Thaindian News

Los Angeles, Nov 11 (IANS) Hollywood and Bollywood, two of the prominent global film industries, have come together to promote joint film production and commercial cooperation.

As part of the understanding struck Wednesday, Hollywood and Bollywood agreed to co-ordinate with each other to strengthen production, distribution, technology, content protection and commercial cooperation.

The parties also supported the creation of a Los Angeles-India Film Council to encourage Indian film production in Los Angeles.

“This declaration reinforces our city’s commitment to attracting international production. In the past year, we have already seen Hindi movies such as ‘My Name Is Khan’ and ‘Kites’ filmed in Los Angeles, and we enthusiastically welcome further Indian production in Los Angeles,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Rajiv Dalal, India managing director of the Motion Picture Association, said: “More than 2.4 million people in America and 1.8 million people in India work in the motion picture and television industry.”

“We look forward to continued commercial cooperation with the US film industry on joint investment and co-productions, which will only increase economic development and job growth in both nations.”

The Indian delegation was led by producer Bobby Bedi and Tamil producer and Film Federation of India President L. Suresh, along with other representatives from Reliance Big Entertainment and UTV Motion Pictures.

“India has always held a fascination for Hollywood, and this agreement pulls us closer together with the aim of sharing ideas and best practices on domestic and international film production. We look forward to working with the City of Los Angeles to increase Indian production here,” said Bedi.

L. Suresh said: “In addition to the Hindi film industry, the southern and regional Indian film industries also welcome the opportunity to work hand and hand with Hollywood. Already we have seen significant collaboration in technology between Hollywood and South India, and we will soon see collaborations in production.”

The Indian delegation was here for a two-day summit with the Hollywood studios, California officials and other film related companies.

Also present at the event were California Film Commissioner Amy Lemisch, Paramount Pictures Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey and Motion Picture Association Asia Pacific President Mike Ellis.

Some of the recent joint ventures and co-productions between individual Hollywood studios and Indian production include “Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge” (2010), “Lahore” (2010), “Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hain” (2010), “Khichdi” (2010), “We Are Family” (2010), “Do Dooni Chaar” (2010), “Raaz the Mystery Continues” (2009), “Roadside Romeo” (2008) and “Saawariya” (2007).

Upcoming joint ventures include titles like “Zokkomon” and “Dum Maro Dum”.

This is the second major step towards economic development and cooperation between Hollywood and the Indian film industry this year. In March, the two industries came together in Mumbai to launch the Alliance Against Copyright Theft, a Bollywood-Hollywood content protection coalition in India.