Ashtavinayak invests Rs.9 bn in forthcoming movies

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) Bollywood production houses are increasingly investing big bucks in multiple projects and the latest to join the race is Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd, the banner that churned out last year's super hit "Jab We Met". It has made an investment worth Rs.9 billion in its forthcoming releases.

"Even after the success of 'Jab We Met', 'Golmaal', 'Bhagam Bhag' and 'Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya', our strategy still remains to deliver more and more good quality entertainment to the audiences which has become a necessity nowadays. The company has multiple releases lined up of over Rs.9 billion, which can be universally accepted by the people of all genres," said Dhilin Mehta, managing director of Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.

It has an eclectic line-up of films ranging from suspense thrillers to comedies to adrenaline pumping action films along with light-hearted romantic films. Though the exact release dates have not yet been finalised, the first one to be released this year is Shivam Nair's suspense thriller "Maharathi" starring Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Boman Irani, Paresh Rawal, Tara Sharma and Neha Dhupia.

It will be followed by Sanjay Gadhvi's "Kidnap". Sanjay Dutt, Minnisha Lamba, Vidya Malvade, Rahul Dev and Imran Khan are heading the cast.

The festive season of Diwali will see the much awaited sequel "Golmaal Returns". Directed by Rohit Shetty, it has Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Celina Jaitley, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Arora and Anjana Sukhani in the cast.

Action moive "Blue" will come next. Director Anthony D'Souza has teamed up with Sanjay, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif and Zayed Khan in the film.

Also to be released this year is Soham Shah's "Luck", starring Sanjay, debutante Shriti Hassan, Imran Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Ravi Kishen and Mithun Chakraborty.

Govinda starrer "Run Bhola Run" is another movie that is schedule to hit the marquee by the year-end. Directed by Neeraj Vora, it also stars Tusshar Kapoor, Amisha Patel and Tanushree Datta.

The banner has also announced its future projects and co-production ventures as well.

It will co-produce "Bond" with Sanjay Dutt Productions Pvt. Ltd. While the cast of the movie will be helmed by Sanjay himself, Anthony D'Souza will direct it.

Another co-production venture is "Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekh, Mudh Mudh Ke" starring Himesh Reshammiya, Niharika Singh and Jennifer Kotwal. Ashtavinayak will co-produce it with Jagannath Entertainment. Seema and Sudhir will direct it.

Ashtavinayak's future projects also include "One Way Ticket," it will be again directed by Neeraj Vora. So far, Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna have been finalised for the project.

Besides these, some others will be directed by Rummi Jaffrey, Rohit Shetty, Imtiaz Ali and Vivek Sharma. Akshay, Ajay, Govinda, Kareena, John Abraham and Saif Ali Khan will feature in these movies.

The banner has already signed some top-notch directors for its future projects. They include David Dhawan, Abbas-Mustan, Priyadarshan and Anees Bazmee.

Ashtavinayak also plans to produce four movies in Tamil and Telugu this year.

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Jab We Met