Red Chillies Entertainments Private Limited, doing business as Red Chillies Entertainment is an Indian visual effects, production and distribution company established by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002.[3] It was transformed from the defunct Dreamz Unlimited. Based in Mumbai, the studio's activities span across creative development, production, marketing, distribution, licensing, merchandising and syndication of films in India and worldwide.[4] They are also a visual effects company. Throughout the last several years, Red Chillies has acquired the rights to several Hindi films.
Shah Rukh Khan as the founder and Managing Director (MD) of the company, while Gauri Khan as co-founder as well as Joint-MD of the company and also serves as a producer. Sanjiv Chawla was the former CEO of the company. In February 2013, Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders took over additional responsibility as Chief Executive Officer of Red Chillies Entertainment as well.[6][7][8][9]
History
1999–2004
Originally known as Dreams Unlimited and founded in 1999 by Shah Rukh Khan with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza, the company's first production was Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which released in 2000. The film turned out to be commercially unsuccessful. The company's next productions were the 2001 historical drama Aśoka and the 2003 romantic drama Chalte Chalte. The later two emerged as 'hit' at the box office.
In 2003, choreographer Farah Khan, a good friend of Khan, decided to revive the plan of directing a film starring him. The project which was originally planned in 2001 but was delayed as Khan got badly injured while shooting an action sequence for Shakti: The Power (2002) due to which he suffered pain in filming for his other projects. He then took over his production company Dreamz Unlimited and transformed it into Red Chillies Entertainment with his wife Gauri Khan, who became the producer of the first production Main Hoon Na (2004).
2004–2010
The production house released Main Hoon Na in 2004, which did well at the box office, becoming the second highest-grossing film of the year.[10] Khan also starred in the company's 2nd release, the 2005 movie Paheli, belonging to genre of Indian Parallel Cinema, the film was critically acclaimed and was selected as India's official entry to the 78th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.[11]
The third film produced by the company was Farah Khan's mega-budget Om Shanti Om, which was released in November 2007. The film was set in the 1970s and 2000s and paid tribute to Indian film industry of both these eras. Upon release, it broke many box office records, grossing over ₹ 1.49 billion and thus became the highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time at the time of its release.[12][13] The 2009 film Billu starring Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta was the company's next release, the film opened to good reviews, but was a failure at the box office. The film made by Roshan Abbas, Always Kabhi Kabhi, did poorly.
2010–present
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2023)
The company continued working on other projects until finally deciding on Ra.One (2011) starring Khan himself, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. The pre-production work began in 2007 after the release of Om Shanti Om. The film's crew consisted of more than 5,000 members from India, Italy and the US, and was pieced together by more than 1,000 people, working in shifts, in around 15 studios across the world.[14] It saw the inclusion of several visual effects techniques being incorporated in the production which were carried out by Red Chillies VFX. With an estimated budget of ₹ 1.25 billion, Ra.One was the second-most expensive film ever produced in Indian cinema, and the most expensive Bollywood film.[15] The film witnessed a level of publicity campaigning previously unseen in India films, with marketing taking place over a period of nine months and involving major brand tie-ups of a 52 crore (US$9.88 million) which set the record for the largest marketing budget in India. Shah Rukh Khan decided to dedicate Ra.One to his friend and former CEO Sanjiv Chawla, since he stepped down due to ill health.[16]
The film released across 3,100 screens in India and 904 prints overseas in both 2D and 3D,[17] making it the largest Indian cinematic release in the world. The film went on to earn ₹ 204 crores worldwide, but against the movie's big budget and the huge sum of money spent on marketing it, the movie underperformed and was a commercial disaster. Their next production was Karan Johar's directorial venture, Student of the Year (2012), which was co-produced by Johar's production company. The company is reportedly targeting a 25 per cent annual business growth, and is set to roll out four to five films, but the Bollywood superstar says he won't act in them.
"We want to make four-five films without me. As a producer I would like to concentrate on the films and visual effects," Shah Rukh told IANS in an interview.[18]
Badla (2019) was one such film that didn't star Shah Rukh Khan. It featured Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu in lead roles, and was directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It is a mystery thriller that was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment and Azure Entertainment, in which businesswoman Naina Sethi (Pannu) hires lawyer Badal Gupta (Bachchan) to clear her name as a suspect in the murder of her lover.[19]
The production house launched their first collaboration with Netflix India, Bard of Blood, 2019. Based on the 2015 novel by the same name, this espionage thriller starred Emraan Hashmi in the lead role along with Kirti Kulhari, Vineet Kumar Singh, Jaideep Ahlawat and Sobhita Dhulipala. It is a seven-episode series that revolves around the story of an ex-RAW agent. The series premiered on 27 September 2019 on Netflix.[20][21]
Their next upcoming film, Bob Biswas, in association with Sujoy Ghosh's Bound Script Production is currently on floors.[23][24][25][26] Starring Abhishek Bachchan in the lead, the movie is the directorial debut of Diya Annapurna Ghosh.[27] The film is based on a fictional character from Kaahani (2012), ‘Bob Biswas', who is a poker-faced contract killer.[28]
Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. has a visual effects studio known as redchillies.vfx which started off in 2006.[1] Apart from home productions, the VFX team had been involved with many major movies like Chak De! India, Krrish 3, Don: The Chase Begins Again, Dostana and De Dana Dan.[58] The division has won accolades for its work in India and abroad. Some of the major awards won by the team:
In 2007, Om Shanti Om won best visual effects from Filmfare, Zee cine, IIFA, Star Screen, Indy's and Apsara Producer's Guild Awards.
In 2011, Ra.One swept all major awards in Bollywood for visual effects, including a National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Special Effects and was nominated for the Asian Film Award as well.[1] The division has the largest manpower among the group companies with a staff strength of over 130.[59]
In 2016, Fan won best special effects award from Filmfare.
In 2018, Zero won best visual effects award from Filmfare and Zee Cine.[60][61]
In 2023, Jawan won best visual effects award from Filmfare.[62]
The Studio was involved in following projects:[63]
An extended five episodes miniseries version of Aśoka aired on Star Plus from 28 May 2002 to 25 June 2002.[64]
A TV production arm Red Chillies Idiot Box was launched in 2009.[65] The unit produced 10 shows, 2 Television films and 1 Theatrical film Men Will Be Men before it was shut down in 2012.[66]
In 2017 it was announced that Red Chillies Entertainment will produce Bard of Blood, an eight-episode series for Netflix based on the novel The Bard of Blood by Bilal Siddiqi. The series premiered on 27 September 2019.[67][68]
A horror mini-series Betaal premiered on 24 May 2020 on Netflix.[69]
In 2008, Red Chillies acquired ownership rights for the franchise representing Kolkata in the Twenty20cricket tournament Indian Premier League, for a price of US$75.09 million, and have since named the team Kolkata Knight Riders. KKR is the richest team in the IPL and it has been ranked as the most valued with a brand value of $42.1 million.[80] Financially, KKR is the most profitable franchise in the IPL.[81][82] The home of the Kolkata Knight Riders is Eden Gardens.
The team cinched their maiden Caribbean Premier League title in 2015, right after Shahrukh Khan became the owner of the franchise. He changed the name and logo of the team the very next season to Trinbago Knight Riders, with the name and the logo being almost identical to KKR.[84][85]
^Udasi, Harshikaa (9 January 2010). "Day in the life of a superstar". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
