Sikhya Entertainment investment in line with Jio Studios ambition of taking Indian content to the world, says Jyoti Deshpande
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Indian content companies are finally attracting strategic investors. The past couple of years have seen the likes of Dharma Productions getting a ₹1,000 crore investment from Adar Poonawalla’s Serene Productions, and Saregama (an RP–Sanjiv Goenka Group venture) picking up a 28% stake in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Productions. The most recent content industry M&A is Oscar-winning filmmaker Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment coming into the strategic fold of Jio Studios.
Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited (RSBVL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has acquired a 50.1% equity stake in Sikhya Entertainment for an aggregate cash consideration of ₹150 crore. So, what’s the rationale behind acquiring a boutique company like Sikhya? “It fits into our mission of taking India to the world,” says Jyoti Deshpande, president – media and content business at Reliance Industries. Deshpande is visibly ecstatic about the humungous success of Jio Studios’ recent release, Dhurandhar, which has raked in revenues of over ₹1,000 crore.
“I want the likes of Dhurandhar, Mahavatar Narsimha and Stree, which are hardcore Indian commercial films, to travel to global markets, as well as smaller ones such as Laapataa Ladies. We need more films which are quintessentially Indian. I felt that Guneet and her company were someone I wanted to give wings to and make their presence felt on a global stage,” Deshpande adds.
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Sikhya Entertainment has, over the past decade, emerged as one of India’s most recognised production companies internationally. It remains the only Indian banner to have won both an Academy Award and multiple National Film Awards. Its Oscar-winning titles include Period. End of Sentence. and The Elephant Whisperers, while National Award winners span critically acclaimed films such as Masaan, Soorarai Pottru and Kathal.
According to Deshpande, the partnership with Sikhya is also about reshaping how India is represented in global festival circuits. “Too often, a certain kind of narrative is what gets selected abroad, and it’s not always reflective of India’s complexity or confidence. Winning globally should not come at the cost of portraying India in a poor light. We want to win abroad while owning our narrative.”
Jio Studios’ Laapataa Ladies was among the most-watched Indian films on Netflix globally. The need of the hour, according to Deshpande, is more such films which celebrate India. “Oppenheimer was celebrated by America as a milestone in the history of mankind and was put in the Oscars, but we, as Indians, struggle to celebrate Indians. We are willing to put down India and tell stories that reflect India in a poor light. I want to put an end to that. I want Jio Studios and its partners to win abroad by controlling our narrative.”
Though the Sikhya investment does fit into Jio Studios’ overall strategy of taking India to the world, Deshpande says that it is one of their smaller investments and that there are big-ticket investments in the pipeline.