MUMBAI: Viacom18 Media is back in the movie acquisition game after a long gap as it aims to revive the airing of blockbusters on its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Colors.

The joint venture between TV18 and Viacom Inc has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Eros International Media for new and forthcoming releases.

The nine film deal includes titles like Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Cocktail; Bela Bhansali Sehgal?s Farah Khan and Boman Irani starrer Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi; Akshay Kumar?s Khiladi 786; Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer 3G; Paresh Rawal?s psychological thriller Table 21; and Rajinikanth?s Kochadaiyaan.

Viacom18 has also picked up the entire new slate of Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the motion picture division that falls under the JV.

Incidentally, Viacom 18, in January had sold over 500 films from its library to Star India following the deferment of its proposed Hindi movie channel.

Eros International Media Executive Director Jyoti Deshpande said, "We are really excited to have concluded this significant deal with Viacom18. The deal is consistent with our pre-sales strategy to de-risk our content slate investment and also consistently unlock value from our film library. We have tailor-made this bundle of films for Viacom18 to suit their target audience and hope to work with them closely through the marketing and release of these films."

Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, "Being a Hindi GEC, we are committed to providing wholesome entertainment to our viewers. Movies are no exception; hence the existing list of titles is being expanded to include the forthcoming titles from Eros. With the added titles, we will continue to showcase new and interesting content to our audiences thereby keeping them engaged at all times."