Nothing Scripted

Dharma Productions reported consolidated revenue of ₹512.2 crore in FY24, including ₹111 crore from distribution and exhibition of films

- Lata Jha

Apoorva Mehta had no idea that a seemingly ordinary day back in class VI at Greenlawns High School in south Mumbai was going to set the course for the rest of his life. A student from another section was transferred to his class. The principal asked who was willing to make friends with the new boy. Mehta put his hand up. Forty years on, they are still friends and run a film production house that has diversified into web shows, talent management and advertising, well known in Bollywood circles as Dharma Productions.

That boy was filmmaker Karan Johar, owner of Dharma, the company he inherited from his father Yash Johar, where Mehta has served as CEO for the past 20 years.

"For many people, their careers are happy accidents and I'm certainly a testament to that," Mehta, 53, says over a video call, days before leaving for the Cannes Film Festival where Dharma's latest film Homebound premiered in the Un Certain Regard category. "I didn't know him (Johar) at all. It was just one of those things, I don't know why I did it (put my hand up to agree to be his friend) but I'm very glad I did."

Mehta and Johar continued to stay friends through school, and eventually enrolled at HR College of Commerce & Economics, bonding over Hindi films and music all through (though they promptly changed cassettes in the car stereo to English songs while approaching college so as to not appear uncool). After college, Mehta joined his family's copper rolling business—his father died when he was just 17—while Johar went on to make friends in the film industry, such as distributor Anil Thadani and filmmaker Aditya Chopra. He assisted the latter on his directorial debut Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), eventually making his own film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Mehta, meanwhile, wasn't exactly happy.