Balaji Motion Pictures

Balaji Motion Pictures is the sister company of Balaji Telefilms. It entered the Indian motion pictures business in 2002. The company operates the Motion Pictures Division through its wholly owned subsidiary.

Till 2011, the company had produced and/or acquired 17 films, including Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Sarkar Raj. For 2013, it has tied up with Raaj Kamal Films International to distribute Vishwaroop across India which is the Hindi version of Kamalhaasan's Vishwaroopam.

Operations

Balaji Motion Pictures is based in Mumbai in the Balaji House on New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. It operates from its head office in Andheri West and has studios in Film City and other locations in Mumbai. In terms of studio facilities Balaji Motion Pictures is one of the largest film productions houses in Mumbai's larg .

History

Balaji Motion Pictures (Balaji Films) was set up in 2001 by Hindi television producer Ekta Kapoor with the purpose of venturing into film production. She produced Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, released in 2001 with Govinda and Sushmita Sen as the leads. The film was not a success, collecting 13 crore (US$2.0Â million). Later, the company produced Kucch To Hai, Krishna Cottage and Koi Aap Sa in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. The movies did not fare well at the box office. In 2005, the company produced and released Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, which grossed 21.5 crore (US$3.4Â million) and made it to the top three films of 2005. In 2007, the company co-produced Shootout at Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta. The film was a critical and commercial hit, collecting 68.17 crore (US$11Â million) worldwide. In 2008, the company produced and released C Kkompany, which was a commercial and critical failure. In the same year, the company co-produced Mission Istanbul and EMI â€" Liya Hai Toh Chukana Parega with Sunil Shetty. Both films failed critically and commercially. Also in 2008, the company acquired the distribution rights of Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Sarkar Raj with a deal of almost 40 crore (US$6.3Â million). The film were both commercially success thereby marking a step further of Balaji. In 2010, the company sub-branded ALT Entertainment, a youth focused brand and produced a low-budget movie, Love Sex aur Dhokha, which proved to be a critically and commercially successful film. In the same year, the company released Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, which was also a commercial and critical hit. The films also marked the company's successful entry in the films.

In 2011, the company marked its entry into Marathi films by producing Taryanche Bait. The film was a critical and commercial hit and also won many accolades including three awards for Best Film. The company also released Shor in the City, a small-budget critically acclaimed movie. The same year also saw the release of Ragini MMS, co-produced with Amit Kapoor and Sidhartha M. Jain. The response to the movie fetched Stardust Award for Best Film and Ekta Kapoor announced the sequel of the film soon to be released in the year 2013 starring Indo-Canadian star Sunny Leone. Later, In the same year, the company released The Dirty Picture starring Vidya Balan as lead on 2 December 2011. The film proved to be a huge Blockbuster and was one of the best films of 2011 thereby bagging Vidya Balan her first National Award and all other awards of 2011 for her performance and six awards for Best Film. In the Year 2012, the company released first ever seen Adult Comedy Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum, sequel to 2005 hit Kyaa Kool Hai Hum which was slammed by critics but was a Box Office Success thereby made at a Budget of 13 crore (US$2.0Â million) and collecting 33 crore (US$5.2Â million) itself in its first week.

In 2013, the company released its Horror Film Ek Thi Daayan, co-produced with Vishal Bhardwaj. The film received mostly positive response. It was well-accepted by critics and received 3 out of 5 on an average. Jinson John of Indian Box Office also stated "Ek Thi Daayan is not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry, the plot stands out of them all, it's surely is an Experimental Plot, but not written by an Idiot." The film opened Ek Thi Daayan opened at around 30-40% occupancy with better opening in multiplexes rather than single screens netted around 18.07 crore (US$2.8Â million) over the first weekend. In May 2013, released by the company was Shootout at Wadala. The film opened with great reviews from many quarters. Bollywood Hungama, rated the film with stars whereas The Times of India rated it with stars. Made on the string Budget of 26 crore (US$4.1Â million), the film grossed 54.6 crore (US$8.6Â million) worldwide. The film was declared Average by Box office India. In July 2013, the company released Lootera, starring Ranveer Singh & Sonakshi Sinha as leads. The film opened with best reviews from many critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film with Stars, describing "On the whole, LOOTERA is an intrinsically earnest and profoundly heartwarming story that stays in your heart. An absolute must for those who love romantic films or are romantic at heart. This one's a cinematic gem!". Raja Sen of Rediff.com rated stars and noted, "Lootera is a gorgeous, gorgeous film, one that uses its period setting affectionately, with loving detail, and not exploitatively, as our cinema is wont to do." Meena Iyer of The Times of India assigned the film Stars and noted, "Lootera is a love saga of yore." She added, "You may find this film boring if state-of-the-art, slow romance is not your idea of a movie outing." The film was made on the Budget of 27 crore (US$4.2Â million) and netted 38 crore (US$6.0Â million) worldwide in its lifetime . In August 2013, the company released Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara! the sequel to one of its most successful film, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. The film opened with mixed reviews from all the critics and was also slammed by many critics for its poor drafting and execution of story line. The film was made on the high Budget of 85 crore (US$13Â million) to 100 crore (US$16Â million) and collected 70 crore (US$11Â million) worldwide, thereby contributing the loss and was declared "Flop". In 2014, On February 28, the company released Shaadi Ke Side Effects starring Farhan Akhtar & Vidya Balan. The film opened with positive reviews from various quarters and collected 5.7 crore (US$890,000) on its day one. The film went on to gross 21.2 crore (US$3.3Â million) in its opening weekend. The film grossed 70 crore (US$11Â million) worldwide during its lifetime run and was declared "Below Average" by Boxoffice India. In the same year, On March 21, the company released Ragini MMS 2 starring Sunny Leone, the sequel to yet another successful film of the company Ragini MMS. Made on the budget of 18 crore (US$2.8Â million), the film opened with mixed reviews from the critics and went on to collect 65 crore (US$10Â million). The film was a major commercial success and was declared "Hit" by Boxoffice India.

On April 04, 2014, the company released Main Tera Hero starring Varun Dhawan as a the protagonist directed by David Dhawan. The film released with positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated Stars, & wrote "On the whole, Main Tera Hero is a wild, wacky, madcap entertainer that has the unmistakable stamp of the master of entertainers -- David Dhawan. An over the top plot, humor quotient and performances are three aces the film stands on. The film should work well with admirers of typical Bollywood masalathons, also because Varun Dhawan pulls off the act with flamboyance and bowls you over with an uproarious act in this zany entertainer. Go, have fun and laugh out loud!". Srijana Mitra Das of The Times of India gave the movie stars saying, Main Tera Hero is a pav bhaji picture, quick, spicy, hot. It has the depth of a comic strip but it also has its neon-shaded fun. For those who want a light laugh, here's your boy." Made on the budget of 42.5 crore (US$6.7Â million), the movie went on to collect 77 crore (US$12Â million) worldwide and was declared "Hit" by Box office India. On May 30, 2014, the company released small Budget film Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi which was co-produced by Bejoy Nambiar. The film opened with mixed reviews from critics and also failed to collect at Box office. The film collected a mere 3 crore (US$470,000) from Boxoffice thereby recovering its costs. In June 2014, the company released Ek Villain co-starring Sidharth Malhotra & Shraddha Kapoor. The film opened with positive reviews from its critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie 4/5 stars and wrote that, "On the whole, Ek Villain is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It's a step forward in this genre, without doubt. A sure-shot winner!" Raedita Tandon from Filmfare gave the film stars and noted that, "Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, itâ€™s â€˜goodâ€™ paisa vasool entertainment. Make it your weekend watch." Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film Stars, stating that "You cannot fault the scale of Ek Villain or berate its lead star cast. But you wish you could celebrate this thriller like you did Suri's last movie outing Aashiqui 2. The film made on the budget of 35 crore (US$5.5Â million) went on to collect 105.05 crore (US$16Â million) from India and grossed 135 crore (US$21Â million) (approx) with a distributor share of 49.75 crore (US$7.8Â million) itself in India. The film was declared "Super Hit" by Boxoffice India.

The Other films that are in pipeline unscheduled for release includes Badtameez Dil and Milan Talkies. Balaji Motion Pictures ranks in the top five film production companies in India.

Balaji Motion Pictures

Friday, January 30, 2015