Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd.

Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based in Mumbai. One of the major production houses of India, Dharma production produce high quality Hindi cinema. Some of the movies under this production was one of the first Indian feature films to figure on the UK top 10. Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd. is associated with good-looking cinema. This is their USP. The kind of films Dharma Productions make range from action flicks to non-commercial to socially relevant films. There is versatility in the kind of movies produced by this production house.

Established by Late Shri Yash Johar in 1976, Dharma Productions' endeavor has always been to produce high quality cinema that is accepted and appreciated by audiences across the world. He made Hindi films that were noted for featuring lavish sets and exotic locations, but upheld Indian traditions and family values.

Yash Johar began his career in Bollywood in 1952 in Sunil Dutt's production house Ajanta Arts. He was associated with films like Mujhe Jeene Do and Yeh Raaste Hai Pyaar Ke. He helped filmmaker Dev Anand handle the production of his film Guide, which did roaring business at the box office. He continued with Dev Anand's Navketan Films and handled production of films like Jewel Thief, Prem Pujari and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

When he started Dharma Productions, the first film produced by the company Dostana directed by Raj Khosla was a huge box office success. The company produced a handful of other films in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Yash Johar was born on September 6, 1929 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He was married to Hiroo Yash Johar. Yash Johar died on 26 June 2004 in Mumbai, aged 75, of a chest infection though he also had been fighting with cancer. After the death of Yash Johar, his son Karan Johar took the reins of Dharma Productions and has catapulted it to new heights.

Karan Johar, Yash Johar's son, who now runs the production house, is one of India's most versatile filmmakers who is dishing out a wide variety of films. He is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, costume designer and television host based in Bollywood. Being the head of the production company Dharma Productions, he is most known for directing and producing some of Bollywood's highest grossing films in India and abroad. Four of the films he has directed, those starring Shahrukh Khan, have been India's highest grossing productions in the overseas market. The success of those films resulted in crediting Johar for changing the way Indian cinema has been perceived in the West.

Dharma's reputation as a clean, honest company grew with the kind of films they produced and thus helped build a tremendous amount of goodwill within the fraternity and outside of it. With extraordinary records of success stories, a cinematic history from Dharma Productions dawned on Indian Cinema.

Heart-warming, stories, stellar megastar casts and record box office collections - these are what made up for the celluloid dreams at Dharma Productions whose main goal was to enrapture audiences all around the world, and has raked in success for the company and its associates.

Soon after its inception, Dharma Productions became a buzzword for stellar productions such as Dostana (1980), Duniya (1984), Muqaddar Ka Faisla (1987), 'Agneepath' (1990) and 'Gumrah' (1993). Karan Johar entered the film industry as an actor in Aditya Chopra's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). He later made his directorial debut with the highly successful romantic comedy, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) which won him a Filmfare Award For Best Director and Filmfare Best Screenplay Award. His following directorial efforts were the family drama, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and the romantic drama, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), a movie which dealt with the theme of adultery. Both films were major financial successes in India and abroad. Karan Johar thus established himself as one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood. His fourth film, My Name Is Khan (2010) was met with positive reviews and grossed 2 billion (US$37 million) worldwide. It earned him his second Best Director award at the Filmfare ceremony.

Karan Johar's Journey

As an Actor and Director: Karan Johar formally entered the film industry as an actor, portraying Shahrukh Khan's close friend in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). He was also assistant director on the film and helped director Aditya Chopra in writing the screenplay. In addition, he selected Shahrukh Khan's costumes, something he continued to do for Shahrukh Khan's other movies like Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Duplicate (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Main Hoon Na and Veer-Zaara (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007).

Johar made his directorial debut at the age of 25 with the cult film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 which he also wrote the story and screenplay for. Johar first wrote a story about a love triangle between a tomboy, a very pretty looking girl and a slightly insensitive boy but he shelved the idea because he was not satisfied with it. Then he wrote another plot about a widower and his child which he shelved as well. Eventually he decided to merge the two stories into one. He explained in an interview with Rediff: "It was about the trauma of a widower and his little child. How the child really wants a mother and how she brings her mother into her father's life. Then I thought: Why not bring a youth aspect to the story? Why not a flashback? That's how the story got made." Starring Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji, the film was well received by critics and audience alike. It won a National awards, eight Filmfare Awards in 1998 including Best Movie, Best Director and all four Best Actor awards for both leading and supporting roles. It was also the highest grossing Indian movie of the year in India and abroad and was declared an all-time blockbuster by Box Office India.

Johar's second directorial effort was the family drama, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, released in 2001. It featured an ensemble star-cast that included Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. It was the fifth film to star Khan and Kajol and their last together in the decade until their next cast, again by Johar, in 2010. Johar stated that he make the film because of his desire to create a saga like Yash Chopra's Kabhi Kabhie which dealt with parent-child relationships. He also added that "The posters of all those big stars glittering on a banner had entranced me in childhood. I said one day I will make a film with big stars standing together in one frame. I integrated both ideas in K3G." The film was a major financial success and became India's second highest-grossing