Sony Pictures Entertainment has appointed Shony Panjikaran and Lada Guruden Singh to take over its distribution and production business in India.
Lada Guruden Singh has been appointed General Manager and Head of Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP), India. He will be overseeing SPIP India’s local film development and production slate as well as its expansion in regional cinema. Lada will report to Michael Rifkin and Shebnem Askin, Co-Heads of SPIP.
Shony Panjikaran has been appointed General Manager and Head of Sony Pictures Releasing International, India. He will manage Sony Pictures’ theatrical releasing business across the Hollywood and local cinematic slate in India, including all distribution, sales, and marketing efforts. Shony will report to Adam Herr, Senior Vice President, Distribution, Asia, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In addition to its impressive Hollywood lineup of upcoming feature films, Sony Pictures is further committing to investment in Indian theatrical projects, and it has expanded its footprint in regional cinema including Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam projects.
Shony Panjikaran says, “Sony Pictures is a global force that creates imaginative and engaging content for audiences across the world. It is an absolute privilege to oversee SPE’s theatrical business in India and bring an incredible slate of Hollywood and Indian cinema to Indian audiences. For both Lada and I, it will be hugely rewarding to lead Sony Pictures Entertainment, India into a new era. Today, the film market in India is virtually borderless, and I am looking forward to pioneering new initiatives and partnerships in this dynamic distribution space and to satisfy the demand for brilliant global and local stories in India.”
Says Lada Guruden Singh, “As India leads the world in entertainment, creating content in volume and quality that ranks right at the top, we are excited to give it our all to become one of the top players in the country. From tentpole hits to clutter break-through content, from stories unfolding at the margins to the celebration of Indian mythology; we want to push the boundaries and synergies with leading talent as well as with fresh new voices. Shony and I are committed to making this dream come true, breaking all language barriers, and turning Sony Pictures Entertainment, India into the most sought-after creative studio in India!”
Lada has been with Sony Pictures group since 2014 in multiple capacities across public relations, marketing, and creative development. He has worked on titles like ‘Piku’, ‘PadMan’, ‘102 Not Out’, ‘Looop Lapeta’ and has led the studio’s expansion in Malayalam and Telugu with ‘9’ and the recent blockbuster ‘Major’. India’s youngest biographer at the age of 22, Lada is a published author and a poet with three books to his credit. He is a former journalist and has worked with India Today as an anchor. He has also worked at Fox Star Studios and Disney India previously. Most recently, Lada has been instrumental in snagging the rights to ‘Shaktimaan,’ a superhero trilogy currently in the works at SPIP.
Shony Panjikaran has spearheaded Sony Pictures Entertainment India’s marketing initiatives over the past four years helping to launch enormously successful releases including ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, ‘Spiderman: Far From Home’, Jumanji-The Next Level’, ‘Venom’ and ‘Major’. Prior to this tenure at Sony Pictures, Panjikaran spent ten years at Fox Star Studios where he led their marketing efforts in a variety of roles; his work included films such as ‘Avatar’, ‘Life of Pi’, ‘Deadpool’, ‘Sanju’, ‘Baaghi 2’’, Atlee’s ‘Raja Rani’ amongst others.
Lada and Shony’s elevations underscore the film studio’s commitment to continue creating theatre-worthy tentpole films in India with a slew of big-ticket announcements set to come out in the coming weeks, as well as building on the track record of success with beloved Hollywood movies.
