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Shoojit Sircar forms new production house, Rising Sun Films

The reins at Red Ice Films will be taken over by Gary Grewal, one of the partners in the company. Sircar still owns a stake in Red Ice Films and will continue to do so until a decision is reached about it

Shoojit Sircar, founder of the production house, Red Ice Films, has cut the umbilical cord. Sircar has started another production venture, called Rising Sun Films, along with producer Arijit Lahiri (Ronnie) and Aniket Shirke. The two were part of Red Ice Films, too.

Sircar started Red Ice Films in 1999 and produced more than 300 commercials and a few feature films under its banner.

When asked why he felt the need to start a new production house when he already had Red Ice, Sircar says, “Everything comes with an expiry date. Things got a bit stale and boring, necessitating a change.” The change took the form of Rising Sun Films. In Sircar’s own words, “My baby (Red Ice Films) has grown up, and I have to now let go.”

Shoojit Sircar forms new production house, Rising Sun Films
Shoojit Sircar
Rising Sun Films will take on board some of Red Ice’s directors. Rising Sun intends to pool directors from across the globe. Negotiations are on with directors from Malaysia, Bangkok and Israel. Along with making television commercials, Rising Sun will concentrate on feature films, says Sircar. A new feature film project is in the offing with UTV, which will star actor Amitabh Bachchan. Independent production ventures for small budget films will also be on the agenda. Rising Sun intends to produce at least two films by 2008.

The reins at Red Ice will now be taken over by Gary Grewal, one of the partners in the company. Sircar still owns a stake in Red Ice Films and will continue to do so till a decision is reached about it.

Sircar started his tryst with the arts in Delhi, where he was the founding member of Act One Theatre Group. While with the group, Sircar worked with television personality Siddharth Basu. Sircar’s primary love is feature films; ad films happened by chance. Among his notable ad films are ‘Piyo Sar Utha Ke’ for Coca-Cola, ‘Miss Palampur’ for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, ‘Shastri’ for Bank of India, and an ad for Royal Enfield Thunderbird. He made his feature film directorial debut with ‘Yahaan’. His upcoming films include ‘Johnny Walker’ and ‘Jaffna’.

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