A number of distributors have been flooding the international distribution market for Bollywood films, with three being the most notable ones.

The fourth biggie to make an inroad into the film production and distribution arena in Studio 18, a division of the mammoth TV 18 Group - India's market leader in news broadcasting, which owns some of the biggest business channels such as CNBC, CNN-IBN, IBN 7 and Awaz.

Two former UTV personnel have been lapped up by Studio 18, which will kickstart in January 2007: Ashoka Holla has joined as Senior Vice President and will head the company's international business division, while Tanuj Garg, who is expected to be based out of London, will join as Country Head for the territories of UK & Ireland. He is also likely to advise on projects to be committed to production.

During Tanuj's illustrious tenure at UTV, films like 'Parineeta', 'Viruddh', 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye', 'Rang De Basanti', 'Chup Chup Ke' and 'Taxi No.9211' all proved to be successful in the UK. UTV's recent release, 'Don', has done more than £1.4 million in the UK.

We're sure that both Studio 18 and Tanuj will benefit by this radically upward move.