Amit Khanna is an Indian film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He was the founder chairman of Reliance Entertainment, former president of the

Producers Guild of India The Producers Guild Film Awards, previously known as the Apsara Awards, is an award event hosted by the Producers Guild of India to recognize excellence in Hindi film and television. Originated by filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna in 2004, the ...

, and the founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image. He is credited with having coined the term Bollywood. Khanna has also won three National Film Awards as a producer and lyricist.

Background

He completed his higher education from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He has been involved with media since his school days at

St. Columba's School, Delhi , motto_translation = "Dare to be wise, sincere and constant" , streetaddress = 1 Ashok Place , city = New Delhi , zipcode = 110001 , country = India , coordinates = , pushpin_map = India Delhi#India , pushpin_mapsize = 220 , establishe ...

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 ''Man Pasand'' (English language, English: Favourite) is a 1980 Hindi movie produced by Amit Khanna under the Film Unit banner and directed by Basu Chatterjee. The film stars Dev Anand, Tina Munim, Girish Karnad, Simple Kapadia, Mehmood (actor), ...

, ''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 Broadcasting Foundation also known as (IBF) is a unified representative body of the television broadcasters in India. The organisation was founded in the year 1999. Over 250 Indian television channels are associated with it. The organisati ...

, 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

(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 The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi, India, founded in 1895. CII engages business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape globa ...

(CII), and ECO, and served on over 50 international government committees and trade organizations and institutions.

Writings

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

Filmography

Khanna started his film career as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

with Dev Anand's Navketan Films in 1971. In 1989 Khanna helped set up Plus Channel, 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 The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

. In 1996 Khanna won two awards as film producer at the

44th National Film Awards The 44th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1996. The awards were announced ...

: 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 Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. In May 2008 the company signed deals to produce and develop movies with prominent

actors such as Tom Hanks,

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

and Nicolas Cage. In September 2008 Reliance Entertainment formed a joint venture with

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

'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

TV series

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 Mahendra Kapoor (9 January 1934 – 27 September 2008) was an Indian playback singer. In a long career spanning decades, his repertoire included popular songs such as ''Chalo ekbaar phir se Ajnabi ban jayen hum dono'' ( Gumrah) and ''Neele Gaga ...

and

Shafqat Ali Khan Shafqat Ali Khan (born 17 June 1972) is a classical singer of the khyal vocal genre, from Pakistan, belonging to the Sham Chaurasia gharana.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 ''Dekh Bhai Dekh'' ) is an Indian Hindi sitcom which premiered on DD Metro on 6 May 1993. It was created, developed, edited, directed by Anand Mahendroo and produced by Jaya Bachchan under the banner of Saraswati Audio Visuals Pvt Ltd. It star ...

'' (1993) and '' Swabhimaan'' (1995).

Other

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.

References

Open (Indian magazine) ''Open'' is an Indian English-language weekly magazine. Founded by Sandipan Deb, former executive editor of ''Outlook'' and editor of '' Financial Express'', it was launched on 2 April 2009 in 12 Indian cities.

Amit Khanna
at

Jaipur Literature Festival The Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF, is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur each year in the month of January. It was founded in 2006. It is the world's largest free literary festival. The Diggi Palace ...