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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 01 July 2025

GOING GLOCAL

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CLAUDIA CIESLA'S LAUNCHPAD KUSHALI NAG Published 05.11.09, 12:00 AM
Claudia : The face of Morpheus

The cine dreams of brothers Rajat and Ajay Jhunjhunwala took off last year with 10:10, which introduced Tollywood to the hot German model and Bigg Boss 2 contestant Claudia Ciesla. Now, Rajat and Ajay’s two-year-old Morpheus Media Ventures is all set to test the Arabian shores with a slew of films in various stages of production. A t2 chat with Ajay, who heads Morpheus’s Calcutta office...

All-rounder

Morpheus Media Ventures is a production house-cum-distributor with animation, script and talent management wings. “Our job is not just to produce films. We promote new scriptwriters, directors and actors. We are also into grooming new talent. We will launch a newcomer in our next Bollywood film. Claudia is one of our talent managers. She is the face of Morpheus outside India. That’s why we had sent her to the Cannes film festival early this year,” says Ajay.

Film projects

Morpheus entered Tollywood in 2007 with 90 Ghonta. Though it had an item number by Yana Gupta, the film directed by debutant Sougata Ray Burman failed to make a mark. Their second release, Arin Paul’s 10:10, made news for casting the German hotbod Claudia.

In the pipeline are Sharan Dutta’s Thana Theke Ashchhi, Prabhat Roy’s Pratibad and Purple Haze starring Mrinalini Sharma. They have also signed Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha for a comedy titled Hercules. Morpheus will debut in Bollywood with Shout, a thriller starring Sushant Singh and Sayali Bhagat. Besides, there’s Kya Kare Kya Na Kare and the Marathi film Ek Marathi Manus. “Thriller is the genre we find most saleable, so except 10:10 most of our films are thrillers,” Ajay explains.

The plans

“We don’t want to make more than four films a year. We began with first-time directors but now we want to make films with seasoned directors, like Prabhat Roy. Our budgets vary according to the films. While Sharan’s film is around Rs 70 lakh, for Pratibad our budget will shoot up to Rs 2 crore. We are planning to venture into the south Indian film industry as well. We have spoken to Mohanlal for a film,” said Ajay.

The scoresheet

10:10 may have flopped at the box office but it has hit the right notes elsewhere. “10:10 gave us great exposure, all because of Claudia. We had a stall at the Cannes festival to promote 10:10 and Purple Haze. The response has been fantastic,” adds Ajay.

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