Mumbai: Saregama India Ltd has entered into a strategic partnership with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Productions Pvt Ltd, anchored by an equity investment by the music and entertainment company. The move brings together Bhansali Productions’ strong film and OTT content capabilities with Saregama’s established music and live events businesses.
Under the agreement, Bhansali Productions will exclusively license the music rights of all its future films to Saregama through a pre-agreed pricing formula. This structure is expected to provide Saregama with a steady pipeline of premium film music, while eliminating competitive bidding and improving cost predictability for music acquisition.
Bhansali Productions will retain full ownership of its film intellectual property and continue to exercise complete creative control. Saregama, meanwhile, will provide governance oversight and financial discipline as part of the partnership framework.
The investment aligns with Saregama’s broader strategic shift away from in-house film production towards collaboration-led content creation. The company said it plans to gradually streamline its internal film production activities over the next one to two years, focusing instead on partnerships with established creative studios. The transaction is expected to be earnings-per-share accretive by FY27 and enhance margins across Saregama’s music and video segments.
Founded in 1996, Bhansali Productions is known for critically and commercially acclaimed titles such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat and Gangubai Kathiawadi, along with the Netflix series Heeramandi. The studio plans to produce over 10 feature films in the next three years. Its upcoming slate includes Love and War, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, and Do Deewane Shehar Mein, directed by Ravi Udyawar and featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur.
For FY25, Bhansali Productions reported revenue of ₹304 crore, EBITDA of ₹60 crore and profit after tax of ₹45 crore.
Avarna Jain, Vice Chairperson at Saregama India, said the partnership aligns with the company’s strategy of working with established creative studios to drive long-term shareholder value. Sanjay Leela Bhansali noted that the collaboration is built on shared values around artistic integrity, music and storytelling.
Kotak Investment Banking acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Bhansali Productions on the transaction. Saregama India, part of the RP–Sanjiv Goenka Group, operates across music, digital content, television, artiste management and film production.
