Kingdom of Dreams sets sail for Chinese shores

Kingdom of Dreams, India’s first live entertainment complex, is all set to script its success story in China. The company, promoted by one of the country’s largest event management firms, Wizcraft International Entertainment, and real estate developer Apra Group of Companies, today inked an agreement with Dafeng Industries (China) to set up 10 live entertainment destinations in China.

Dafeng, a leading stage equipment manufacturer in the world, is a $4-billion company. Dafeng will set up a 50:50 joint venture in China with the Great India Nautanki Company (GINC), which controls Kingdom of Dreams. The venture has roped in the China Tourism Board which will provide land for the entertainment complexes.

 

The projects, at an investment of $100 million each, will be funded by GINC and Dafeng jointly. GINC will finance the initial venture through internal accruals. After the first year, GINC would go public to raise resources for future projects. Four sites at Hanguo, Shanghai, Beijing and Gonzow have been identified. Feasibility studies are on for the other six locations.

Feng Hua, chairman, Dafeng Industries, said: “There is a huge demand for Indian entertainment in China. Bollywood music is extremely popular with the Chinese audience. We will operationalise our first facility at Hanguo by 2013. We expect to break even in three years.” Starting next year, construction will begin at one location every year.

“Local tourism within China equals outbound tourism across the world. Over 30 million people travel within the country every year. The potential for such destinations is huge. We expect two-three million people to visit each location every year,” said Anumod Sharma, managing director, GINC. The venture is estimating 24 per cent return on investment on the projects.

Kingdom of Dreams will showcase Indian architecture and handicraft, and offer visitors a taste of Indian cuisine. The theatre would play India’s most expensive theatrical musical extravaganza “Zangoora – The Gypsy Prince”.

GINC is exploring possibilities to stage productions with dialogues delivered in Chinese. Dances and musical performances will continue to be made in Hindi.

Sharma said: “We are considering two options. We will host some Indian productions for which the audience will be provided with wireless interpretation machines. For others, dialogues will be delivered in Chinese. Prime actors would be sourced from India.”

GINC is also in talks with companies in Las Vegas, Singapore, Dubai, United Kingdom and South Africa to take Kingdom of Dreams overseas. It expects to break even this month.

GINC invested around Rs 300 crore to set up the first destination at Gurgaon in Haryana in September. The 848-seater theatre Nautanki Mahal, which is showcasing Zangoora, recorded 60 per cent occupancy in November despite tickets carrying tags of Rs 1,000-6,000. It expects to record 85 per cent occupancy in December.