Bollywood and the new Indian games industry

Bollywood and the new Indian games industry
Bollywood and the new Indian games industry

Bollywood hit Ghajini – a hugely popular thriller about a man with short-term amnesia, loosely based on Hollywood's Memento – is the basis for India's first ever 3D videogame.

India's games industry has, to date, made little or no impact outside of the country. It is an industry that has, as Reuters reports, "been slow to grow but could touch $1.3 billion this year."

Considerable growth, when you consider that India's animation and gaming industry was worth about $300 million in 2006 – much of which was outsourced animation 'churn' work from western development studios looking to cut costs.

Game published worldwide

The game will be published and marketed worldwide by Indian film distributor Eros International PLC.

"There are no Indian games. We wanted to bring Indian games to the audiences here and we built India's first 3D game," said Sashi Reddy, head of FX labs, which developed the game.

"This is based on one of the big Bollywood hits and the top hero in India... We're seeing that actually there is a lot of interest for games in India and this is showing that there's a big future for the games industry," Reddy added.

"I have played lots of international games, but this is the first time I got to play a game made in India," gamer Pawan Ratnakar told Reuters, adding that in his opinion "the game does meet international standards."

Adam Hartley