Mukta Gives Ghai A Break, Spots 4 New Directors

Mukta Arts, in a bid to secure better growth, is looking beyond its promoter Subhash Ghai to direct films. As part of this effort, it has snapped up four leading Bollywood directors David Dhawan, Abbas-Mastan, Anil Sharma, and Satish Kaushik.

Parvez Farookhi, executive director at Mukta Arts said, "Our objective is to gather the creative pool of talent from outside. In a way it is also an effort to make more than two films a year unlike earlier where we used to have one film in two years. Once our film and training institute in Mumbai comes up, we will even look at creating opportunities for fresh talents."

To begin with, in 2002, Mukta Arts will start with the release of 'Badhai Ho Badhai', a co-prodcution of Mukta Arts and Satish Kaushik in the first quarter of 2002 calendar. It will follow it up with two medium budget movies directed by David Dhawan and Satish Kaushik.

In 2003, the Ghai-controlled company will release three big budget movies. Of these, one will be directed by Subhash Ghai and the other two by Abbas-Mastan (of Baazigar, Soldier and Ajnabee fame) and Anil Sharma, who directed Zee's blockbuster, Gadar.

According to a media analyst at Motilal Oswal, "These releases should ensure stability in revenues and cash flows, and secure future growth."

On the cards is also a foray into music and television software business. Mukta Arts is entering the business of music albums on an experimental basis before taking the final plunge.

It has signed up music director Vanraj Bhatia for an album, which will be released in a couple of months. On the television software front, the company is working on five to six serial concepts, which are liked to be on air in the next three to four months. These are a mix of thrillers, family drama and sitcoms.

Analysts believe that music albums and television software would help the company broadbase its revenues and earnings and help scale up the business over the next 2-3 years.

On the financial front, in the quarter under review, the company's topline largely comprises revenues from 'Yaadein', which was released during this year. Yaadein revenues till date amounts to Rs 26.98 crore, of which Rs18.84 crore was booked in this quarter.

Music revenues totalling Rs 8.14 crore was booked in the second quarter of calendar 2001. Around Rs 1 crore of sales was from equipment rentals, while the balance was from the theatrical release of old films from the Mukta Arts library.