Balaji Motion Pictures

Balaji Motion Pictures is the sister company of Balaji Telefilms. It entered the Indian motion pictures business in 2002. The company operates the Motion Pictures Division through its wholly owned subsidiary. Till 2011, the company had produced and/or acquired 17 films, including Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Sarkar Raj. For 2013, it has tied up with Raaj Kamal Films International to distribute Vishwaroop across India which is the Hindi version of Kamalhaasan's magnum opus Vishwaroopam.

Operations
Balaji Motion Pictures is based in Mumbai in the Balaji House on New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. It operates from its head office in Andheri West and has studios in Film City and other locations in Mumbai. In terms of studio facilities Balaji Motion Pictures is one of the largest film productions houses in Mumbai's large film.

History
Balaji Motion Pictures (Balaji Films) was set up in 2001 by Hindi television producer Ekta Kapoor with the purpose of venturing into film production. She produced Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, released in 2001 with Govinda and Sushmita Sen as the leads. The film was not a success, collecting ₹13 crores.

Later, the company produced Kucch To Hai, Krishna Cottage and Koi Aap Sa in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. The movies did not fare well at the box office. In 2005, the company produced and released Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, which grossed ₹ 21.50 crores and made it to the top three films of 2005.

In 2007, the company co-produced Shootout at Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta. The film was a critical and commercial hit, collecting ₹ 68.17 crores worldwide. In 2008, the company produced and released C Kkompany, which was a commercial and critical failure. In the same year, the company co-produced Mission Istanbul and EMI – Liya Hai Toh Chukana Parega with Sunil Shetty. Both films failed critically and commercially.

Also in 2008, the company acquired the distribution rights of Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Sarkar Raj with a deal of almost ₹ 40 crore. The film were both commercially success thereby marking a step further of Balaji.

In 2010, the company sub-branded ALT Entertainment, a youth focused brand and produced a low-budget movie, Love Sex aur Dhokha, which proved to be a critically and commercially successful film. In the same year, the company released Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, which was also a commercial and critical hit. The films also marked the company's successful entry in the films.

In 2011, the company marked its entry into Marathi films by producing Taryanche Bait. The film was a critical and commercial hit and also won many accolades including three awards for Best Film. The company also released Shor in the City, a small-budget critically acclaimed movie. The same year also saw the release of Ragini MMS, co-produced with Amit Kapoor and Sidhartha M. Jain. The response to the movie fetched Stardust Award for Best Film and Ekta Kapoor announced the sequel of the film soon to be released in the year 2013 starring Indo-Canadian Star Sunny Leone. Later, In the same year, the company released The Dirty Picture starring Vidya Balan as lead on 2 December 2011. The film proved to be a huge Blockbuster and was one of the best films of 2011 thereby bagging Vidya Balan her first National Award and all other awards of 2011 for her performance and six awards for Best Film.

In the Year 2012, the company released first ever seen Adult Comedy Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum, sequel to 2005 hit Kyaa Kool Hai Hum which was slammed by critics but was a Box Office Success thereby made at a Budget of 13 crores and collecting 33 crores itself in its first week.

In 2013, the company released its Horror Film Ek Thi Daayan, co-produced with Vishal Bhardwaj. The film received mostly positive response. It was well-accepted by critics and received 3 out of 5 on an average. Jinson John of Indian Box Office also stated "Ek Thi Daayan is not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry, the plot stands out of them all, it's surely is an Experimental Plot, but not written by an Idiot." The film opened Ek Thi Daayan opened at around 30-40% occupancy with better opening in multiplexes rather than single screens netted around 18.07 crore (US$3.3 million) over the first weekend.

Now the company is all set to release its 6 films in the year 2013.

Balaji Motion Pictures ranks in the top five film production companies in India.

Awards & ceremonies

 * The Global Indian Film and Television Honours