Reliance BIG Entertainment Ltd. (RBEL) has signed a three-movie co-production deal with Kunal Kohli Production Pvt. Ltd.

Announcing this Thursday, a RBEL spokesperson said that Kohli, who had earlier directed hits like "Hum Tum", "Fanaa" and "Mujhase Dosti Karoge", would direct two of these movies himself and would be the creative producer for the third.

Kohli told: "Yes, I have (signed a deal with RBEL). We're now at the scripting stage of the films."

The movies will be made over a period of three years.

RBEL, which had earlier clinched similar co-production deals with top filmmakers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, David Dhawan, Sudhir Mishra, Ravi Chopra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Piyush Jha, Abhinay Deo and Vikram, has a line-up of 18 movies due for release next year - the highest number to be released by a production house in the course of a year.

"Luck By Chance", with which Zoya Akhtar has made her debut as director, will be the first of the lot, releasing Jan 30. The movie stars Farhan Akhtar, Juhi Chawla, Konkana Sen, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia and has Hrithik Roshan making a special appearance.

"Not all of these 18 movies are commercial blockbusters. 'Sikander', produced by Sudhir Mishra and directed by Piyush Jha, for instance, is a touching emotional drama about loss of innocence in strife-torn Kashmir. It has Sanjay Suri, R. Madhavan, Ayesha Kapoor (of 'Black' fame) and Parzaan Dastur in the cast, " the RBEL spokesperson said.