Disney India Announces Development of the Mahabharata ~The Studio Will Bring India’S Greatest Epic to Life on the Silver Screen ~
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Disney India Announces Development of The Mahabharata ~The Studio will bring India’s greatest epic to life on the silver screen ~ Mumbai, 24th March 2014: Disney India’s studio business today announced plans to bring The Mahabharata, Indian Mythology’s greatest epic, to the big screen. The Studio is gearing up to recreate the magic of this remarkable story in live action at a scale never seen before in Indian cinema which will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor and written by renowned author Ashok Banker. “Indian mythology has a great wealth of stories which have inspired legions of creative minds and The Mahabharata unarguably is the most ambitious and all-encompassing of them all. We believe this epic which has engaged generations of Indians will translate into a magnificent silver screen saga,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, Managing Director - Disney India. “The Mahabharata expresses the universal truth; it has defined my understanding of spirituality and of all humanity. I aim to translate this onto the big screen, engage minds and deliver a world class cinematic experience,” said director of the film Abhishek Kapoor. "There could be no one better than Disney India, with its prowess as a creative and distribution powerhouse, to narrate this epic in the manner that befits it.” “It’s an epic as relevant and powerful today as it was millennia ago. Our attempt is to make the Mahabharata that brings alive the great human drama, the terrible conflict, and unforgettable characters, in a way you’ve never seen or thought of them before.” added Ashok K Banker. For the first time in Indian cinema, a single narrative will be told across two movies. The film will go into pre-production post the completion of Abhishek Kapoor’s next venture with the studio, Fitoor, which goes on the floors in July. -END- About Disney India The Walt Disney Company India started operations in July 2004 with its head office located in Mumbai and significantly expanded its footprint in February 2012 after acquiring a controlling stake in UTV, one of India’s premier media and entertainment companies. Today Disney India is one of the leading film studios and film distributors in India, one of the largest TV networks with nine popular channels targeting kids, youth and families, a leading player in the interactive and games segment while it continues to be a prominent player in the consumer products space. Building around core brands like Disney, Marvel, UTV, bindass and more the new organization is dedicated to developing and distributing the best in branded entertainment for Indian consumers across all age groups through films, broadcasting, digital and consumer products. About Disney India Studio Bringing together the best of both worlds, The Walt Disney Studios and UTV Motion Pictures have formed one of the leading film studios in India. The activities of the studio span across creative development, production, marketing, distribution, licensing, merchandising and syndication of films. UTV Motion Pictures as a dominant player in the Indian film industry has been in the forefront of bringing Indian films to a global audience and the last decade in Indian cinema has seen UTV delivering some of the most iconic films including Swades, Rang De Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday, Dev D, Khosla Ka Ghosla, The Namesake, Life in a Metro, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Fashion, Kaminey, No One Killed Jessica, Raajneeti, Udaan, Peepli Live, Delhi Belly, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Paan Singh Tomar, Rowdy Rathore, Barfi!, Heroine, Race 2, AnyBody Can Dance (ABCD), Kai Po Che!, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and more recently Ship of Theseus, Chennai Express, Satyagraha, Shahid, The Lunchbox and Highway. The studio has to its credit 4 films in the last 7 years to have been selected to represent India at the Academy awards; Rang De Basanti (2006), Harishchandrachi Factory (2009), Peepli Live (2010) and Barfi! (2012). In 2011, UTV also became one of the few studios to successfully venture into South Indian cinema with Deiva Thirumagal and Muran, and has had a successful run so far with Vettai, Masala Café, Mugamoodi, Thaandavam, Settai and Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru in Tamil, and Grandmaster and Husbands in Goa in Malayalam. UTV has a library of over 80 films including Hindi, Regional, Animation and International Productions, which have been showcased in over 50 festivals across 28 countries, receiving almost 350 awards in the last 7 years. The Walt Disney Studios has seen unprecedented box office success in India in 2012 with MARVEL’s The Avengers which was distributed and marketed in India by UTV Motion Pictures. The film emerged as the 4th highest grosser of all-time amongst Hollywood films in India. Iron Man 3 released in 2013 became the highest Hollywood grosser for the year. Prior to this, Cars 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 released in 2011 and were the biggest animation and live action titles of all time for Disney in the country. In 2010, Prince of Persia became the highest grossing western film in India that year. Earlier, Disney released its first live action Hindi feature Do Dooni Chaar in 2010 and subsequently after the success of the film, released Anaganaga-O-Dheerudu, a Telugu feature targeted at the southern audiences and second Hindi live-action film Zokkomon. Coming up is an inimitable slate with films like Khoobsurat, P.K., Shaatir in Hindi, Sigaram Thodu, Anjaan, Purambokku in Tamil, Captain America: The Winter Solider, Guardians of the Galaxy and many more. For further information, please contact: Manisha Sharma [email protected] +91 9892438262 .