Hey, Sanjay Sanghoee, the hedge funder who's raising money from hedge funds to make a movie about a heroic hedge funder, has apparently been trying this nonsense since college. A former business school peer of Sanjay's just emailed us to inform us that back at Columbia, Mr. Sanghoee "was the founder, president and sole member of the Film Financing Club." He's been sending these fund-seeking mass emails for years. Former b-school associates received this one just a few weeks ago, as the banking crisis threatened the money Sanghoee had raised to date. If his screenplays are half as captivating as his pitch emails, it'll be a hell of a picture.

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:55:13 -0700
From: sanjay9000
Subject: [2000] E! True Wall Street/Hollywood Story?

Dear (redacted),

My name is Sanjay Sanghoee and I am co-chair of the media committee for Columbia Business School's Alumni Club of New York. I am Class of 2000.

I am working on a high-profile movie project on a Wall Street theme that I thought might be of interest to some of you and could be lucrative as well. Please see the attached article from Crain's New York Business on this project.

I started my professional career as an investment banker and currently work with a hedge fund. As day turns into night however, I work on my true passion: Writing. I wrote a novel titled 'Merger,' a corporate thriller, that was published by a division of St. Martin's Press in 2006.

The novel received praise from Chicago Tribune and BARRON's and the Foreword for the paperback was written by Harvey Pitt, the former chairman of the SEC. Shortly about release, a major production company in Hollywood (Brillstein Grey Entertainment) decided to develop the book, which is a mix between 'Wall Street' and 'The Firm', into a $15 million motion picture. I was thrilled since I felt this story really needs to be told to a wide audience, especially after the corporate scandals we have seen over the past decade.

I wrote the script, created a business plan and started fundraising for the movie, with technical guidance from Harvey Pitt and Bethany McLean, the Fortune magazine reporter who broke the Enron story and co-writer of 'The Smartest Guys in the Room'. In addition to my producing duties, Brillstein also felt that I was the ideal candidate to creatively bring Merger to the big screen and attached me as the director. On a more detailed note, I directed a short film last year which was well received by Brillstein and convinced them that I had the ability to do this.

We have a topnotch team assembled for the movie, including a Casting Director who has worked on movies liked 'United 93', 'Black Hawk Down' and 'The Good Shepherd' and the Director of Photography from 'The Guardian' (Kevin Costner) and 'Mission: Impossible 3' (Tom Cruise). Also, we plan to cast two supporting roles from Bollywood (even though Merger is a mainstream Hollywood film with American lead roles), thereby greatly expanding the international potential of this film.

So cutting to the chase, we have 50% of the financing available to us through soft monies and debt financing. We also have strong interest from a wealthy investor to provide 20% of the budget in equity, and are looking to line up the remaining 30% in equity that will enable us to put the various pieces together. The 30% translates to roughly $4.5 million dollars.

Please note I am offering a generous finder's fee to any alum(s) who can help us line up investors in an expedited fashion.

At this time I would like to present a synopsis of the project: Merger is a fast-paced story of an Indian media baron (Vikram Suri) who uses a hostile takeover of an American company to further his ambitions, and in the process jeopardizes U.S. national security. He is brought down by a tough-nosed New York Times reporter (Amanda Fleming), a savvy investment banker (Tom Carter), and a rogue CIA Agent (Jack Ward).

The Hollywood stars we are targeting include Josh Hartnett, Edward Burns, Ryan Phillippe, Diane Kruger, Kate Beckinsale and Julia Stiles. On the Bollywood side, our top choices include Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Hritik Roshan. As many of you know, Bollywood cinema has a tremendous following in places like Western Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. This opens up a treasure trove of marketing possibilities for both the film and the novel, which can be cross sold.

I am keen on directing this project since I know the world in which this film is set and am very passionate about the story. With your help, I can bring this project to fruition. My good friend Som Chivukula, who is an Associate Producer on the project, is helping me in this endeavor as well.

We look forward to hearing any ideas you may have and of course making this worth your while financially. Please contact (redacted) for more information and check out our website at www.relentlesspics.com

Best wishes,

Sanjay Sanghoee
Producer
Relentless Pictures Inc.

www.relentlesspics.com
www.merger-novel.com

See, we thought Sanjay was advised to stop mentioning Josh Hartnett, Edward Burns, Ryan Phillippe, Diane Kruger, Kate Beckinsale and Julia Stiles when the only real star he could get a tentative yes from was the lovely Lara Flynn Boyle. Still, we admire his entrepreneurial spirit. It reminds us of nothing so much as those Nigerian gentlemen who keep emailing us about inheritances and so forth.