If you watch Bollywood movies, it’s hard to miss the Dharma Productions logo and the iconic theme music of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai at the start of many popular films. Founded by late Yash Johar, the studio has produced some of the biggest Hindi language hits in the UK market such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and My Name Is Khan.
The man behind the studio is Apoorva Mehta, who took over the role of CEO after director Karan Johar, a childhood friend, called him to assume the position following his father’s demise. Mehta was in London at the time, working with Yash Raj Films at their UK distribution office.
It was a fairly new set-up with Mehta being only the second person joining the London location of the studio. YRF’s hit films of the 90’s by that time such as Darr, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and Dil To Pagal Hai were released in UK cinemas by Eros International, who have now moved on from distribution and operate their own streaming service, ErosNow.
“The only film Yash Raj Films had released by the point that I joined them was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Aditya Chopra, who heads YRF, had tremendous plans for the UK market in terms of distribution for his own productions and films produced by others. I was fortunate to be a part of their journey,” said Mehta.
Once he returned to India, he helmed Dharma Productions as the CEO, being in charge of 15 people and of finances for movies known to be larger-than-life. His experience in distribution showed him how to make content accessible to audiences, but now he was behind the scenes and experiencing the magic of filmmaking.
“It was an exciting period coming back to India, as it was a different facet of what I had learned in the UK. I had the opportunity to be a part of creating films. Dharma Productions is essentially a film production house, specifically focusing on creating content. We use distributors to release our films, at the time I joined it was Yash Raj Films. It was the other aspect of filmmaking that I got to experience with Karan. It’s been wonderful and it almost feels like a start-up that has done well. When I joined the company 15-years ago, we were making one film every three years and now we make six to seven a year,” recalled Mehta.
The production house has not just worked with YRF, but since 2009 moved from one studio to another to release their films in the UK and even co-produce some of them, usually through a deal that involved a promise of at least three films. Their previous distribution partners include UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International, Reliance Entertainment, Fox Star Studios (20th Century Fox), Zee Studios and now their forthcoming releases will be in the hands of Viacom18 Studios.
Dharmatic, a division of Dharma Productions spearheaded by Apoorva, has produced shows for Netflix and currently has more in the pipeline, with no exclusivity for one particular streaming service. The Dharma Productions catalogue right now is available to stream in the UK on Amazon Prime Video, including the newly released film Gehraiyaan with Deepika Padukone, which skipped a theatrical release and was made available directly to stream on 11 February this year in partnership with Amazon Studios.
Is the company just moving from one distribution partner to another or is this a well-thought out strategy?
Apoorva explained, “The financial aspect and distribution network are two important aspects of our decision. It also depends on other factors such as satellite distribution, music distribution, what our requirements are at a given time, and what the studios are looking for in terms of content.
“We believe in a multiple slate projects agreement with our partners because if one film underperforms, you have the comfort of a few other films to protect you from losses, it balances out. We try to partner with studios on multiple films because of this reason. There is no specific strategy though. It’s a business requirement and a give-and-take situation. It depends hugely on the content we are making, what the studios can offer us, and what we are looking from them.”
With their track record of hugely successful films especially at the UK box office, one might wonder, why they are willing to share their profits with distribution partners.
Their film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham became the highest grossing Bollywood title in the UK in 2001 with £2.2M. In 2006 Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna took the second spot, and My Name Is Khan dethroned K3G in 2010 with a total gross of £2.6M.
So why not release the films and keep the profits to yourself? Apoorva, having experienced the distribution side of films during his time in London would consider the option, but says the company is not at that juncture yet.
“I understand the work behind international distribution. I have been fortunate to have worked with Yash Raj Films, I learned from the best and understand what it entails. I feel, you need economies of scale, it needs to make financial sense for example when you have a large number of projects lined up for release. Then the infrastructure costs and overhead costs that we have to incur, work out.”
“There are also multiple overseas distributors who release films regularly and on a long-term basis. They have the line-up and for us, it makes sense to partner up with them for a much lesser cost rather than setting up our own infrastructure. If there are eight to ten films we will release a year, then yes, it will be something I will consider at that point of time. I have not reached that stage yet,” explained the producer.
In 2006 the first film Mehta worked on, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna starring Shah Rukh Khan, released worldwide. It may not have worked at the Indian box office as much as Karan Johar’s previous directorial, especially due to the theme of extra-marital affairs, but it was a blockbuster overseas grossing over £2M in total just at the UK box office. During the making, Mehta faced budgetary issues while filming in the United States as the winter weather delayed filming a few times. Someone who was worried about exceeding the budget by 15% during his first production is currently facing a very different issue with the costs of filmmaking, and that is the renumeration of actors in India.
The asking price, especially for male actors, has exponentially risen over the years, and for some by 50% just within the pandemic. Currently, a male actor typically charges producers between £3M to £10M, depending on how bankable he is at the time of signing the contract. Some charge the high amount in addition to a profit-sharing deal that they agree on beforehand.
“It has gone through the roof. It’s unfortunate that the costs have risen so fast and so steeply,” says Mehta.
His company has always been known to cast Indian ‘superstars’ but he is trying to change that, even though right now, there sometimes isn’t much choice for him.
“As content creators, we have no alternatives, as there is a limited pool of talent available, and we have to keep working with them. Every business in the industry is facing the same hurdle. We have a limited number of strong A-list actors, all being chased by every filmmaker and now by streaming platforms too, for shows they like them to feature in. The demand-situation is very off-sided, in terms of the demand for actors and those who are available.”
“The costs of filmmaking have risen due to their high salaries but the only thing we can do is make films that make budgetary sense, otherwise I don’t make them. Films with higher costs only get made if we can predict or estimate safe recoveries,” said Mehta.
Mehta and Johar launched three newcomers in 2012 with Student of the Year. The film didn’t break the box office but gave the Indian film industry three bankable actors, as they were marketed and promoted like the superstars of tomorrow, and that has worked out well for the producers and the debutants.
In December 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Mehta and Johar joined hands with Bunty Sajdeh, the CEO of Cornerstone, a talent management agency based in India. They formed a new venture called Dharma Cornerstone Agency, which is currently managing the finances of many actors who have been launched by the production house over the last few years.
It is indeed the new breed of talent managers in India, who insist on hiking the renumeration of actors after each film that works at the box office. This is perhaps why the studio is now in the game of managing all recent and future actors they bring onto the scene.
With their new agency in place and actively managing new actors, Mehta is hoping to keep costs down as he explained, “For us, there is a conscious decision to launch more newcomers so that we can expand that ecosystem of talent available to us. We are actively scouting for new talent, who we can launch, groom, and use in future films.”
Apoorva is currently gearing up for his most ambitious film till date, Brahmastra, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt with an extended cameo by Shah Rukh Khan. This will be the first Dharma film to be released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the UK. It is touted to be India’s most expensive film and is backed by Fox Star Studios, acquired by Disney through the Fox merger in 2019.
“The film is expensive and it’s a larger-than-life canvas, the first of its kind ever made in Hindi cinema. For various reasons we are excited and anxious,” said Mehta.
The film has been in the making for five-years and is set to release in cinemas on 9 September 2022.
Here’s hoping Apoorva, the man behind Dharma Productions, creates a blockbuster in Brahmastra!