Mumbai, India 20 July: India’s most iconic legacy banners, Sagar Pictures Entertainment, today announces the next phase of its evolution with the launch of its global studio business and an integrated intellectual property (IP)-led growth strategy focused on building enduring cinematic franchises, original storytelling and entertainment experiences for audiences around the world.
As the entertainment landscape continues to evolve, SPE is now moving beyond traditional film and television production to develop stories and worlds that can grow across multiple formats and platforms. The studio will focus on films, premium content, gaming, music, consumer products, immersive experiences, theme parks and emerging media, thus creating connected experiences for its consumers across every touchpoint, evolving from a traditional content company into a future-focused entertainment and intellectual property enterprise, designed to engage audiences across generations and geographies. The announcement marks a strategic transition from a traditional content studio to a future-focused entertainment company, with intellectual property at the centre of its long-term growth strategy.
Speaking about the announcement, Akash Sagar Chopra, CEO, Sagar Pictures Entertainment, said, “India is home to some of the world’s most timeless stories, many of which remain underexplored in cinema. These narratives are not only entertaining but also carry profound spiritual and cultural wisdom. At Sagar Pictures Entertainment, our vision is to preserve their authenticity while reimagining them through world-class cinematic storytelling for audiences across generations and geographies. This new chapter reflects our commitment to combining a seven-decade legacy with innovation, global collaborations, and future-ready entertainment experiences.”
He continued, “Our first step in this journey is Shrimad Bhagavatam, a project that reflects the scale and ambition with which we want to approach storytelling. As we build this and future franchises, our focus is on creating stories that can grow beyond cinema into meaningful experiences across multiple platforms, while staying rooted in the authenticity and values that define India’s cultural heritage.”
Sagar Pictures Entertainment builds forward on the legacy of the ‘Sagar’ banner, arguably one of India’s oldest motion picture studios, founded in 1954 by Film Maker and Producer Ramanand Sagar (Recipient of the Padma Shri Award). Over the decades, under the guidance of Chairman and Director, Producer Moti Sagar, the group has created some of India’s most iconic films and television programming across generations of Indian entertainment. Widely recognised for its adaptations of the ancient Indian epics for the screens, becoming a trusted name in spiritual, historical, and family entertainment, the company’s productions have reached over a billion viewers (*BAARC India and others) in India, establishing unprecedented engagement with audiences in India and across the global diaspora. Today, SPE is building on that foundation through an IP-led strategy focused on creating original stories, long term cinematic experiences and globally scalable entertainment businesses designed for today’s evolving consumer.
The company‘s inaugural feature film franchise, Shrimad Bhagavatam, is a seven-part cinematic event developed for premium large-format exhibition and the first live-action feature adaptation based on the ancient Indian text, the Bhagavata Mahapurana. Currently in production, the franchise is conceived as a grounded cinematic epic, combining extensive textual research with contemporary filmmaking to bring one of India’s most enduring literary works to the screen. Building on the company‘s acclaimed adaptations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Shrimad Bhagavatam is a state of the art global production, designed to meet the highest standards of cinematic craftsmanship. Conceived to extend across multiple platforms and consumer experiences, it represents the first step in Sagar Pictures Entertainment‘s long-term franchise strategy, creating enduring intellectual property through interconnected storytelling and marking the beginning of SPE’s next phase in developing globally scalable entertainment franchises rooted in India’s timeless stories.