India's Eros signs co-production deal with Drishyam

Indian studio Eros International has signed a four-picture co-production deal with indie production house Drishyam Films.

The first project under the deal, Hardik Mehta’s Kaamyaab, has already started production. Starring Sanjay Mishra and Deepak Dobriyal, the film follows a seasoned character actor who decides to come out of retirement on a quest to find that elusive 500th role for which he will be remembered forever.

Founded by Manish Mundra, Drishyam has produced critically-acclaimed indie films including Fly Away Solo (Masaan), Unknown Faces (Rukh), Bitter Wind (Kadvi Hawa) and India’s recent best foreign-language Oscar entry, Newton.

Although one of India’s most mainstream studios, Eros has recently been co-financing and distributing content-driven films, such as Hansal Mehta’s gay-themed drama Aligarh and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s The New Classmate (Nil Battey Sannata).

Eros has previously teamed with Drishyam on the distribution of Newton, Unknown Faces and Bitter Wind.

Commenting on the alliance, Eros group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said: “We feel the kind of cinema Drishyam makes and the agenda we have for the next five years at Eros perfectly match. At Eros, we believe that our future slate should have a mix of blockbusters like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bajirao Mastani as well as beautiful stories made on smaller budgets like Aligarh, Nil Battey Sannata and Newton.”

Mundra said: “We are very excited to associate with a leading studio like Eros who are backing our kind of content-driven cinema, and happy that our stories have found a home here.”