Disney moves into south with Shruti Hassan starrer

The firm said that it plans to capture the South, one of the "largest movie markets" and will begin with the yet-untitled film in Telugu.

The film which will also be dubbed into Tamil, would be its first locally-developed studio project aimed specifically at southern audiences, Disney said in a press statement.
Shruti, Kamal Hassan's daughter who made her Bollywood debut with 'Luck' will be paired opposite Southern heartthrob Siddharth, who is also well known to Hindi audiences thanks to the superhit film 'Rang De Basanti'.

The film will be directed by National Award winning writer-director Prakash Rao Kovelamudi and produced by K. Raghavendra Rao. The production on the film commenced in November 2009 and it is scheduled to release in January 2011.

Disney first started operations in India in 2004, as Hollywood began looking to emerging markets such as India, China and Russia to boost growth.It has also secured a foothold in India's expanding cable and satellite television market through its children's outlets like the Disney Channel and Hungama TV. In 2008, Disney released "Roadside Romeo", its first, full-length animation feature using local animators and stars from India's Hindi-language film industry Bollywood.