Former Benaroya Pictures Exec Prashant Shah Launches Bollywood Hollywood, Sets First Pic

Prashant Shah, formerly VP and head of production at Benaroya Pictures and a veteran Hollywood and Mumbai producer, has launched Bollywood Hollywood Production. The fully financed media company will focus on the acquisition, development and production of feature films in both the Hindi and English language, aimed at worldwide audiences. At launch, the company has in the works more than a half-dozen movies over the next two years with budgets between $5 million-$50 million.

The first in the pipeline is Jungle Cry, an inspirational sports film that tells the true story of Achutya Samanta, who lost his father at age 4 and India and today provides food, housing, clothing and education to more than 27,000 tribal children in India. One of his organization’s initiatives, the Jungle Crows rugby team, won the U-14 Rugby World Cup in England in 2007.

The pic, shooting in India, London and Wales, will be on offer at the upcoming American Film Market in Santa Monica.

“I have worked on every genre of movie, romantic comedies, futuristic, large action adventures and thrillers for several production houses in India and Hollywood,” Shah said. “When the time came for me to launch my own content company, producing movies on my own, that connect to my company name — Bollywood and Hollywood — I always wanted to make that debut an inspiring story, for the whole family.”

Shah’s credits include My Name is Khan, The Bruce Lee Project, Speed Kills and Padman, and at Benaroya worked on the Nicole Kidman-starrer Queen of the Desert and Cell with Samuel L. Jackson. His next film is Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, which bows December 21.