Balaji Motion Pictures


Balaji Motion Pictures is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Balaji Telefilms Limited which is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Shobha Kapoor and her daughter Ekta Kapoor. Based in Mumbai, it mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. The chairman of the company is former Bollywood actor Jeetendra Kapoor.

Operations

Balaji Motion Pictures is based in Mumbai in the Balaji House on New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. It operates from its head office in Andheri West and has studios in Film City and other locations in Mumbai. In terms of studio facilities, Balaji Motion Pictures is one of the largest film productions houses in Mumbai.

History

Balaji Motion Pictures was set up in 2001 by Hindi television producer Ekta Kapoor with the purpose of venturing into film production. She produced Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, released in 2001 with Govinda and Sushmita Sen as the leads. The film was not a success, collecting. Later, the company produced Kucch To Hai, Krishna Cottage and Koi Aap Sa in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. The movies did not fare well at the box office. In 2005, the company produced and released Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, which grossed and made it to the top three films of 2005. In 2007, the company co-produced Shootout at Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta. The film was a critical and commercial hit, collecting worldwide. In 2008, the company produced and released C Kkompany, which was a commercial and critical failure. In the same year, the company co-produced Mission Istanbul and EMI – Liya Hai Toh Chukana Parega with Sunil Shetty. Both films failed critically and commercially. Also in 2008, the company acquired the distribution rights of Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Sarkar Raj with a deal of almost. The film were both commercially success thereby marking a step further of Balaji. In 2010, the company sub-branded ALT Entertainment, a youth focused brand and produced a low-budget movie, Love Sex aur Dhokha, which proved to be a critically and commercially successful film. In the same year, the company released Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, which was also a commercial and critical hit. The films also marked the company's successful entry in the films.
In 2011, the company marked its entry into Marathi films by producing Taryanche Bait. The film was a critical and commercial hit and also won many accolades including three awards for Best Film. The company also released Shor in the City, a small-budget critically acclaimed movie. The same year also saw the release of Ragini MMS, co-produced with Amit Kapoor and Sidhartha M. Jain. The response to the movie fetched Stardust Award for Best Film and Ekta Kapoor announced the sequel of the film soon to be released in the year 2013 starring Indo-Canadian star Sunny Leone. Later, In the same year, the company released The Dirty Picture starring Vidya Balan as lead on 2 December 2011. The film proved to be a huge Blockbuster and was one of the best films of 2011 thereby winning Vidya Balan her first National Award and all other awards of 2011 for her performance and six awards for Best Film. In the Year 2012, the company released first ever seen Adult Comedy Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum, sequel to 2005 hit Kyaa Kool Hai Hum which was slammed by critics but was a Box Office Success thereby made at a Budget of and collecting itself in its first week.
In 2013, the company released its Horror Film Ek Thi Daayan, co-produced with Vishal Bhardwaj. The film received mostly positive response. It was well-accepted by critics and received 3 out of 5 on an average. Jinson John of Indian Box Office also stated "Ek Thi Daayan is not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry, the plot stands out of them all, it's surely is an Experimental Plot, but not written by an Idiot." The film opened Ek Thi Daayan opened at around 30-40% occupancy with better opening in multiplexes rather than single screens netted around over the first weekend. In May 2013, released by the company was Shootout at Wadala. The film opened with great reviews from many quarters. Bollywood Hungama, rated the film with stars whereas The Times of India rated it with stars. Made on the string Budget of, the film grossed worldwide. The film was declared Average by Box office India. In July 2013, the company released Lootera, starring Ranveer Singh & Sonakshi Sinha as leads. The film opened with best reviews from many critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film with Stars, describing "On the whole, LOOTERA is an intrinsically earnest and profoundly heartwarming story that stays in your heart. An absolute must for those who love romantic films or are romantic at heart. This one's a cinematic gem!". Raja Sen of Rediff.com rated stars and noted, "Lootera is a gorgeous, gorgeous film, one that uses its period setting affectionately, with loving detail, and not exploitatively, as our cinema is wont to do." Meena Iyer of The Times of India assigned the film Stars and noted, "Lootera is a love saga of yore." She added, "You may find this film boring if state-of-the-art, slow romance is not your idea of a movie outing." The film was made on the Budget of and netted worldwide in its lifetime. In August 2013, the company released Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara! the sequel to one of its most successful film, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. The film opened with mixed reviews from all the critics and was also slammed by many critics for its poor drafting and execution of story line. The film was made on the high Budget of to and collected worldwide, thereby contributing the loss and was declared "Flop". In 2014, On February 28, the company released Shaadi Ke Side Effects starring Farhan Akhtar & Vidya Balan. The film opened with positive reviews from various quarters and collected on its day one. The film went on to gross in its opening weekend. The film grossed worldwide during its lifetime run and was declared "Below Average" by Boxoffice India. In the same year, On March 21, the company released Ragini MMS 2 starring Sunny Leone, the sequel to yet another successful film of the company Ragini MMS. Made on the budget of, the film opened with mixed reviews from the critics and went on to collect. The film was a major commercial success and was declared "Hit" by Boxoffice India.
On April 4, 2014, the company released Main Tera Hero starring Varun Dhawan as the protagonist, directed by David Dhawan. The film released with positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated Stars, & wrote "On the whole, Main Tera Hero is a wild, wacky, madcap entertainer that has the unmistakable stamp of the master of entertainers -- David Dhawan. An over the top plot, humor quotient and performances are three aces the film stands on. The film should work well with admirers of typical Bollywood masalathons, also because Varun Dhawan pulls off the act with flamboyance and bowls you over with an uproarious act in this zany entertainer. Go, have fun and laugh out loud!". Srijana Mitra Das of The Times of India gave the movie stars saying, Main Tera Hero is a pav bhaji picture, quick, spicy, hot. It has the depth of a comic strip but it also has its neon-shaded fun. For those who want a light laugh, here's your boy." Made on the budget of, the movie went on to collect worldwide and was declared "Hit" by Box office India. On May 30, 2014, the company released small Budget film Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi which was co-produced by Bejoy Nambiar. The film opened with mixed reviews from critics and also failed to collect at Box office. The film collected a mere from Boxoffice thereby recovering its costs. In June 2014, the company released Ek Villain co-starring Sidharth Malhotra & Shraddha Kapoor. The film opened with positive reviews from its critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie 4/5 stars and wrote that, "On the whole, Ek Villain is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It's a step forward in this genre, without doubt. A sure-shot winner!" Raedita Tandon from Filmfare gave the film stars and noted that, "Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, it's ‘good’ paisa vasool entertainment. Make it your weekend watch." Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film Stars, stating that "You cannot fault the scale of Ek Villain or berate its lead star cast. But you wish you could celebrate this thriller like you did Suri's last movie outing Aashiqui 2. The film made on the budget of went on to collect from India and grossed with a distributor share of itself in India. The film was declared "Super Hit" by Boxoffice India.

Film production

NoYearTitleDirectorCastGenreNotes
12001Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin BoltaDavid DhawanGovinda, Sushmita Sen, RambhaComedy
22003Kucch To HaiAnurag Basu
Anil Vimal Kumar		Tusshar Kapoor, Esha Deol, Anita Hassanandani, Yash TonkHorror
32004Krishna CottageSantram VermaSohail Khan, Isha Koppikar, Anita Hassanandani ReddyHorror
42005Kyaa Kool Hai HumSangeeth SivanTusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Isha Koppikar, Neha DhupiaComedy
Thriller
52005Koi Aap SaPartho MitraAftab Shivdasani, Anita Hassanandani, Dipannita Sharma, Himanshu MalikRomance
62007Shootout at LokhandwalaApoorva LakhiaAmitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Arbaaz Khan, Amrita Singh, Tusshar Kapoor, Rohit RoyCrime
72008Mission IstanbulApoorva LakhiaVivek Oberoi, Shriya Saran, Zayed KhanCrimeCo-produced with Popcorn Motion Pictures
82008C KkompanySachin YardiTusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Raima SenComedy
92008EMI – Liya Hai Toh Chukana ParegaSaurabh KabraArjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Urmila Matondkar, Malaika Arora Khan, Aashish Chaudhary, Neha OberoiSocialCo-produced with Popcorn Motion Pictures
102010Love Sex aur DhokhaDibakar BanerjeeAnshuman Jha, Nushrat Bharucha, Sandeep Bose, Rajkummar RaoFound footage
112010Once Upon a Time in MumbaaiMilan LuthriaAjay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi DesaiGangster
122011Taryanche BaitKiran YadnyopavitVinay Apte, Sachin Khedekar, Ashwini Giri, Ashmita JoglekarDramaMarathi Film
132011Shor in the CityRaj Nidimoru &
Krishna D.K.		Sendhil Ramamurthy, Tusshar Kapoor, Nikhil DwivediDrama
142011Ragini MMSPawan KripalaniRajkummar Rao, Kainaz MotivalaHorror
Thriller		Co-produced with iRock Films
152011The Dirty PictureMilan LuthriaVidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Naseeruddin ShahBiographic
162012Kyaa Super Kool Hai HumSachin YardiTusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Neha SharmaComedy
172013Ek Thi DaayanKannan IyerEmraan Hashmi, Konkana Sen Sharma, Huma Qureshi, Kalki KoechlinThrillerCo-produced with VB Pictures
182013Shootout at WadalaSanjay GuptaAnil Kapoor, John Abraham, Kangana Ranaut, Manoj Bajpayee, Tusshar KapoorGangster
Crime		Prequel to Shootout at Lokhandwala
Co-produced with White Feather Films
192013LooteraVikramaditya MotwaneRanveer Singh, Sonakshi SinhaRomanceCo-produced with Phantom Films
202013Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai DobaraMilan LuthriaAkshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi SinhaCrime
Romance		Sequel to Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai
212014Shaadi Ke Side EffectsSaket ChaudharyFarhan Akhtar, Vidya BalanRomcomSequel to Pyaar Ke Side Effects
Co-Produced with Pritish Nandy Communications
222014Ragini MMS 2Bhushan PatelSunny LeoneHorror
Thriller		Sequel to Ragini MMS
232014Main Tera HeroDavid DhawanVarun Dhawan, Ileana D'Cruz, Nargis FakhriRomance
242014Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho GayiAman SachdevaSiddharth Gupta, Simran Kaur MundiComedy
Romance		Co-Produced with Bejoy Nambiar
252014Ek Villain — There's one in every love storyMohit SuriSidharth Malhotra, Ritesh Deshmukh, Shraddha KapoorRomance
Thriller
262016Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3Umesh GhadgeTusshar Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani, Mandana KarimiAdult Comedy
272016AzharTony D'SouzaEmraan Hashmi, Nargis Fakhri, Prachi Desai, Lara DuttaBiopicCo-Produced with Sony Pictures Networks
282016Udta PunjabAbhishek ChaubeyShahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Diljit DosanjhRomance
Drama		Co-Produced with Phantom Films
292016Great Grand MastiIndra KumarVivek Oberoi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi RautelaAdult Comedy
302016A Flying JattRemo D'souzaTiger Shroff, Jacqueline FernandezSuperhero,
Romance
312017Half GirlfriendMohit SuriArjun Kapoor, Shraddha KapoorRomance
322017Super SinghAnurag SinghDiljit Dosanjh, Sonam BajwaSuperhero,
Drama		Punjabi film
Co-produced with Brat Films
332018Veere Di WeddingShashanka GhoshKareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Shikha Talsania, Sumeet VyasComedy-dramaCo-produced with Anil Kapoor Films
342018Laila MajnuSajid AliMir Sarwar, Avinash Tiwary, Tripti Dimri, Ruchika KapoorRomance, DramaCo-production with PI Pictures
352019Judgementall Hai KyaPrakash KovelamudiKangana Ranaut, Rajkummar RaoComedy, ThrillerCo-produced with Karma Media and Entertainment
and ALT Entertainment
362019Jabariya JodiPrashant SinghSidharth Malhotra, Parineeti ChopraRomance, ComedyCo-produced with Karma Media and Entertainment
and ALT Entertainment
372019Dream GirlRaaj ShaandilyaaAyushman Khurrana, Nushrat BharuchaComedy, HumourCo-produced with ALT Entertainment
and Zee Studios

Upcoming films

Film distribution

YearFilmDirectorNotes
2007DarlingRam Gopal Varma
2008Bhool BhulaiyaaPriyadarshan
2008Sarkar RajRam Gopal Varma
2013VishwaroopKamal Haasan
2017Lipstick Under My BurkhaAlankrita Shrivastava

Awards & ceremonies