India’s Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd., a subsidiary of Zee Telefilms Ltd, has entered into a $14 million co-production and licensing deal with animation house Mondo TV Group. The pact will see the production of four new animated TV series and two feature-length films. Padmalaya Telefilms aslo gets temporary licensing in India for 1,000 episodes from Mondo TV’s library, a 10-year arrangement valued at $5 million.
The preliminary agreement provides for the production of 104 new animated half-hour episodes. Padmalaya will retain commercial rights for the new shows in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries in the region, as well as 20% of rights for the rest of the world except Italy.
Rajiv Sangari, director of Padmalaya’s animation division, comments from Cannes, "We are very excited about this tie-up, wherein Mondo TV has seen worth in our company and in our group and we realize their potential in the world market. We have taken quite some time to understand this synergy and have married into relation after lot of dating."
Ricky Corradi, Int’l VP of sales for Mondo TV comments. "We always felt India was underplayed in the field of animation and once it gets its opportunity, there is no holding back for this great country. We realize that with signing this deal, this becomes by far one of the largest deals ever signed in India."
Both companies are in discussions about starting up Padmalaya’s new 3D animation facility in Mumbai in the next couple of months.
