AR Murugadoss, the director of Aamir Khan’s phenomenal hit Ghajini, has signed a multi-film, multi-crore deal with Fox Star Studios, a production and distribution joint venture between Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox and media major Star Group.
Under the deal, Murugadoss will make several Tamil films for Fox Star, the first two of which are rumoured to be budgeted at a whopping Rs 60 crore, sources said. The company’s faith in the director isn’t surprising, given that Ghajini, his first Hindi venture, grossed a whopping Rs 200 crore.
Murugadoss will also co-produce the films. While the distribution will be handled solely by Fox Star, the producer-director will select the scripts for the films and have total creative control over them.
Though he refused to provide details, Murugadoss told the media he will use the opportunity to promote new talent in the Tamil film industry. “Besides, this partnership will also bring to Tamil cinema learnings from the best technical and creative people and from around the world,” he said.
Vijay Singh, the chief executive officer of Fox Star, said Tamil films are the most popular after Hindi movies, growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent. Besides, they have a massive fan following abroad, too, as was evident in the phenomenal success of the Rajnikant-starrer Sivaji, the Boss.
Another Fox spokesperson said the company was looking to enter the Tamil films market for some time and found in Murugadoss an able and willing partner.
The Indian regional entertainment space is fast gaining importance for top players in the industry. Even Indian production houses, which so far focussed on the Bollywood market, are looking to tap opportunities in regional cinema. Among these are Reliance Entertainment that will make Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri, UTV that has announced Tamil and Telugu projects, and Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts, which is looking keenly at the Bengali space.
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