New Delhi: Deepak Dhar, the former Managing Director of EndemolShine India has formed 50:50 joint venture with Paris-based independent content creation company Banijay Group in order to expand the latter’s operations to India and South East Asia.
Dhar, who is known for his work across film, television and digital formats has been designated as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the newly created Banijay Asia therefore heading its operations.
In his new role, Dhar will lead business, content strategies, partnerships and alliances with the region keeping India as its base for South East Asia. He will be driving the new unit in its production of scripted and non-scripted content across multiple genres including digital and films for India and South East Asia.
Commenting on the appointment , Marco Bassetti, chief executive officer, Banijay Group said, “Banijay Asia has incredible potential to deliver growth to our group and I am delighted to welcome Deepak into the Banijay family. He has extraordinary creative talent coupled with clear-cut business insight and I very much look forward to working with him again.”
Dhar, served EndemolShine India as managing director till December 2017, and was the driving force behind the company’s growth across the film, television and digital units, with more than 250 shows and 10,000 plus hours of programming. He also carries experience in leadership roles in content strategies at Star TV, Channel V and MTV.
Banijay is an independent content creation group for television and multimedia platforms. Spread across entities in seventeen territories, its library includes programming spanning genres like entertainment, drama, factual entertainment, kids and reality; all licensed internationally by its global distribution arm Banijay Rights. Some notable formats include reality television series Keeping up with the Kardashians, crime drama series Underbelly and ABC’s reality television program Wife Swap.
Dhar said “After my last role at Endemol, I was looking for an opportunity that could satiate my passion to create innovative and engaging content, while at the same time, have the potential to scale at multiple levels. This partnership with Banijay Group matches perfectly with what I was seeking, creating a strong foundation in South East Asia is the next crucial step for them and I am excited to be helming this move.”
