India's Reliance Big Pictures is launching its international sales division here at the European Film Market, with a busy slate of product headed by $30m English-language romantic drama Kites.

Starring Hrithik Roshan, Kites follows a young man in Las Vegas who becomes involved with a salsa dancer but falls in love with her brother's fiancee. Produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu, the film also stars Kangana Ranaut and Barbara Mori.

The film will soon wrap in Mumbai following a 14-week shoot in Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

In addition to its Hollywood investments, Reliance is pumping $300m into Indian production, mostly in Indian languages, with a few English-language tent-poles such as Kites.

Headed by former Yash Raj Films executive Jawahar Sharma with former Miramax distribution chief Colleen Seldin on board as a consultant,the company'snew sales division aims to sell to key distributors in territories where the company doesn't self-distribute or rely on agency deals.

It will also update existing relationships that enable the company to mount day-and-date simultaneous releases in up to 30 territories.

In total Reliance has 18 films lined up in seven different Indian languages. Also on the company's debut slate are Kashmir-set suspense thriller Sikander, produced by Sudhir Mishra and directed by Piyush Jha, and Bollywood hit Ghajini, starring Aamir Khan, along with titles from Indian auteurs Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Shaji N. Karun and M.S. Sathyu.

'In a world of fast-paced globalisation and the constant expansion of multiculturalism our aim is to create more movies that span both people and cultures, which will build on the global fascination with Bollywood and bring in new audiences in markets across the world,' said Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney.

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