Abu Dhabi film fund to tap Bollywood market

Abu Dhabi film company Image Nation is mulling new investments in the lucrative Bollywood market after the success of its 2010 film My Name Is Khan, the company’s chairman said.

The state-backed company, whose film credits include the Hollywood thriller The Double, was a key financier for the Shah Rukh Khan movie, which grossed $42.3m at the box office.

“One of our partnerships with Hyde Park also includes Hyde Park Asia and we are in talks with them to enter the Indian market,” Mohammed Al Mubarak, chairman of Image Nation, told Arabian Business. “We’ve already looked at a few scripts on that level and we see India as a huge market with massive potential. We hope we can tap into it.”

The Middle East is a growing market for India’s thriving film industry, thanks to its large Asian expatriate population. Bollywood producers have increasingly looked to the region for funding and exposure, as the global financial crisis has tightened credit lines elsewhere.