MUMBAI: After Subhash Ghai, it is the turn of noted film maker Ram Gopal Varma to take his production company public. RGV Film Factory Limited (RGVFFL) plans to raise Rs one billion through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

UTI Securities Limited has been appointed as the lead manager to the issue. The funds will be mainly used for movie production, says UTI Securities president K Srinivas. "The company may get into film distribution as well, but that is only in the second stage," he adds.

The entertainment industry can be systemized and corporatised.Not only is India the worlds largest producer of feature films, but in terms of the audience size, it is also the largest market. Additionally, I also believe that Indian films can become a much bigger commercial force in the global arena. Being a publicly listed company will help RGVFFL towards this end by making fund raising a relatively simpler exercise, says Varma.

Varma has so far produced 53 films, in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. He has himself directed 24 films in these three languages.

Varma already has a deal with Adlabs for production of 12 movies. Reacting to a question on his deal with Adlabs Films Ltd, Mr Varma said, The deal I have with Adlabs is for specific projects which have already been identified. Now they will be executed by RGV FFL which basically means that RGV FFL already has work orders. The money raised from the public issue will be to create and execute further new projects.

Speaking about the IPO K Srinivas, President, UTI Securities Ltd, said, While film production companies in the US are publicly traded multi-billion conglomerates, in India, barring a few production houses, the industry continues to fragmented and disorganized. There are very few companies in this space which are corporatized and conceive and execute projects on time and in budget. Among these RGVFFL is by far the most prolific.