Indian media and entertainment company Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited has launched its first production company in Canada.

Based in Vancouver, Zee Studios International will be led by Subhardarshi Tripathy, who has been with the company for over 18 years. Tripathy will report into Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, and Amit Goenka, CEO, international broadcast business.

Zee Studios International will consist of a core team from India headed by Tripathy as well as a local production team from Canada. The move marks Zee’s entry into global production for mainstream audiences, with an aim to facilitate production requirements for international markets.

“We are confident that Subhadarshi and his team will grow this division into a formidable business, creating cutting edge content which has immense potential to be adapted throughout the world,” said Goenka, in a statement.

The prodco will initially focus on developing content for television and digital platforms, with plans to venture into film production at a later stage. It will create global content and formats for international markets in their local languages, many of which will be based on established Indian ideas and concepts.

Content will feature both scripted and unscripted formats, including reality, game, dance shows, fictional crime drama, sitcom, sci-fi, horror and paranormal. Initial productions include adaptations of the sitcom Hum Paanch, which is being produced in its British version as Lala’s Ladiez and an Anglo-Spanish sitcom Love Thy Neighbour (w/t) which is adapted from the format Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain.

From Realscreen