{"id":351555,"date":"2025-12-16T06:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T06:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351555\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T06:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T06:21:07","slug":"dharma-productions-confirms-split-with-cornerstone-agency-relaunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351555\/","title":{"rendered":"Dharma Productions Confirms Split With Cornerstone & Agency Relaunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Dharma Productions<\/a> is relaunching its talent agency after officially splitting with Cornerstone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Karan Johar<\/a>\u2013 and Adar Poonawalla-led Dharma confirmed it has acquired Cornerstone\u2019s stake in Dharma Cornerstone Agency<\/a> and is relaunching the business as Dharma Collab Artists Agency (DCAA), which will operate across, film, music, sports, digital media and live entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe news comes after a report late last week in Indian media news site Storyboard18, which pointed to tensions between Johar and Cornerstone\u2019s boss, the Indian mega-agent Bunty Sajdeh<\/a>. The article cited unnamed sources claiming acrimony had risen after pharmaceuticals magnate and Serene Productions<\/a> founder Poonawalla bought<\/a> 50% of Dharma Productions and Dharmatic Entertainment<\/a> earlier this year, and that a split was imminent.<\/p>\n

\n\tJohar today posted on Instagram to quell the rumors, paying tribute to Sajdeh and saying they had been \u201cdear friends for many many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe then explained that selling a stake to Poonawalla meant that he needed each of his businesses to \u201cintegrate under one large umbrella\u201d and added: \u201cBunty and I mutually agreed to part ways and yet keep our strong friendship and equation exactly the way it\u2019s always been. I look forward to seeing his new foray in the world of talent management and will always be a brother by his side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the split, Sajdeh \u2013 manager of cricket superstar Virat Kohli \u2013 is expected to continue independently, while Mumbai-based DCAA has today revealed a new executive structure to Deadline. Uday Singh Gauri\u00a0will be\u00a0CEO, continuing the role he had had Dharma Cornerstone, with\u00a0Rajeev Masand\u00a0staying as\u00a0COO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUday has spent two decades in Asian talent management, music, live entertainment and strategic partnerships. Dharma said his focus will be on \u201cexpanding DCAA\u2019s reach,\u00a0building new verticals, unlocking cross-platform opportunities, and shaping the agency into a long-term home for culturally influential talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDCAA\u2019s talent roster includes Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan, Disha Patani, Rasha Thadani, Aditya Roy Kapur, Harshvardhan Rane,\u00a0Lakshya, \u00a0Rohit\u00a0Saraf, Neeti Mohan, Jonita Gandhi, Orry, Sumukhi Suresh, Anahita Shroff,\u00a0Kareema\u00a0Barry, and Erika Packard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tApoorva\u00a0Mehta,\u00a0CEO\u00a0of\u00a0Dharma\u00a0Productions,\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cTalent has always shaped Dharma\u2019s identity, influencing both our creative choices and how we build for the future. With DCAA, we are creating a structured platform that supports artists across disciplines. This is a deliberate and long-term step toward deepening our role in the creative economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSingh Gauri, CEO of DCAA, added:\u00a0\u201cWith DCAA, we\u2019re building a platform that reflects the way artists work, express, and grow today. Representation now goes far beyond negotiation and visibility. It requires cultural understanding, business instinct, and the ability to move with \u2014 and ahead of \u2014 the industry. Our focus is on developing long-term careers across multiple formats, while creating meaningful pathways between talent and opportunity. This is about scale, yes, but it\u2019s also about care, clarity, and collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDharma Productions was founded in 1976 by led the late Sri Yash Johar, father of TV host and producer Karan, who is now one of India<\/a>\u2018s most bankable stories. Since Karan took over the business, its films have included his directorial debut, Kuch\u00a0Kuch\u00a0Hota\u00a0Hai and another 50-plus features such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, My Name is Khan, The Lunchbox, Baahubali,\u00a0Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and the Academy-award nominated Homebound. Dharmatic Entertainment is known for streaming shows such as\u00a0The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives,\u00a0Call Me Bae,\u00a0The Tribe,\u00a0Show Time, and\u00a0Love Storiyaan, and has deals in place with Netflix and Prime Video. <\/p>\n

\n\tSerene owns 50% of both businesses through a \u20b91,000 crore investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Dharma Productions is relaunching its talent agency after officially splitting with Cornerstone. The Karan Johar\u2013 and Adar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[174989,174990,174991,16632,174299,88,2344,4955,206,174992],"class_list":{"0":"post-351555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-bunty-sajdeh","9":"tag-cornerstone","10":"tag-dharma-cornerstone-agency","11":"tag-dharma-productions","12":"tag-dharmatic-entertainment","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-india","15":"tag-karan-johar","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-serene-productions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}