Deepak Dhar, the man credited with being the key driving force behind content production in India, has partnered with Banijay Group, world’s largest independent content creation group for television and multimedia platforms. Dhar and Banijay have entered into a 50:50 joint venture in a bid to expand the Group’s presence in India & South East Asia. The partnership will see Deepak launching and spearheading the group’s operations in India and South East Asia as Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Banijay Asia. In this new alliance, Banijay Asia, under the guidance of Dhar, will produce scripted and non-scripted content across multiple genres including digital and films for India and South East Asia.

In his new role as Founder & CEO, Deepak will lead business, content strategies, partnerships and alliances with the region with India being the central focus.

Marco Bassetti, CEO Banijay Group, commented, “Banijay Asia has incredible potential to deliver growth to our group and I am delighted to welcome Deepak into the Banijay family. He has an extraordinary creative talent coupled with clear-cut business insight and I very much look forward to working with him again.”

Commenting on his new role, Deepak Dhar said, “Creating innovative and engaging content has been a passion for me and I am always on a lookout for challenging opportunities. After my last role at Endemol, I was looking for an opportunity that could satiate my passion, while at the same time, have the potential to scale at multiple levels. This partnership with Banijay Group matches perfectly to what I was seeking. Creating a strong foundation in South East Asia is the next crucial step for them and I am excited to be helming this move.”

Peter Langenberg, COO Banijay Group, added, “This is an extremely significant partnership for us as we continue to build our presence in India and South-East Asia, one of the most dynamic and burgeoning regions in the world. We are very excited about the wide-ranging opportunities Deepak’s experience and expertise will bring to the group.”

In December 2017, Deepak Dhar stepped down as the Managing Director of Endemol Shine India where he was instrumental in growing Endemol Shine India to an undisputed leadership position, helping the company expand its wings within the domains of television, film and digital with over 250+ shows and 10,000+ hours of programming, a feat unprecedented in the industry. His expansive career also includes leadership positions to drive content strategies across Star TV, Channel V and MTV.

“At Banijay, we aim to create content across fiction, non-fiction, digital programming as well as films. We will work closely with the group’s central team to deliver our concepts to Banijay companies around the world for local production and, at the same time, deliver their ideas to Asian platforms”, signed off Dhar.