Mukesh Ambani eyes Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions: Will Reliance secure a stake in Bollywood’s top Studio?
Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has been in the news for various reasons of late. Last week, there was a surprise among trade, industry members and also moviegoers when it was reported that Saregama India, owned by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, was in talks to acquire a majority stake in film producer Karan Johar’s company. The report, however, categorically mentioned that the deal had not reached its final stage. Meanwhile, today, October 14, the Economic Times has reported that KJo is in talks with another industry giant.
As per the article, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is in talks to acquire a stake in Dharma Productions. However, the article stated that the size of the stake on the table is not clear. It also quoted a source who said that Karan Johar has been looking to sell a chunk of a stake in Dharma for some time. However, it hasn’t been an easy ride as the past deals have fallen through due to disagreements over valuation.
The Economic Times article also revealed that Dharma Productions is owned 90.7% by Karan Johar and 9.24% by his mother, Hiroo Johar.
If the Dharma Productions-Reliance Industries Limited deal materializes, it’ll strengthen the portfolio of the latter in the entertainment sector big time. At present, RIL has backed Jio Studios, Viacom18 Studios and Colosceum Media. Moreover, Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL also has a 25% minority stake in Ektaa R Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms.
In the past, Bollywood Hungama had also exclusively reported that Karan Johar also had talks with Gautam Adani of Adani to sell a 30% stake in Dharma Productions.
Coming back to Dharma Productions, the production house had a theatrical release a few days ago, Jigra, starring Alia Bhatt and Vedang Raina. Karan also owns Dharmatic Entertainment, which churns out content for OTT platforms. Last month, they released Ananya Panday-starrer Call Me Bae on Amazon Prime Video. On October 18, they’ll drop the third season of Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives on Netflix. Interestingly, the new season is called Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives.
Also Read: R Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh to headline a romance drama by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment: Report