Walt Disney Join hands with Yash Raj Films to produce animated films

Jun 14: To cater to ever increasing sphere of animation movies in the country, leading Indian film production house Yash Raj Films has signed an agreement with California based second largest media corporation Walt Disney Co.

Disney is expected to invest around $100 million outside US during next two years and major portion will be invested in Indian market just to keep the popularity of the animation movies in the country. During its association with Indian counterpart, company will produce different genres of films.

Disney has already made a Chinese animated movie in the “The Magic Gourd” that is set to release in this month.

Yash Chopra, renowned film maker and owner of YRF, released a statement to media on Monday assuring some top class productions. “Whatever movie we are going to produce will be on equal partnership in terms of technicalities, creativity and finance,” it stated.

The Chairman of Walt Disney Studio, Dick Cook, also mentioned that the films would be culturally relevant for the Indian audience and primarily in Indian languages and later in foreign languages for worldwide audiences.

The partnership is expected to help the growth Indian animation industry to $ 1 billion from the current $ 270 million.

Yash Raj Films has also announced the name of the first animated film as ‘Roadside Romeo’ which will be written and directed by Jugal Hansraj. It will be produced by using the state-of-the-art computer animation technology done completely in India.

According to the agreement both the companies will try to bring one animated movie in a year. The notable thing is that neither Yash Raj nor Disney has any kind of co-production deal with any company in the past and hence this new venture is definitely now most talked about issue in the entertainment world.

The first movie is set to release somewhere in 2008 and the voice for the animated characters will be lent by actors like Saif Ali Khan and Kereena Kapoor.

Disney, known for some immortal animation characters, and YRF, known for some memorable Hindi films, is likely to bridge the gap between two companies and two cultures; a relishing treat for entertainment savvy Indians.