Bollywood actor-producer Abhay Deol’s i.e. Films is joining forces with Colin Burrows UK-based Special Treats Productions to co-produce Bounty Hunter.

Deol will star in the UK-set thriller to be directed by brothers Sunandan and Yugesh Walia, who will also co-produce through their UK-based production company Endboard Productions.

The producers aim to raise half of the project’s financing from the UK and are currently seeking Indian partners for the remaining 50%.

“We were going to make the film in English but we are now considering making it in Hindi,” Burrows said. “We are in talks with UK funding sources and also looking for an equal Indian partner with the vision to do a Hindi-language British thriller headlining a Bollywood star.”

Viacom 18 Motion Pictures is releasing i.e. Films’ first feature, comedy drama One By Two, on February 7. The film is directed by Devika Bhagat and stars Deol and Preeti Desai.

Deol, best known for films such as Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Dev D, says of One By Two, his first film as producer: “We are looking for a foreign distributor for One By Two which is a feel-good, entertaining film which speaks a universal language.”

Deol has been meeting festival programmers and international distributors at Film Bazaar. “One By Two represents the kind of films I have acted in – driven by content, with relatable young characters,” said Deol, whose production company i.e. Films aims to take forward the agenda of the new wave of Indian cinema.

Jyothi Kapur Das, creative director and head, content planning and development, Viacom 18, said: “While Viacom 18 is releasing the film in the diaspora markets, we believe there is an audience for One By Two beyond the diaspora. The understanding of India abroad, as represented by our films that travelled, was either about poverty, angst or violence. But One By Two is another genre – it’s a slice-of-life film about contemporary urban India.”

Topics