Page 73 - From Bombay to Bollywoord The Making of a Global Media Industri

60 << Industrial Identity in an Era of Reform

and newspapers and magazines have, since the early 2000s, established film
production and distribution divisions. With home video rights, television
rights, remake rights, and merchandising contracts emerging as major rev-
enue streams, moves toward conglomeration reflect growing competition
and, crucially, the interest that foreign players have shown in the Indian
media and entertainment sector. Coproduction and distribution deals signed
by companies like Sony, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Fox have in turn
increased capital flows in Bombay’s media world.
Changes in access to capital have also been a function of increased pri-
vate equity investments in the media and entertainment business. Influential
players such as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup have made sig-
nificant investments in different sectors of the film and television industries.
In addition, the decade of 2000–2010 also witnessed a surge in Indian media
companies with stakes in filmmaking making the move to list on the Indian
stock exchange and, in a few cases, in Singapore and London as well. Finally,
with regulatory changes making 100 percent FDI (foreign direct investment)
possible, there is no doubt that 2000–07 was a period marked by dramatic
changes in capital flows in Bombay’s media world. 13
There is no denying, however, the “occult” nature of this domain of
finance capital. As Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff observe, contemporary

Table 2.1. A selected list of prominent Bollywood companies with foreign inves-
tors and/or strategic partnerships with foreign companies

Company Foreign Investor/Strategic Partner
UTV Walt Disney Company (I)
Yash Raj Films Walt Disney (P)
Reliance Entertainment George Soros (I), Dreamworks (I)
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision JP Morgan (I)
PVR Pictures JP Morgan (I)
Ramesh Sippy Entertainment Warner Brothers (P, I)
Studio 18 Paramount Pictures (I)
Percept Pictures Lachlan Murdoch (I)
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films Sony Pictures (I)
Cinemata Entertainment Ratnam Sudesh Iyer, Singapore (I)
Times Global Broadcasting Reuters (Singapore) (I)