Mumbai : Aiming for a bigger play in regional space, television and motion picture content producer Balaji Telefilms is planning to launch 10 shows in Bengali and southern languages as well as tie-ups with local partners.
The company could also look at launching its popular Hindi shows in regional languages.
“Our plan is to have three-five shows each in Bengali and southern languages by the end of FY2016,” Balaji Telefilms has said in its annual report.
“We are gradually moving into regional content by tying up with locally operating partners as our entry strategy.” it added.
To this effect, the firm has already partnered Kolkata – based Chhayabani to form Chhayabani Balaji Entertainment for producing fresh content in Bengali for Zee Bangla.
It had earlier produced a Bengali serial Konya in 2010, but was discontinued a year later.
“Going forward, we may look at using our existing Hindi content for regional channels. For example, there are plans to broadcast Kumkum Bhagya on Zee Bangla. We are also looking at tie-ups in the regional market in South India, which will yield three to four shows,” the production house said.
Balaji Telefilms’ popular daily soap Ye Hai Mohabbatein was remade in the regional languages, including Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali and has been on air since November 2014, while the Malayalam version titled Pranayam was launched few weeks before.
On its movies division, Balaji said it has a strong pipeline of movies for FY16 and FY17.
Top movie production houses in the country include, UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International and Yashraj Films.
“We are targeting to become the No. 2 entertainment studio going forward,” it said.
In its report, the company also said it will look at launching its celebrity sports reality show Box Cricket League in the regional space.
“Moving ahead, Box Cricket League may be pushed into regional markets too,” it said.
It will also continue to focus in the Hindia GEC space, and will air six new shows this fiscal.
“For FY2016, we have an exciting pipeline of nearly six shows to be aired. This includes shows for Sony, Colors, Life Ok, Star Plus and other channels. We are also working on impactful mini-series which will run between August 15 and January 26,” it said.
The company is also working on a comedy show on the lines of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, it added.
The company said it will look to improve its bottomline this fiscal and will aim to be more process-driven.
“With changing dynamics of the industry, we are aiming to capitalise our capabilities in making high-concept fiction and non-fiction shows. To begin with, we are coming up with a high concept, high fiction show for Star TV,” it said.
