Demi Moore's Indian production to premiere at Toronto Festival

The film produced by Vistaar Religare, which calls itself 'India's First Film Fund', is among an increasing number of mainstream Hollywood projects which are being funded by Indian money, signalling India's emergence as a rising influence in Hollywood.

"We were approached by Doug Mankoff's Echo Lake Productions which had earlier funded Deepa Mehta's 'Water' for the film.

"The good part is that we are cherry picking the best projects, working with the biggest names and India is no more just a spectator, it is an important player in Hollywood," Sheetal Talwar, CEO, Vistaar Religare said.

'The Jonesses' a comedy directed by Derrick Borte, was invited for premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, which is the most important film market for North American cinema.
And with the increased Indian stake in Hollywood, the stars may soon be gracing the red carpet in Indian cities too.

"After Toronto, we are planning premieres in London and India and we want to flow in the cast, including Demi and David for that. That is something that is in the pipeline right now," said Talwar, who had met the Oscar winning star in Los Angeles recently.

Religare plans to invest in a series of other projects in Hollywood in collaboration with Echo Lake Productions.

"We are looking at innovative concepts and content driven movies. There is 'The Ward' by John Carpenter and the film 'Finding Leni' which is based in South Africa. So we are planning to gradually become a force in Hollywood," said Talwar.

A month earlier, in a coup of sorts, Indian business tycoon Anil Ambani inked a USD 825 million deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks.

The deal, coupled with the ones announced with the production vehicles of Hollywood A-listers like Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Chris Columbus, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Jay Roach, will give Anil Ambani a major presence and impetus in Hollywood.

More recently Fox had signed a deal for the worldwide distribution rights of the Shahrukh Khan starrer 'My Name is Khan' for a reported Rs 98 crores.