Eros Now partners Aanand L Rai for content; creates first Original film ‘Meri Nimmo’

Eros Now, the OTT platform from Eros International, is all set to premiere its first Original Film, ‘Meri Nimmo’, on April 27, 2018. The film has been produced in association with Colour Yellow Productions and Aanand L Rai. This association is the first of the many that Eros Now and Colour Yellow Digital are planning in 2018-19. 

Directed by Rahul Shankalya, ‘Meri Nimmo’ was selected for 2016’s NFDC Film Bazaar and will enjoy a straight to digital release on Eros Now. 

Ridhima Lulla, Group Chief Content Officer, Eros International, commented, “This launch is a mega step in the evolution of the film business in India. We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Aanandji, with whom we share a wonderful synergy, to the digital space as well. The launch of our first direct to digital film, ‘Meri Nimmo’ furthers our promise of offering very engaging original content ensuring a superior consumer experience. With this movie, we embark on a journey of providing filmmakers and viewers across the globe with fantastic programming that might not get a theatrical release and delivers better viewership and engagement on digital.” 

Commenting on the development, filmmaker and producer Aanand L Rai, said, “Developing content for digital consumption on Eros Now was a natural progression after our association together on films for the big screen. The digital world excites as well as challenges me and at Colour Yellow Digital, we can’t wait to paint this blank canvas and present Indian content targeted towards audiences for this medium. ‘Meri Nimmo’ is one such film that’s very Indian at heart and I’m sure it will strike the right chord with its beautiful storytelling and stand-out performances.” 

The coming of age film stars ‘Newton’ actor Anjali Patil in the title role of Nimmo, along with child actor Karan Dave as the central protagonist. The film earned wide praise at the 47th International Film Festival (IFFI) and the 19th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival last year. The film revolves around an eight-year-old boy, who thinks he is in love with a 24-year-old girl and what follows when the object of his affection decides to get married. The story depicts the young boy’s rollercoaster ride of emotions set against the backdrop of his beloved Nimmo’s impending nuptials. 

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In January this year, Eros Now announced the launch of Eros Now Short Movies, which aims to give budding filmmakers a platform to showcase their talent. Through this platform, Eros Now will aggregate and showcase the choicest Short Movies, one each month, to its subscribers globally. The first of the short movies launched was Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘Toffee’, directed by Tahira Kashyap. The film touched upon the topic of child marriage. 

Ali Hussein, who took on the mantle of Chief Operating Officer of Eros Digital in January 2018, is bullish on Eros Now’s growth. Speaking to Adgully, Hussein said, “We are focusing more on three key areas – Original films like ‘Meri Nimmo’, as well as long format and short format Original content. Unlike others, our objective is not to do 90-100 Originals. We want to be clear in terms of why we are making certain Originals and then invest our resources in a larger way so that we can create better refined and good quality product rather than creating 20 small products.” 

Speaking about the regional strategy, Hussein said, “Our core expertise starts with Hindi language and then we will percolate our learnings to other languages. Since we have been in the movies space for a long time, it comes naturally to us. So, we plan to kick off our regional strategy with movies and then we will get into short films, Originals and other regional language content.” 

While he refrained from divulging details on more partnerships, he added that there is a lot lined up in India as well as internationally, which will be announced in time. 

As far as the current content on Eros Now is concerned, over 95 per cent constitutes traditional programming such as movies that exist on the platform. He admitted that it would be tough for anybody to give precise hours of content, but in the near future there would be more to share.

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