Anil Ambani firm ventures into animation education

October 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - Amitabh Bachchan turns 67 Sunday and the Big B of Bollywood will celebrate the birthday at home with his family and a few close friends - politician Amar Singh, industrialist Anil Ambani and his wife Tina. Son Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan drove from the location of Mani Ratnam's film "Ravana" to bring in the family patriach's birthday.

October 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - Adlabs Films, an integrated media and entertainment company in the Anil Ambani group, has changed its name to Reliance MediaWorks to reflect the expansion of its business portfolio from a purely film processing laboratory earlier. The group said a change of name was warranted as Adlabs now also operates multiplexes under the BIG Cinemas banner with 468 screens spread across India, the US, Malaysia and the Netherlands, apart from enjoying a dominant presence in other services.

September 4th, 2009 MUMBAI - Media and entertainment company Adlabs Films, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Friday said it would change its name to Reliance MediaWorks subject to necessary approvals. "The name Reliance MediaWorks Ltd more accurately reflects our identity as a diversified film and media services company with a global presence," said company chief executive Anil Arjun.

August 18th, 2009 STEVEN SPIELBERG is set to resume his moviemaking career after one of India's wealthiest men agreed to finance his film company. The director's DreamWorks studios has secured $875 million ($583 million) in financial backing after inking a deal with billionaire Anil Ambani, chairman of India's Reliance BIG Entertainment.

August 18th, 2009 NEW YORK - The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group has sealed its $825-million deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios with investment banker JP Morgan syndicating $325 million debt, the two groups announced late Monday. Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment has matched the syndicated debt raised from JP Morgan and institutions like Bank of America, City National Bank, Wells Fargo, Comerica, Union Bank of California, SunTrust, California Bank and Trust and Israel Discount Bank.

August 4th, 2009 Mammootty’s film Kutty Shranku, is being directed by internationally reputed Shaji N. Karun and is produced by Reliance Entertainment.

July 27th, 2009 MUMBAI - Reliance Mobile, part of the Anil Ambani group, Monday said it has tied up with US-based Gameloft, which specialises in developing mobile games based on celebrities and Hollywood movies. Under the terms of the agreement, Gameloft will release a mobile game based on the life of American heiress and socialite Paris Hilton, called "Paris Hiltons Diamond Quest", the firm said in a statement.

July 15th, 2009 NEW YORK - In one of the largest deals in global cinema in recent years, Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment and noted Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg Wednesday announced $825-million funding for their Los Angeles-based production house Dreamworks Studios to make six films a year for the global audiences. In a joint global conference call from here, Ambani and Spielberg also said the movies produced by Dreamworks will be distributed by Walt Disney globally, while the exclusive rights for India will be with Reliance Big Entertainment.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Mobile will launch Friday a game based on Hollywood movie "Wolverine" on its R-World value-added services platform, the company announced Thursday. Wolverine is a fictional super hero, who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics.

June 15th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - 'Eyes of Silence' has becomes the first animation film from India to win five international awards and to be selected for screening in as many as 11 international film festivals. The film has so far won five awards internationally, including the highly coveted Accolade Award of Merit in Animation at The Accolade 2009, Best Animation Award at the Rockport Film Festival 2008, Aloha Award for Excellence in filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival 2009, Silver award for Best Animation at the Lake arrowhead Film Festival 2009 and Best Drama and Animation at the Firstglance Hollywood Film Festival 2009.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lord Krishna is one of the most popular Hindu gods who is portrayed in multiple images as the naughty child, divine lover and eternal philosopher. And television producers and filmmakers are cashing in on his aura to woo audiences.

May 26th, 2009 MUMBAI - Yash Raj Films' animation flick "Roadside Romeo" has been selected for the Shanghai and Seoul Film Festivals. While the film will be screened as part of the Panorama section of the Shanghai fest (June 13-21), it has earned a place in the Invitation Section Out Of Competition category for the Seoul festival (Aug 19-25), said a Yash Raj Films statement released here.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Big Cinemas, a subsidiary of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), will launch its first multiplex in Chicago Friday. Called Big Cinemas-Golf Glen, the multiplex will have five screens and one premium lounge and will be digitally connected to Adlabs India, enabling the films to be transported on fibre optic cable within four-six hours instead of using physical film prints, said a press release.

May 22nd, 2009 MUMBAI - The burgeoning animation industry in India has found a potential market in the form of Bollywood as more and more movies have started using visual effects. In early 90's there were hardly any Bollywood movies using animation.

May 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - Adlabs Films, a cinema and entertainment services company in the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Thursday announced its entry into the outsourcing industry for the media space with plans to employ 1,200 people within a year. The new venture will primarily focus on two segments, digital restoration and content processing, as per the norms of Motion Pictures Association of America, and proposes to work out of 90,000 sq ft of space here.