In 2024, it came as a surprise to many when Karan Johar signed a ₹1000 crore deal to sell 50% stake of Dharma Productions to Adar Poonawalla, through his company Serene Productions. The remaining 50% stake belongs to Karan as Executive Chairman and CEO, Apoorva Mehta. In the podcast Game Changers, Karan Johar opened up about the decision to do so and shared how he is also looking at profitability with every project he takes on.

What Karan said

During the conversation, when Karan was asked how he arrived at the decision to sell half of the stakes, he said, “It so happened eventually that Adar and his wife Natasha have been my close friends, very dear to me. He picked up the phone one day and said that he was interested, but I told him that this was not his business. He said he also wanted to expand… Apoorva said that Adar is great – he is a friend, compassionate and wants to expand. So, we haven’t lost any creative control. There are balances because when there’s a partner, you become more accountable. We got an investment for expansion, I was able to immediately open a distribution arm and talks are going on to do something big with the music arm. Adar is wonderful, compassionate and has a sharp mind in business. He is somebody we turn to, when we want to do bigger deals. Apoorva and I lean on him for advice.”

‘Not sure if Homebound can be made again’

He went on to add, “Ab kya ho gaya hai ki ab aap jo bhi decision lenge woh aap profitability ke saath lete he kyuki profitable hona bohot zaroori hain. Maine abhi ek film banayi he Homebound, which is very critically acclaimed and we are hoping it finds its limited audience lekin aisi decisions shayad mein future loonga ya nahi loonga ye main aaj nahi keh sakta… bohot dukh hoga lekin I chose this deal for a reason. Profitability dikhana bohot zaruri he (Now we will take only take those decisions which are profitable because that is important. I made Homebound now but I am not sure if I can take that decision again in the future. Ofcourse it will pain me but we need to show profitability).”

Dharma Productions is one of India’s leading film production and distribution companies, founded by Yash Johar in 1976 and subsequently led by his son, Karan Johar. Their latest production is Sunny Sanskari ki Tulsi Kumari, which stars Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Rohit Saraf and Sanya Malhotra.