When I came to America, I was only allowed to take out of India the princely sum of $75/- plus the $8 I could get at the Foreign Exchange Counter at Mumbai airport. I had to survive on this capital until I picked up the first check of $250/- of my fellowship from the University of Illinois.

Now I read in the Wall Street Journal that Reliance Big Entertainment, the largest operator of movie theaters in India, is going to provide development cash to 8 leading American film production companies including,

• Jim Carrey's JC 23 Entertainment,
• George Clooney's Smokehouse Productions,
• Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions and
• Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment.

The Reliance deal includes a $1 billion film slate to develop 69 feature films in 9 languages over the next 2 years. 

"There's more and more money coming out of India and Asia in general," says Jared Underwood, a Senior Vice President of Comerica Entertainment Group in this article.

Wow! Has the world come full circle!

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