Sony Pictures

One of the first US studios to get involved in Hindi-language production, Sony recently completed Beloved (Saawariya), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and which it fully financed, and plans to release in November. In 2002, Sony was involved in the global distribution of Lagaan, initially through its Indian channel, Sony Entertainment Television (SET). The studio is also distributing two English-language films, co-produced by Overbrook Entertainment and India's UTV, and acquired a majority stake in Indian CGI house FrameFlow.

Warner Bros Pictures

Active in China via production joint venture Warner China Film HG Corp, Warner Bros last month announced its first Hindi production, action comedy Made In China, which starts shooting in January, with Nikhil Advani directing and Akshay Kumar starring. Described as the first Hindi film to shoot in China, it will be set up as an assisted production, not a Chinese co-production. Warner Bros holds worldwide rights.

Walt Disney Company

In June this year, Disney announced a deal with Bollywood powerhouse Yash Raj Films to co-produce one animated feature a year starting with Roadside Romeo, to be directed by Jugal Hansraj and produced by Aditya Chopra. The studio has a dedicated Mumbai-based production and acquisitions chief, Shyam PS, who has been on board since March last year.

Paramount Pictures

The studio's parent Viacom has a wide-ranging 50:50 joint venture with India's Network18, Viacom-18, covering TV channels, film production and distribution and multi-platform services. The two partners jointly own AIM-listed film production and financing vehicle, The Indian Film Company, and TV18's film production-distribution outfit Studio 18 is also expected to be closely involved in the joint venture. When the partnership was unveiled in May, Viacom stated that Paramount and sister studio DreamWorks "will explore additional opportunities for collaboration with Viacom-18".

20th Century Fox

A deal for three Hindi films from Bollywood veteran Ram Gopal Varma was announced in 2002 but only yielded one picture, Ek Hasina Thi, before the partnership dissolved. More recently, the studio is teaming up with UTV to co-finance M Night Shyamalan's The Happening, while Fox Searchlight and UTV co-produced two more English-language titles - Mira Nair's The Namesake and I Think I Love My Wife, directed by and starring Chris Rock.

Hyde Park Entertainment

Hyde Park's The Other End Of The Line, a romance between an American man and Indian call-centre girl, is shooting in Mumbai in October. MGM has North American rights. Hyde Park also has a co-production deal for five English-language pictures with India's Adlabs and a joint venture with Kerala-based Toonz for live-action and animated product. The company's Los Angeles-based, Indian-born founder, Ashok Amritraj, has talked about plans to move into Indian-language production in 2008.