download-to-own purchase store. Movielink customers will soon be able to download popular and cult classic films such as the Oscar nominated classic Mother India.

"Eros is very excited to offer our premium library to Movielink consumers in a broadband video-on-demand format," says Kishore Lulla, adding: "Our visions are aligned and we are confident of being able to offer a compelling consumer proposition."

In the nine months to 31 December 2005, Eros made a profit before tax, interest and goodwill of $12.6 million on turnover of about $32.2 million. It now plans to dilute 15-20 per cent of its stake in a initial public offering and aims to raise $100 million.

"We've been a market leader in traditional media distribution channels such as cinema and DVD. Digital entertainment is the next logical extension and a huge growth area for us, and technology is going to play a very important role in accelerating our online distribution initiatives." Lulla added.

Meanwhile, Eros is already exploring the distribution of Hindi films in Latin America. Ken Naz, CEO of Eros in North America has already met with the Indian consul general in Brazil to discuss distribution prospects.

Bhuvan Lall is the co-chairman of the Entertainment Industry Leaders Council of Assocham. He can be contacted at lallentertainment@hotmail.com