Fox acquires worldwide rights of My Name is Khan

Fox Star Studios, a joint venture of 20th Century Fox and Star, today announced that it has acquired the marketing and distribution rights of Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name is Khan, produced and directed by Karan Johar.

Fox Star will also finance the film in which Shah Rukh essays the character of Rizwan Khan who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that impacts social interaction abilities.

Fox Star will market and distribute the film in India while Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film in United States. 20th Century Fox International will distribute the film outside of India and the United States.

Starring Shah Rukh and Kajol, the film has Khan’s Red Chillies production house also on board as co-producer. It is slated for release early next year.

Addressing a press conference here, Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studio said the acquisition will help Fox Star to emerge as a significant player in Bollywood.

Both Singh and Sanford Panitch, President of Twentieth Century Fox International Productions, declined to divulge the
amount at which the deal had been sealed.

“We have acquired the rights of the film at the most appropriate value. All the figures doing rounds the media are inaccurate,” he said referring to reports that the accquisition has been done at the cost of Rs 100 crore.
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Miss India Amruta Patki gets into Bollywood

Apoorva Lakhia is turning producer with a supernatural thriller that will launch Ponds Femina Miss India 2006 Amruta Patki as a leading lady.

Lakhia apparently chose the aspirant after auditioning almost a dozen newcomers.

“I want to prove beauty queens can act, ” says Lakhia, though it’s not Lakhia but his assistant Sean Arranha who will direct Amruta Patki.

Says Lakhia, “I won’t only produce the film but also co-write it with Suresh Nair. Hide N Seek is about four friends played by Purab Kohli, Arjan Bajwa, Ayaaz Khan (Genelia’s fiancé in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na) and Samir Kochhar whose terrible past catches up with them.”

Lakhia is taking his duties as a producer very seriously. “My director Sean is just a baby.We need to nurture new talent not intimidate them, ” says Lakhia probably referring to the way Lakhia was treated by his producer Sanjay Gupta during the making of Shootout At Lokhandwala.

Interestingly Sean Arranha is also directing a “pure intense love story” for producer Vashu Bhagnnani with Zayed Khan in the lead.

Zayed and Sean became buddies during the making of Lakhia’s Mission Istaanbul. But Zayed has moved on.