Pentamedia Graphics has reported a 55 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 1535.5 million on a turnover Rs 5523.8 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2001. It has also declared a dividend of Rs 3 per share.

Regarding the vexed issue of its bid to take over the US-based Film Roman, which has run into difficulties, Pentamedia has declared that the issue has been left to chairman V Chandrasekaran to deal with. Chandrasekaran will be leaving on Monday to the USA to negotiate with Film Roman management.

In its annual report released on Thursday, Pentamedia reported a 104 per cent jump in its net profit for the fourth quarter at Rs 337.6 million against Rs 164.7 million last year. Turnover went up 41 per cent as against Rs 3929.9 million last year. The turnover for the quarter ended 31 March 2001 was Rs 1450 million.

The company claims it has got orders on hand worth $ 155 million to be executed over the next 15 months with a human resources strength of over 2,100.

Among the projects which it has completed are Sinbad‘s television premiere which was released in the US on November 2000. In the last quarter of the year Pandavas - The Five Warriors, a 90-minute hybrid (convergence of live action & animation) 3D animation movie based on the famous epic Mahabharatha, was released in English for global audiences. Pandavas won the National Award for the best English feature animation movie. At the Vancouver Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, Pandavas was adjudged as the second best movie from a total of 22 animation movies.

Pentamedia has also successfully completed the production of Alibaba, to be screened in the May 2001.

This year Pentamedia is planning six more animation movies, each of 90 minutes duration. It is also planning to expand its presence in gaming by using existing animation contents and by developing new gaming contents.

The one thing that caught your attention about Dewang Mehta was his passion for the Indian software industry and the dramatic manner in which he spoke. However, the 38-year old passed away quietly and alone in a five star hotel in Sydney this morning, shocking the entire software industry with his untimely death.
Mehta was part of a technology delegation led by IT Minister Pramod Mahajan and was to catch this evening‘s flight (local time) for home. and he was supposed to check out of the Hotel Park Hyatt by 11:30 am this morning. When he failed to do so, the hotel staff broke open the door by 5 PM in the evening and found him dead in the room. No foul play is suspected so far and the cause of death is not known.

Mahajan told UNI that he met him on Wednesday night and he appeared to be hale and hearty. The shocked minister said he would try and bring back Mehta‘s body back on Friday after the local police had completed all the procedural formalities. Mehta was a bachelor.

Mehta also had links with the television industry. Quoting him from his website http://www.dewangmehta.com ," I‘ve been working towards providing Internet Through Cable TV in India. One of my key objective is to promote local content development on Internet. My dream is to have at least 2mbps of bandwidth for every adult citizen of India."