BY A STAFF REPORTER

HOLLYWOOD, CA,- The 7th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced that Amit Khanna  and Richard Fox  will be presented the IFFLA Industry Leadership Awards.  Fox is the Executive Vice President of Warner Bros. International and heads all of  Warner Bros’ non-US initiatives in all phases of the entertainment industry. Khanna is the Chairman of Reliance BIG Entertainment, the media arm of the $75 billion Ambani Group that recently completed its purchase of Dreamworks and announced that it would spend $1 billion on the Indian film and entertainment business. The award presentation will be made at the IFFLA Industry Leadership Award Luncheon on April 24, 2009 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood.

The IFFLA Industry Leadership Award was created to recognize the achievements of industry executives who have had a substantial and personal impact on the creation and distribution of Indian themed content globally and have led the expansion of the entertainment and media industry in India.

The IFFLA Industry Leadership Award is presented by the leading entertainment law boutique Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon, based in Los Angeles. Raskin Peter is a full service entertainment industry law firm with global clients in the United States and India.  Arnold Peter of Raskin Peter and Christina Marouda, Executive Director of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, will present the award.

Khanna has been involved with media from an early age.  He has worked in theatre, radio, television, journalism, and films.  He started his film career as an Executive Producer and subsequently produced and directed feature films and over 3000 hours of television programming. He has written over 400 film and non-film songs and several film scripts.  Khanna was the Managing Director of Plus Channel before joining Reliance Entertainment in 2000.  He has served as the President of the Film Producers Guild of India and has been on the committee of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Indian Music Industry and the Film Federation of India. Khanna oversees the diverse business at Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) in the media & entertainment space.

“I’m indeed honored to receive the IFFLA award. I humbly accept it on behalf of the immensely talented team at Reliance BIG Entertainment,” said Khanna. “More than anyone, the person who deserves all the credit is our chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, whose deep and abiding commitment to media and entertainment, is the reason for the phenomenal growth of Reliance BIG Entertainment.”

Fox has held his current post since 1992, having begun his career at Warner Bros. in 1975.  As part of his responsibilities, he oversees the studio’s local-language film production, acquisition and distribution activities in more than 20 countries around the world.  He previously served as President of Warner Bros. Pictures International, where he headed the distribution of the Studio’s film product in all overseas markets before moving into his present position.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release the blockbuster adventure/comedy CHANDNI CHOWK to China, starring Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone on January 16, 2009.