MUMBAI: Eros International has set up a subsidiary company to foray into visual effects in association with leading international talent Charles Darby.

Charles Darby

EyeQube Studios, in which Darby will have a minority stake, is initially investing $5-7 million to start operations and is already working on two of Eros's films, Drona and Aladdin.

"We are setting up a visual effects company specifically for the Indian market as we realise there is an enormous gap. We will also have very select international projects. Eyeqube is already working on Drona and Aladdin which are made on a budget of $10 million each," said Eros International COO Jyoti Deshpande.

Both these films will have visual effects that will eat away 40-50 per cent of the total investments.

EyeQube also will be working on 3-4 of Eros' movie projects. "Each of these movies will draw investments in the range between $40-60 million," said Deshpande.

EyeQube will cater to the top-end visual effects work and have over 300 people working in it. "We plan to work on 3-4 films a year and our focus will be on quality," said Darby who was in Mumbai to address the press conference.

Eros International president India Sunil Lulla said, "EyeQube will raise the bar of Indian visual effects and catapult our industry to international standards. It will produce not only Indian films with visual effects never seen before, but be also selectively involved with a few international projects."

Charles Darby has been associated with more than 45 films in the last 13 years. Darby's work includes films like Titanic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Fifth Element and Minority Report.