BackDeepak Dhar partners with Paris-based Banijay Group
The 50:50 JV unit of Deepak Dhar and Banijay Group will produce scripted and non-scripted content across multiple genres including digital and films for India and South East Asia
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New Delhi: Deepak Dhar, former managing director of EndemolShine India who has been credited with work across film, television and digital formats, has partnered with Paris-based independent content creation company Banijay Group, to expand its operations to India and South East Asia. Dhar and Banijay have entered into a 50:50 joint venture, as part of which the former will head the company’s operations as founder and chief executive officer of the newly created Banijay Asia.
Under the guidance of Dhar, this new unit will produce scripted and non-scripted content across multiple genres including digital and films for India and South East Asia.
In his new role, Dhar will lead business, content strategies, partnerships and alliances with the region with India being the central focus.
“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," said Marco Bassetti, chief executive officer, Banijay Group.
Dhar, who stepped down as managing director of EndemolShine India in December 2017, was instrumental in helping the company grow across the film, television and digital units, with more than 250 shows and 10,000 plus hours of programming. His long career also includes leadership roles to drive 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.
“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," Dhar said. “Creating a strong foundation in South East Asia is the next crucial step for them and I am excited to be helming this move."
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