Warner Bros. considering animation studio in Kolkata
Thursday, 01 November 2007, 19:30 IST
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Kolkata: A team of executives of the Time Warner group that met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has said that entertainment company Warner Bros is considering setting up an animation studio here. Richard Parsons, chief executive officer of the Time Warner group, spent a busy day Wednesday despite a shutdown called by the Trinamool Congress and spoke to Bhattacharya for over an hour. Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey, Fortune Money Group president Vivek Shah, Time Warner (International) senior vice president Tom Peter Wolff, Time Inc. international relations and public policy director Alvin Lee accompanied Parsons on the trip. "We were extremely happy to meet him. The chief minister wants us to set up a state-of-the-art animation studio here. We will discuss it and send a team shortly to explore how we can carry the proposal forward," Parsons said. "The chief minister told us about his government's success in the education sector and the talent pool here. So he wants our expertise to set up animation academies and also state-of-the-art studios and laboratories," added Parsons, who presented a pack of DVDs - including a Harry Potter movie and "Gone With The Wind" - to Bhattacharya. Earlier in the day, Parsons got a whiff of Bengal politics when he met firebrand opposition leader Mamata Banerjee. Mamata Banerjee gifted him five of her paintings and a copy of the party mouthpiece, "Jaago Bangla" (Wake Up, Bengal). "I am extremely impressed with her. She is a courageous lady," said Parsons. Over lunch, Parsons interacted with industrialist Sanjiv Goenka, actress Rituparna Sengupta and others from the field of arts. Time Warner and ABP Pvt. Ltd., which publishes The Telegraph and the Ananda Bazar Patrika, have reached an understanding to launch the Indian edition of Fortune, the world's leading business magazine, and the visit of the team to India was part of the formal announcement for the tie-up.
Source: IANS
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