Balaji Telefilms, whose television serials rank among India's top shows has announced plans to begin making low-budget films.

The Mumbai based production company, founded by Hindi film star Jeetendra Kapoor and his daughter Ekta, is looking to make content-driven movies, with a budget of around $100,000, to be targeted at the weekend broadcast market.

Balaji produces 20 serials in Hindi and other regional languages, with a total of 67 programme episodes a week. Star Plus, the flagship channel of the Indian unit of Rupert Murdoch's Star TV, airs four Balaji serials, two of which are immensely popular and which have contributed to a rise in the channel's ratings.