Amit Khanna

For the fashion photographer, see Amit Khanna (photographer).

Amit Khanna is an Indian film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He was the founder chairman of Reliance Entertainment,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} former president of the Producers Guild of India,^[7] and the founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]} He is credited with having coined the term Bollywood.^[17] Khanna has also won three National Film Awards as a producer and lyricist.^[18][19]

Amit Khanna
Born	(1951-03-01) 1 March 1951 (age 73)[1] Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation(s)	Film producer, lyricist, author, media executive
Years active	1971 - present
Known for	Founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image
Notable work	Gudia, Sardari Begum, Bhairavi
Parents	Jawaharlal Khanna (father) Hem Khanna (mother)
Awards	3 National Film Awards
Website	amitkhanna.in

Background

He completed his higher education from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.^[20] He has been involved with media since his school days at St. Columba's School, Delhi and has worked in theatre, radio, television, journalism, and films. Khanna began his career as an executive producer with actor-producer Dev Anand’s Navketan Films in 1971 and subsequently produced films such as Man Pasand, Sheeshay Ka Ghar and Shesh. He has also written over 400 film and non-film songs and several film scripts. He began actively working in television as a producer-director in the eighties and set up Plus Channel in 1990 which was India’s first entertainment conglomerate and the largest independent producer of TV programmes. He left Plus as its Managing Director to launch Reliance Entertainment. His other achievements include editing the magazines Tempus and Take-2 and writing in various magazines and newspapers. He has served on the Central Board of Film Certification and the Film Import Selection Committee, as a vice president of the Film Producers Guild of India and has been on the committees of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Indian Music Industry and Film Federation of India. He helped found the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.

Organisations

Amit Khanna is the only permanent member of the Council of Management of the Producers Guild of India (the two others were V. Shantaram and Raj Kapoor). He has participated as a keynote speaker for Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), NASSCOM, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), and ECO, and served on over 50 international government committees and trade organizations and institutions.

Year	Title	Organisation	Notes	Ref
1981	EC member	Film Federation of India (FFI)	Apex body of the Indian film industry.
1982	Member	Radio & TV Advertising Practitioners Association
1984	Member	Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA)
1985-2000	Vice President	Association of Motion Picture & TV Program Producers	For 17 years.
1988-1990	Governing Council member	Film and Television Institute of India, Pune
1988-1990	Film Import Selection Committee member	Govt. of India
1989-2000	Managing Director & Group Editor	PLUS Channel	India’s first integrated media entertainment conglomerate.
1990-1994	Western Panel member	Central Board of Film Certification
1990-1994	Appraisal Committee member	Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India
1992-1995	Director	DSJ Communications
1994-1996	Governing Council member	Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata
1997-2000	Advisory group member	Ministry of I&B, Govt. of India
1999	Export Forum member	Ministry of I&B
1999-2000	Member	Indian Broadcasting Foundation
1999-2003	Advisory board director	Whistling Woods International film school, Mumbai
1999-2003	National EC member, Entertainment Committee	FICCI
1999-2010		US-India Business Alliance
2000-2010	Chairman, Convergence Committee	FICCI		[21]
2000-2012	Media committee member	US-India Business Council
2000-2015	Chairman	Reliance Entertainment
2001	Member	Indian Performing Rights Society
2001-2004		All India Film Producers Council
2001-2015	President	Earth Communications Office India Association	An environmental NGO.
2002	Member, Expert Group of GATS	Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India
2005	Member, Prime Minister's Committee	Information, Communication & Entertainment (ICE)
2005-2013	EC member	National committee of Media & Entertainment, CII
2005-2015	Director	Reliance Big TV
2005-2015	Director	Reliance MediaWorks
		Indo European Centre
	Founder trustee	Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image
	Service Council member	Forum d'Avignon, Paris
	President	Producers Guild of India	For three terms.

Writings

Presently retired from all film activities and organisational responsibilities, Amit Khanna devotes all his time solely to writing.

Year	Title	Book /newspaper /mag	Notes	Ref
1969-1971	Editor	Tempus	Monthly magazine
1982	Editor & features writer	Take 2	Entertainment weekly
1987-1989	Editorial Advisor	Probe India
1990-1992		Business Plus	Video news magazine
1990-1992		People Plus	Video news magazine
1990-1992		Bollywood Plus	Video news magazine
1990-2000	Syndicate features writer	Plus Newsbank
1995-1997	Online Singapore
1998-2015	Features writer	Outlook		[22]
1993–1997	Syndicated columnist	(various national dailies)	Column name: Media Musing
1997-2000	Editorial Adviser	The Economic Times
1999-2000	Columnist	The Economic Times	Column name: Enterprise
2002-2010	Columnist	Business Standard	Column name: Freeze Frame	[23]
Jan 2013	Author	Anant Raag (Infinite Verse)	Anthology of poetry, published by HarperCollins
Dec 2019	Author	Words Sounds Images: History of Media and Entertainment in India	Publisher: HarperCollins	[24][25][26][27]
2017–present	Columnist	The Wire		[28]
2018–present	Columnist	Open		[29]
2018–present	Columnist	Bloomberg Quint		[30]
	Co-author	Encyclopedia of Bollywood	Publisher: Encyclopædia Britannica	[3]
		The Times of India
		Hindustan Times
		DNA
	Features writer	The Illustrated Weekly of India
	Features writer	India Today
	Features writer	Filmfare
	Features writer	Show Time
	Features writer	Super Cinema

Filmography

Khanna started his film career as executive producer with Dev Anand's Navketan Films in 1971. In 1989 Khanna helped set up Plus Channel,^[31] a television programming house, and joined it as managing director and Group Editor. Under his tenure, the organization expanded its role to produce movies and music, and provide event management services. Several films created under the Plus Films banner went on to win National Film Awards. In 1996 Khanna won two awards as film producer at the 44th National Film Awards: Best Feature Film in Hindi for Gudia and Best Feature Film in Urdu for Sardari Begum. Plus Channel produced India's earliest audio books in both prose and verse. It also pioneered business news shows on Indian television.

In 2000 Khanna resigned from Plus Channel to join Reliance Entertainment where he served as chairman for 15 years. Under his guidance, Reliance Entertainment became a major player in Hollywood.^[32][33][34] In May 2008 the company signed deals to produce and develop movies with prominent Hollywood actors such as Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jim Carrey and Nicolas Cage. In September 2008 Reliance Entertainment formed a joint venture with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG named DreamWorks Studios via an equity investment of $325 million. In August 2009 Reliance Entertainment signed an $825 million production and distribution deal with DreamWorks Studios.

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	References
1973	Shareef Budmaash	Executive producer
	Heera Panna	production executive
1974	Ishq Ishq Ishq	Executive producer
1976	Bullet	Business executive and production controller
	Chalte Chalte	Lyricist
	Jaaneman	Business executive and production controller
1977	Swami	Lyricist
1978	Des Pardes	Executive producer and lyricist
1980	Man Pasand	Producer and lyricist
	Lootmaar	Executive producer
	Saboot	Lyricist, EP and lyricist
	Guest House	Lyricist
1982	Shiv Charan	Lyricist
	Star	Lyricist
1984	Sheeshay Ka Ghar	Director, writer
	Saaransh	Dialogue
	Purana Mandir	Lyricist
1986	Aashiana	Director
	Avinash	Lyricist
1988	Shesh	Director
1990	Awwal Number	Lyricist
1994	1942: A Love Story	Script consultant
1996	Aur Ek Prem Kahani	Producer
	Bhairavi	Producer
	Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin	Executive producer
	Laalchee	Producer
	Sardari Begum	Executive producer
	Papa Kahte Hain	Producer
1997	Do Rahain	Producer
	Gudgudee	Executive producer
	Saaz	Producer
	Gudia	Producer
	Agnichakra	Lyricist
	Chakkar Pe Chakkar	Story
2007	Hattrick	Lyricist
2010	Malik Ek	Lyricist

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	References
1986	Buniyaad	Executive producer
	Chhapte Chhapte	Executive producer
	Apne Aap	Executive producer
1995	A Mouthful of Sky	Producer	India's first English soap opera
	Zameen Aasmaan	Producer
1995-97	Swabhimaan	Producer	Episodes #1.1 to 1.498
1996	Badalte Rishte	Producer
	Mumkin	Producer
1997	Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh	Producer
	Paltan	Producer
	Kabhie Kabhie	Producer
	Sab Golmaal Hai	Producer

As a lyricist he has penned over 200 Hindi film songs, working mainly with music directors like Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan and Laxmikant–Pyarelal. He also composed lyrics for around 200 songs released in music albums by singers Nazia and Zoheb Hassan, Sharon Prabhakar, Salma Agha, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mahendra Kapoor and Shafqat Ali Khan. In 1984 he directed three music videos for Nazia Hassan's music album Young Tarang. He was the lyricist for the opening theme song of ten Indian television series, including Buniyaad (1986), Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993) and Swabhimaan (1995).

Other

Year	Title	Role		Programme /episode	References
1985	Young Tarang	Director	TV show	Rock music
1996	Century of Cinema	Self	Docu	'And the Show Goes On: Indian Chapter'

Awards and honours

Time, Newsweek, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have mentioned him as one of the global leaders of film and television. He has been a guest lecturer at New York University and the University of Southern California. He was on the selection panel of the Indian Panorama (Western region) thrice (1985, 1989, and 1993). and was the first Indian to serve on the International Emmys jury.

Year	Award	Organiser /festival	Notes	Ref
1976	Uttar Pradesh Film Journalist Association Award	UP Film Journalist Association
1979	Cinegoers Award
1980	Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award	Bengal Film Journalists Association
1981	Uttar Pradesh Film Journalist Association Award	UP Film Journalist Association
1986	Lions Club Award	Lions Club
1987	Lifetime Achievement Award for Television	Uptron
1995	Leadership Award	Indian Film Festival of Houston
1996	National Film Award - Best Lyrics	Govt. of India	For Bhairavi
1996	National Film Award - Best Hindi Film	Govt. of India	For Gudia
1997	National Film Award - Best Urdu Film	Govt. of India	For Sardari Begum
1997	TV Personality of the Year Award	Time magazine
2010	Leadership Award	Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA)
2010	Masterbrand Lifetime Achievement Award	CMO Council
2015	Lifetime Achievement award for contribution to film and television	Norway Bollywood Festival
2017	Film Critics Council Lifetime Award
2017	PR Council of India Lifetime

References

1. Bhushan, Ravi (1995). Reference India: Volume 3. Rifacimento International.
2. Shackleton, Liz (6 September 2010). "Big's global ambition". Screen Daily. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
3. Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Popular Prakashan. 2003. p. xvii. ISBN 8179910660.
4. "After 43 years of work, Amit Khanna says enough". Afaqs. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
5. Lalwani, Vickey (29 October 2013). "To stop the flops, Reliance recalls former chairman". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
6. Bhushan, Nyay (14 October 2011). "Moneyball Opens Week-Long Mumbai Film Festival". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
7. Presidents. producersguildindia.com.
8. Bhushan, Nyay (17 September 2014). "Catherine Deneuve to Get Mumbai Film Festival Lifetime Honor". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
9. Lall, Bhuvan (28 November 2001). "Mumbai festival extended by popular demand". Screen Daily. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
10. Chopra, Anupama (24 November 1997). "Mumbai Academy of Moving Image organises India's first annual Festival of Film". Retrieved 25 May 2020.
11. "MAMI – a retrospective". The Big Indian Picture. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
12. "Mumbai Film Fest to honour Waheeda Rehman". Hindustan Times. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
13. "MFF to honour Helen, Catherine Deneuve with lifetime award". Zee News. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
14. "Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao Garner Support For Mumbai Film Festival". NDTV. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
15. "Mumbai gears up for MAMI". Mumbai Mirror. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
16. Priyakshi, Prerana (19 October 2013). "Nandita Das Inaugurates Mumbai Film Mart". IB Times. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
17. Dey, Simantini (21 December 2019). "'When Sr Bachchan Angrily Asked...': The Man Who Gave 'Bollywood' its Name Shares How Indian Media Became a Brand". Retrieved 25 May 2020.
18. "43rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
19. "44th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
20. "High achievers". St. Columbia Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012.
21. Athique, Adrian; Parthasarathi, Vibodh; S.V. Srinivas (2017). The Indian Media Economy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199091782.
22. "Articles by Amit Khanna". outlookindia.com. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
23. Khanna, Amit (28 January 2013). "Amit Khanna: Blockbuster times". Business Standard. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
24. Parasuraman, Prathyush (5 February 2020). "5 Things We Learned From Amit Khanna's 900-page Entertainment Encyclopedia". Film Companion. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
25. Sengupta, Amit (12 January 2020). "A short history of entertainment". The Tribune. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
26. Bamzai, Kaveree (14 February 2020). "Scene by scene". Open. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
27. Deepak, Sukant (13 December 2019). "Government must get out of business: Amit Khanna". IANS. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
28. "Amit Khanna". The Wire. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
29. "Amit Khanna". Open The Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
30. "Amit Khanna". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
31. Ganti, Tejaswini (2012). Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry. Duke University Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0822352136.
32. "Reliance BIG Entertainment Builds Its Creative Partnerships". Reliance Entertainment. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
33. "India's Reliance Entertainment in Hollywood deal". Reuters. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
34. J, Preethi (17 July 2009). "Reliance ADAG Infuses $325M Into Dreamworks; First Movie In 2010; IPO?". Medianama. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Amit Khanna at IMDb
• Amit Khanna at The Wire
• Amit Khanna at Daily O
• Amit Khanna at Open (Indian magazine)
• Amit Khanna at Jaipur Literature Festival
• Amit Khanna at Kautik International Student Film Festival
• Amit Khanna at Film Critics Circle of India
• Amit Khanna at Producers Guild of India