AB Corp to promote regional cinema

After Paa, AB Corp produced a Marathi film, Vihir, and is now juggling between four scripts. Two of the films will be made in Marathi and one in Bengali. Read on for details...

After Paa, AB Corp produced a Marathi film, Vihir, and is now juggling between four scripts. "Two of the films will be made in Marathi and one in Bengali. We’ve just received another good script and the director is open to making the film in any language. Regional cinema has some wonderful talent and we want to give them a good platform," informs Abhishek Bachchan.



The actor-turned-producer insists that for his company, production is not just a money making venture. "Obviously we’re not producing films for charity, but I want everyone to earn from it. At the same time, I want to make films that we believe in, even if it means gambling Rs 14 crore on an unconventional subject like Paa," asserts Bachchan.

He is happy that the experimental Paa worked well for AB Corp, netting in a profit in the first week itself. Encouraged by its success, he is prepared to go with a bigger budget the next time around, provided the film deserves to be made on a more lavish scale.

Prudently, he has also decided not to over-sell his productions. “I had Rs 80 crore offers for Paa and could have made a huge table profit on it even before its release. But Paa wasn’t the kind of film that would have earned Rs 500 crore. And I didn’t want the distributors and exhibitors to feel cheated,” he points out, adding that upping the price without being assured of the returns is unfair. “Today, I’m happy that everyone associated with the film made money.”

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So, what’s the next big project? Bachchan says that three to four scripts have been locked and are being developed. “We’ll see how they turn out, we’re in no hurry,” he says. “ABCL was Bollywood’s first corporate company and we have a certain business plan for the company (now AB Corp) that will come up with A-list products.”