Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Films India and Indian company Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) have entered into a three-film first-look deal.

'All three films will be commercial blockbusters in thetrue Bollywood tradition with songs and dance etc,' PNC creative director told Screendaily.

In a separate deal, SPE Films India has picked up the global distribution rights to cricket movie Meerabai Not Out, directed by Chadrakant Kulkarni and starring Mandira Bedi, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar and featuring Indian cricketer Anil Kumble.

Uday Singh, head of Sony India, said: 'Since we cannot develop all the software ourselves, we are looking to co-produce films and tying up with partners to develop content. We saw Meerabai Not Out and thought it was a cute film.'

The film, about a cricket obsessed Math teacher, is expected to have a summer release.

Pritish Nandy said: 'The value of the three film co-production venture will be based on the requirements of each project. The first film is likely to be budgeted around Rs 60-70 crore [$14.5m-$16.9m]. Partnering with SPE also means benefiting from their global distribution skills.'

Reports say that the first of the three productions will be an action comedy heist film set in Las Vegas called Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram written by Pritish Nandy's son Kushan.

However Steve Elzer, senior vice president, Columbia Tristar Motion Picture group, clarified that the projects were still under review. 'We have discussed projects that PNC is developing but we have not approved of any script or any budget yet,' he said.

SPE Films India's first Indian film production was the 2007 Saawariya. Last year the studio also entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Eros International to develop, co-produce and acquire a slate of Hindi films to be released in India and around the world.