Bollywood film distributor Eros International has made announcement at the Cannes film festival that the company will form joint venture with leading American independent entertainment studio Lions Gate, for distributing English language content in original as well as dubbed in local languages in South Asia, including India.

The joint venture would not only strengthen Lions Gate foothold in the fast-growing India market, but will also entice all Indian viewers to enjoy Lionsgate and other English language content in their local languages.

Mr. Kishore Lulla, CEO of Eros International, said, "We will now have access to a library of 12,000 Lionsgate films."

"So if we want, we can dub them in Hindi, offer content on DVD, internet and mobile." Mr. Lulla added.

Lions Gate would distribute its film library and new movies through Eros' network in South Asia.

Through joint venture, Lions gate would be capable of marketing Indian films to a wider audience in North America, and can explore the production of Indian formats and remakes based on Lionsgate and third-party film catalogues.

To begin with, Lionsgate will distribute 20 top Hindi films including Om Shanti Om, Gandhi, My Father and Eklavya in America, outside the South Asian diaspora.