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India’s Balaji Confirms Film Production Exit

India’s Balaji Telefilms has confirmed that its subsidiaries Balaji Motion Pictures and Bolt Media are to be absorbed into the parent company. The motion picture division will now concentrate on film distribution rather than production.

The company said that the merger would create economies of scale as Bolt’s activities are largely similar to Balaji Telefilms’ core production business. Balaji Telefilms shares rose 14% on the announcement.

Balaji Motion Pictures has enjoyed box office success with “The Dirty Picture” and “Kya Kool Hai Hum” in the past. But 2016 releases “Azhar,” “Great Grand Masti,” and “A Flying Jatt” underperformed at the box office, forcing the company to reconsider its production activities.

“We are committed to improving margins and profitability, and consolidation of our operations is a step in that direction leading to a better value creation for all our shareholders. This will also ensure more efficient use of senior management’s bandwidth, thereby allowing more time to focus on ALT Digital, our digital foray which is set to redefine the entertainment viewing experience of Indians in India and across the globe,” Balaji CEO Sameer Nair said in a statement.

Recently, Disney India also confirmed that it is shutting its India film production arm, in order to concentrate on distribution of Hollywood titles.

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