Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar’s studio sells 50% stake worth 10bn rupees to vaccine maker’s CEO

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of vaccine maker Serum Institute of India, will buy a 50% stake in filmmaker Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for 10 billion rupees ($119 million), the Bollywood studio said on Monday.

Poonawalla will buy the stake through his production company, Serene Productions. This is his first major investment outside the pharma sector since 2021, when he bought a 20% stake in social media platform Wakau Interactive.

“They (Adar and Serum) are trying to fruitfully deploy the large cash pile that the company would have generated from the vaccine sales,” said Vishal Manchanda, research analyst at Systematix Institutional Equities, adding that the investment was “completely unexpected”.

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Serum Institute of India has benefitted from sales of its “Covishield” branded vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, has also invested in other vaccines for malaria, dengue and cervical cancer.

“The collaboration aims to further transform content creation, distribution, and audience engagement by integrating advanced technologies and pioneering production methods,” the statement said.

Indian film production houses have struggled to bring back the money invested in new Bollywood films as a ho-hum movie lineup and rising demand for streaming services kept movie-watchers at home.

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The deal values Johar’s Dharma, which produced celebrity talk show ‘Koffee with Karan’ and Bollywood films such as ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ and ‘My Name Is Khan’, at 20 billion rupees.