Karan Johar in a still from Bombay Velvet, which was co-produced by Fox Star Studios.
New Delhi:
In what is literally a big deal for Bollywood, Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios have announced a nine film partnership over the next three years.
The two production houses gave each other a shout-out on Twitter:
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh revealed that the partnership would see films being jointly produced and distributed and that big names would be involved:
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox Star Studios, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox and STAR, has several South Indian and Hindi films on its CV so far, including last year's
Bang Bang and
Finding Fanny. This year, it has fared badly with
Khamoshiyan, Mr X and
Bombay Velvet - all box office turkeys - and has
Hamari Adhuri Kahani as well as Salman Khan's
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo coming up.
Dharma Productions, founded by Yash Johar and now run by his filmmaker son Karan, has an impressive range of movies from blockbusters like
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and
Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani to the acclaimed festival hit
The Lunchbox as well as both
Agneepaths - the original 1990 film starring Amitabh Bachchan and the 2012 remake with Hrithik Roshan. This year, Dharma has the Hindi rights to SS Rajamouli's two-part Tamil-Telugu epic
Baahubali, which Karan Johar is presenting and which is reputed to be the most expensive film made in India. Dharma also has
Shaandaar and
Brothers releasing in 2015.