Following his younger brother’s footsteps, Mukesh Ambani is likely to venture into film production. He is reportedly in talks with several leading actors of Tamil cinema, including Vijay Sethupathi and Sivakarthikeyan.
There were reports earlier that Ambani will be co-producing a film based on the Mahabharata, at a budget of Rs.1000 crore, featuring Aamir Khan in the lead. However, neither Khan nor Ambani confirmed this.
It is now reported that Reliance Entertainment is in talks with Sivakarthikeyan and Vijay Sethupathi to cast them in two Tamil movies produced by Ambani’s company. According to Indiaglitz, Sivakarthikeyan has already given his nod, and talks with Vijay Sethupathi are in the final stages.
Although a latecomer, the Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani has been trying to consolidate his place in media and films for some time now. In the beginning of 2018, he bought a significant stake in Network 18, the group that has TV18 as its broadcast wing.
In February he also bought a 5% stake in Eros Now, a leading production house for Bollywood movies. This was followed by a shuffling of posts, with Jyoti Deshpande, CEO and MD of Eros, becoming the head of media and entertainment business at Reliance Industries from April 2018, reports Variety.
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Kishore Lulla, the group chairman and CEO of Eros said in a statement, “I am very pleased that Eros is partnering with RIL in its entertainment journey with several synergies across technology, content and digital with Eros Now. We look forward to collaborating and growing as we continue to make new strides on the digital and content forefronts.”
Reliance Industries said Deshpande has been tasked to “organically build and grow businesses around the content ecosystem such as broadcasting, films, sports, music, digital, gaming, animation etc., as well as integrate RIL’s existing media investments such as Viacom and Balaji Telefilms with a view to build, scale and consolidate the fragmented $20 billion Indian M&E sector.”
Image Courtesy: Times Of India