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Shah Rukh Khan is building Red Chillies Entertainment (RCE) into a fully-fledged studio spanning film development, production, global marketing and all-rights distribution as well as visual effects and post production through RCE VFX.
Among the key pillars in that strategy are working with a global network of independent distributors, expanding production to encompass films in which he won't appear, an exclusive worldwide streaming deal with Netflix and long-standing relationships with music and TV partners. The underlying aim is to more fully monetize the company's creative asset and it's paying off.
After producing on average just one film a year, RCE is releasing three this year. Director Rahul Dholakia's Raees, a co-production with Excel Entertainment, launched on January 25 and has racked up 140 crore ($21 million) in India. That's followed by an untitled romantic drama from director Imtiaz Ali co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, and a remake of Yash Chopra's 1969 murder mystery Ittefaq.
"We have been able to gradually shift to independence on the monetization side of the business encompassing the revenue streams of domestic theatrical, international theatrical, TV, syndication, digital and music," RCE’s Chief Revenue Officer Gaurav Verma told me this week.
" We aim to develop more content by producing at least two or three films next year, including one outside of Shah Rukh Khan. We have the right team and should be able to attract more talent to RCE. On the monetization side, we will continue to consolidate our traditional markets while developing our theatrical markets overseas beyond the Indian diaspora and reaching the audiences that are available to us now thanks to our partners like Netflix."
The prototype for the company's strategic approach was first deployed on director Rohit Shetty's Dilwale, an action-comedy-musical film that starred Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Kriti Sanon and Varun Dhawan. The film launched in December 2015 and collected 149 crore ($22.3 million) in India and $28 million overseas. Dear Zindagi (2016) and Raeesfollowed the same path.
"We work very closely with our theatrical distribution partners in India and we handle foreign markets ourselves," Verma said. "We partnered with a network of independent distributors across the world, which allows us to reach our viewers, localize content and customize marketing for each territory.
Mahira Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in 'Raees'
"Dilwale became the highest-grossing Hindi film in territories such as Malaysia, Jordan, South Africa, Netherlands and Singapore and the second highest in Indonesia and Kuwait. In every country we identified partners who understand the local market and can add value to the film."
Founded by SRK and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002, RCE has produced a string of hits including Happy New Year, Chennai Express, Ra.One, My Name Is Khan, Om Shanti Om and Main Hoon Na.
“Mr. Khan is accessible whenever we need his guidance," Verma said. "He is actively involved, gives us enough time and inputs at all stages including planning and strategizing. He leads the creative process and is always available for guidance and consultation."
RCE, Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and BR Films are jointly producing the remake of Ittefaq, which stars Siddharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Khanna. The original film starred Rajesh Khanna and Nanda and centered on an artist who is accused of murdering his wife and then spends one stormy night with a rich woman who harbors a dark secret.
The director is Abhay Chopra, grandson of the legendary B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra's brother who produced the 1969 film. Abhay is adapting, reworking and contemporising the central premise. Shooting has started and a release in the fourth quarter of this year is likely.
Shah Rukh has a cameo, reportedly as a magician, in director Kabir Khan's Tubelight, a drama set during the 1962 Sino-India War, which stars Salman Khan and Chinese actress Zhu Zhu and is due to open in June.
Little has been revealed about Imtiaz Ali's film, which was shot in Budapest, Prague, Amsterdam and Lisbon and is said to feature SRK as a Punjabi tour guide who meets Anushka Sharma's character.
Last weekend he received the fourth annual Yash Chopra Memorial Award, named for the producer-director with whom he had a long and successful association. The previous honorees are Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar and Rekha.
In his acceptance speech he said, "Yash Chopra single-handedly created my career. It is a strange circle that I am receiving an award, which honors him and is in his memory. I am who I am because of what Yash Chopra made me do.”
In addition to his film slate Shah Rukh is a busy man. The actor will guest star in season 2 of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, the BBC America sci-fi drama based on the Douglas Adams novels. Shah Rukh is a fan of the books but only recently discovered the TV adaptation, which he mentioned on Twitter. The show's executive producer Arvind Ethan David saw the Tweet, offered him a role and he immediately accepted.
He will host TED Talks India: Nayi Soch, a Hindi TV talk show commissioned by Star Plus India and created in partnership with TED, the non-profit organization devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’ This is the first time TED is collaborating on a TV series featuring original TED Talks in a language other than English.
Shah Rukh has said, “I believe TED Talks India-Nayi Soch will inspire many minds across India. It is a concept I connected with instantly as I believe that the media is perhaps the single most powerful vehicle to inspire change. I am looking forward to working with TED and Star India and truly hope that, together, we are able to inspire young minds across India and the world.”
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Mad4SRK News desk
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