The Entertainer of the Millennium

Anil Ambani - the man behind Reliance and the future of Entertainment

When you talk of Indian entertainment, Bollywood, Indian Cinema, and Indian Television, names like Raj Kapoor and Dada Saheb Phalke come to mind - but when you talk of entertainment in the 21st century, there is only one name that looms large - that of Mr. Anil Ambani and his company Reliance entertainment.

Who is Anil Ambani?

Anil Ambani - a man with a vision and a go-getter who realized his dream of taking the entertainment industry by the storm - is today in turbulent waters. Stories - both good and bad - are rife on every media - both online and off. But let us not be judgmental - rather let us take a closer look at the man and his achievements.

Mr. Ambani - full name Anil Dhirubhai Ambani - born 4th June 1959, is a renowned Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance ADA group and a leader of many listed companies in the Reliance group including Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, and Reliance Communication. He is also among the richest individuals in the world with a net worth of 109 million dollars at last count.

The Entertainment Journey

Having ruled the corporate world for decades, Mr. Anil Ambani stepped into the world of entertainment in 2005 with his acquisition of a majority share in Adlabs Films - a company that makes, processes, exhibits and markets films and digital cinema - which was later renamed RelianceMediaWorks in 2009.

After this pilot venture Mr. Anil Ambani went on to acquire other entertainment industry companies including Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks - and explored every avenue of entertainment including Motion Picture Processing, Audio Restoration, Visual Effects, 2D to 3D conversions, Studio Equipment Rentals, Post Production Animation for TV, and television programming through its Big Synergy venture.

Accolades to Ambani

Mr. Anil Ambani has been the proud recipient of many awards and accolades from the Businessman of the Year award in 1997 to Best Role Model in 2006 and Entrepreneur of the Decade Award in 2002. His Reliance Media Works has been credited with visual effects for popular movies like Chennai Express and Paranoia while his Big Synergy venture has gained acclaim for production of the likes of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) and Indian Idol. KBC was crowned the Big Star TV Show of the Decade 2001-2010 and till date captivates the audience.

Reliance Entertainment

Reliance Entertainment - another leading entertainment company from the Reliance Group led by Mr. Anil Ambani, emerged in 2015 from the Reliance group's dream of meeting the aspirations of the Millennium India. The company forayed into music, sports, gaming, mobile and internet - delivering content across platforms and emerging as a leader in digital media. The company also simultaneously ventured into DTH, IPTV, and mobile entertainment.

Perhaps as a result of taking on too much too soon, the company set off on a rocky path - and floundered. But it recovered within a couple of years with the release of two successful Bollywood films - Toilet - Ek Premkatha and Golmal Again - earning र 134.22 crore and र 205.68 crore respectively.

Says , "We completely changed our business model in the past three years, stopped all acquisitions and started looking at joint ventures with respected Bollywood filmmakers' companies," when talking about the recovery. Sarkar explains that the main reason for change in strategy - and indeed corporate structure - was the realization that "it was impossible to get creative leadership," and therefore they decided to onboard a creative partner and take a call on whether to sell or distribute the film after it was completed.

The strategy worked, and today Reliance Entertainment three new and promising projects with JP Films spearheaded by Nidhi Dutta, daughter of J.P. Dutta - owner of JP Films. We wish Mr. Anil Ambani all the best in his new ventures and hope to see Anil Ambani led Reliance group reach new heights.