Have you seen these movies? Barfi, Rang de Basanti, Swades, A Wednesday,
Today we are up with the backstory of Media Mogul - Ronnie Screwvala, known for his contributions to the Hindi Film Industry. Not just in the Film Industry but also started many businesses which later flourished as one of the largest in India’s Undertakings.
Next year in January, We’ll see him as a Judge of Shark Tank Season 3. Click to learn more about who are the other new judges.
Who is Ronnie Screwvala?
Ronnie Screwvala was born and brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai) where his father used to work as an executive at the British firm J L Morrison and Smith & Nephew. He always had a fancied theatre and acted in professional plays held in the Bombay Theatre as a Hobby.
Ronnie, who was born in Mumbai, India, pioneered cable television and founded a Media and Entertainment conglomerate (UTV Software Communications) that collaborated with News Corporation, 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, and others. Later that year, he sold the company to Disney for a reported $1.4 billion.
Later looking at the opportunities Screwvala founded a toothbrush manufacturing company and is even recognized as a credited pioneer of Cable TV in India (1981).
How? Well, Ronnie Screwvala is best known for having founded UTV Motion Pictures, which came to be known as a turning point in his life. UTV Motion Pictures was later sold out to entertainment company Walt Disney.
His Other Businesses
Ronnie Screwvala's net worth is now estimated to be around Rs 12,800 crore as a result of his contributions to various businesses. He also co-founded UpGrad, a higher education and specialization online education company.
He even founded a sports company (U Sports) that spans football, e-sports, and kabaddi and returned to the media content space to found a creative content company in movies and digital content (RSVP)..
He wrote the book Dream with Your Eyes Open, and his investment firm Unilazer Ventures has been a significant private equity investor in Indian start-ups, with early-stage investments and significant minority stakes.
Screwvala founded Lazer Brushes in the early 1980s, which grew to become the country's largest toothbrush manufacturer. In 1981, he launched Network, a cable television service where he installed video machines in the basements of Mumbai's high-rise buildings.
He even founded UTV in 1990 as a television production company with Rs 37,500 before expanding it into a media conglomerate that includes the film production studio UTV Motion Pictures.
Screwvala was named to Esquire's list of the 75 Most Influential People of the Twenty-First Century in 2009, and he was also ranked 78 on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. According to the Hurun India Rich List 2022, his current net worth is Rs 12,800 crore.
Also, Read, Ritesh Agarwal: The Visionary Founder of OYO and Shark on Shark Tank India
