Saregama India Ltd has announced a strategic partnership with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Productions Pvt Ltd, marking a shift in the company’s approach to film-linked content and music acquisition through an equity-backed collaboration.
The partnership involves an equity investment by Saregama and brings together Bhansali Productions’ film and OTT development capabilities with Saregama’s music catalogue and live events business. The move signals Saregama’s broader transition away from in-house film production towards capital-efficient, long-term alliances with established creative studios.
Under the agreement, Bhansali Productions will exclusively license the music rights of all its future films to Saregama under a pre-agreed pricing framework. According to Saregama, this structure is expected to ensure a predictable pipeline of premium film music, reduce dependence on competitive bidding, and provide greater visibility and control over acquisition costs.
Bhansali Productions will continue to retain ownership of its film intellectual property and full creative control. Saregama will have governance oversight and will support financial discipline within the partnership framework.
Saregama also stated that it plans to progressively wind down its in-house film production operations over the next one to two years, aligning its content strategy more closely with partnerships rather than direct production. The company expects the investment to be earnings-per-share accretive by FY27 and to contribute to margin expansion across its music and video segments.
Founded in 1996, Bhansali Productions is known for high-value, music-driven cinema, with a filmography that includes Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat and Gangubai Kathiawadi, as well as the Netflix series Heeramandi. The studio plans to produce over 10 feature films over the next three years.
Its upcoming slate includes Love and War, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, and Do Deewane Shehar Mein, directed by Ravi Udyawar and featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur.
Avarna Jain, Vice Chairperson at Saregama India, said the partnership reflects the company’s focus on collaborating with established creative studios to build sustainable, long-term shareholder value.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali said the collaboration is rooted in shared values around music, storytelling and artistic integrity.
Kotak Investment Banking acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Bhansali Productions on the transaction.
