$20 mn production fund set up to promote indie films

Mumbai-based Drishyam Films is set to launch a $20 million production fund to facilitate the growth of independent Indian cinema.

The fund will be spent in developing and producing cutting edge original content that will be true to the banner's vision of cinema -- local in its setting but global in its appeal.

It will be put to use for producing 10 independent Indian films over the next two years.

Manish Mundra, founder of Drishyam Films, expects to announce the first projects under the fund in the early 2018.

In addition to the production of the films, the fund will also be used to develop Drishyam Films' VFX Studio here.

Mundra, who was awarded at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival as one of Variety's Top Ten Producers to Watch in 2017, said in a statement: "The last three years at Drishyam have been phenomenal in the terms of where we started and how far we've come. This fund has been set up with the objective of taking Indian cinema to the next level internationally."

"We plan to take our focus on content driven cinema and merge it with high technical finesse to make films that will travel across the world."

The studio has produced acclaimed Indian films like "Ankhon Dekhi", "Masaan" and "Dhanak".

Apart from the fund, Mundra has two new features going into production over the summer -- Mohamed Gani's "Cycle" and Ganesh Shetty's "Anonymous".

--IANS

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