Balaji Telefilms is an Indian company that produces

Indian soap opera Indian television drama (in Indian English Indian serials) are television programs written, produced, and filmed in India, with characters played by Indians and episodes broadcast on Indian television. India's first television drama was '' H ...

s, reality TV, comedy, game shows, entertainment, and factual programming in several Indian languages. Balaji Telefilms is promoted by

Ekta Kapoor Ekta Kapoor (born 7 June 1975) is an Indian television producer, film producer and director who works in Hindi cinema and soap opera. She is the joint managing director and creative head of Balaji Telefilms Limited, which was founded in 1994. ...

and

Shobha Kapoor Shobha Kapoor (born 1 February 1949) is an Indian television, film and web series producer. She is the managing director of Balaji Telefilms Limited, a film, TV and web series production house in Mumbai, India, run by her and her daughter Ekt ...

and is a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

listed at Bombay Stock Exchange and

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, Ma ...

. In the 2000s the company went on to produce some historic blockbusters which include, ''

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi ''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' ( ''Because a mother-in-law was once a daughter-in-law, too'') is an Indian Hindi-language soap opera that aired from 4 July 2000 to 7 November 2008 on Star Plus. The show was co-produced by Shobha Kapoor ...

'', '' Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii'', '' Kaahin Kissii Roz'', '' Kasautii Zindagii Kay'', ''

Kahiin to Hoga ''Kahiin To Hoga'' () is an Indian soap opera which aired on Star Plus between September 2003 and February 2007. The show was created by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms and starred Aamna Sharif, Rajeev Khandelwal and Gurpreet Singh. The show ...

'', '' Kkusum'' and ''

Kasamh Se ''Kasamh Se'' (English title: ''The Promise'') was an Indian soap opera produced by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms. The show aired on Zee TV from 16 January 2006 to 12 March 2009. The story is about three sisters: Bani, Piya and Rano. It w ...

'' amongst several others. In the 2010s the company went on to produce several hugely successful drama series which includes '' Pavitra Rishta'', '' Tere Liye'', '' Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani'', ''

Bade Achhe Lagte Hain ''Bade Achhe Lagte Hain'' ( ; English: ''They Look So Good'') is a Hindi Indian soap opera that aired on Sony Entertainment Television from 30 May 2011 to 10 July 2014. Based on the Gujarati play ''Patrani'' by Imtiaz Patel, the soap opera was ...

'', '' Jodha Akbar'', '' Yeh Hai Mohabbatein'', ''

Kumkum Bhagya ''Kumkum Bhagya'' () (from 2021 onwards) is an Indian Hindi-language drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms.

'', '' Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi'', '' Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki'', ''

Kundali Bhagya ''Kundali Bhagya'' () is an Indian Hindi-language romantic drama television series created by Ekta Kapoor. It premiered on 12 July 2017 on Zee TV. A spin-off series of ''Kumkum Bhagya'', it stars Shraddha Arya, Manit Joura, Ruhi Chaturvedi, ...

'', '' Yeh Hai Chahatein'' and '' Bhagya Lakshmi''. Since 2015, the company introduced several seasonal format weekend drama thriller series which went out to be highly rated series amongst which includes '' Naagin (TV series)'' (running currently in its 6th season), ''

Kavach (TV series) ''Kavach ... Kaali Shaktiyon Se (Season 1)''/ ''Kavach ... Mahashivrati (Season 2)'' (English: ''Shield'' ) is a supernatural horror drama television series that airs on Colors TV. Produced by Balaji Telefilms, it is based on the story of Savitr ...

'' (2 seasons), '' Brahmarakshas'' (2 seasons), '' Haiwaan : The Monster'', '' Daayan (TV series)'' and '' Qayamat Ki Raat'' amongst several others. In 2017, the company launched its biography, '' Kingdom of the Soap Queen: The Story of Balaji Telefilms''.

History

The company registered as 'Balaji Telefilms Private Limited' on 11 November 1994 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, with the objective of creating serials and other entertainment content by

and

. Balaji has specialised in formatted programming that can be adapted for languages around the nation as well as abroad. One notable success ''

''. Other examples include '' Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii'', '' Kaahin Kissii Roz'', ''

'','' Kasautii Zindagii Kay'', '' Kkusum'', ''

Kutumb The Kutumb Foundation is a New Delhibased NGO. It was founded in 2002. The NGO works in Khan Market, Ali Vihar, Nizamuddin Sunder Nursery Slum and Savda-Ghevra Jhuggi Jhopri Resettlement Colony. Kutumb works in the field of education through its ...

'', '' Kohi Apna Sa'', ''

'', '' Pavitra Rishta'', '' Parichay'', ''

Kya Hua Tera Vaada ''Kya Huaa Tera Vaada'' (English: ''What About Your Promise'') is an Indian soap opera that premiered on 30 January 2012 and went off air on 23 May 2013 on Sony Entertainment Television. The show stars Mona Singh and Pawan Shankar and Mouli Gang ...

'', '' Jodha Akbar'', ''

'', '' Yeh Hai Mohabbatein'', '' Naagin'', ''

Kumkum Bhagya ''Kumkum Bhagya'' () (from 2021 onwards) is an Indian Hindi-language drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms.

'' and ''

'' The later five are dubbed and re-produced in several languages across

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. In recent years the company has been expanding its

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

output with shows such as titles such as ''

Box Cricket League Box Cricket League (BCL) is an Indian sports reality television show where celebrities are seen competing with each other in an indoor cricket game format. Establishment The BCL was inspired by the popularity of the Celebrity Cricket Leagu ...

'' on

Sony TV Sony Television, Sony TV, or Sony HD may refer to any of the following television-related products from Japanese conglomerate Sony: * Television sets designed and manufactured by Sony Corporation in Japan ** Trinitron, television hardware brand (19 ...

. Balaji was incorporated as a public limited company on 29 February 2000, and its name was changed to 'Balaji Telefilms Ltd' on 19 April 2000. The company made public issue of 28,00,000 equity shares of 10 each at a premium of 120 aggregating 36.40 crore. The issue included a book-built portion of 25,20,000 equity shares and a fixed price portion of 2,80,000 equity shares. In the same year, Nine Network Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nine Broadcasting India Pvt. Ltd., merged with Balaji Telefilms Ltd. During 2000–04 the stock market capitalization grew sixteenfold to 571 crores when Star India acquired a 26% stake in the business. Balaji Telefilms started a media training institute in 2010. Known as ICE Institute of Creative Excellence, it trains students in acting, cinematography, direction, modelling, etc. In 2014, the company and Ekta Kapoor were subject to protests in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...

led by the

Shri Rajput Karni Sena Karni Sena (; ), known as Shri Rajput Karni Sena (, : ), is an organisation based in Rajasthan, India. Founded by Lokendra Singh Kalvi and led by Mahipal Singh Makrana, Vishwabandhu Singh Rathore and others. It takes its name from Karni Mata, w ...

(SRKS), a

Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...

group. These occurred because of perceived communal slights in the ''Jodha Akbar'' television series. In 2015, Balaji Telefilms produced a finite series, '' Naagin'', which became the most viewed show on Indian television since its inception. The show won multiple awards and returned for its second and third season, which also generated high ratings. The fourth season of series was broadcast starting in December 2019 but it was not doing well on television so it was replaced by the fifth season of the series in August 2020. In 2017,

Reliance Industries Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Relian ...

acquired a 25% stake in Balaji Telefilms for Rs413 crore. The deal gave RIL access to Balaji Telefilms’ content for use by telecom unit Reliance Jio.

Current productions

Former productions

Audio

Hindi

Regional

References

External links

* {{Balaji Telefilms , state=expanded Film production companies based in Mumbai Indian dubbing studios Television production companies of India Indian companies established in 1994 Entertainment companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Maharashtra Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange