More than a year after businessman Adar Poonawalla acquired a 50 per cent stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, another partnership in the Indian film industry has come to fruition. mid-day has exclusively learnt that Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment is joining hands with Hollywood giant Universal Studios, a part of the American company Comcast Corporation. “The talks between the two have been going on for months now. Universal Studios has been quite keen on becoming a force in the Indian film market. The deal has finally [gone through],” informs a source.
Excel Entertainment’s 2025 slate included ‘120 Bahadur’
Insiders tell mid-day that Universal Studios has acquired a minority stake, with a larger share remaining with Excel Entertainment as part of the deal. “Excel wants to expand the scale of its productions going ahead. There are big ideas in the pipeline,” shares another source.
‘Superboys of Malegaon’
In 2025, Excel Entertainment released three theatrical films — 120 Bahadur, Ground Zero, and Superboys of Malegaon — and the direct-to-digital film Songs of Paradise. While most of them received critical acclaim, the big-screen releases did not fare well at the box office. In the pipeline, the production house has Don 3, Mirzapur: The Film, and Jee Le Zara, featuring Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles.
‘Ground Zero’
An official announcement will be made on January 5.
