Meet Vikram Malhotra, the man behind Bollywood’s biggest films

VITAL STATISTICS

• Company: Abundantia Entertainment
• What it does, in a sentence: The vision of the company is to be the best and most-admired creator and enabler of content in the Indian media & entertainment ecosystem.
• Founded: 2013
• Founder/s: Vikram Malhotra

Tell us about your background – what did you do before setting up Abundatia Entertainment?

I was formerly the chief operating officer of Viacom18 Motion Pictures, one of India’s largest motion pictures studios and have worked with some of the Indian film industry’s most-loved films in the last few years. At Viacom18, I built an enviable track record for the studio – from critically acclaimed box-office hits like Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, Special 26, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Madras Cafe and Queen, to mass entertainers like OMG – Oh My God, Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Tanu Weds Manu, to name a few.

Prior to entering the Entertainment industry, I spent more than a decade building brands and businesses across leading companies such as The UB Group (spirits, airlines, sports), Tata Communications (retail internet) and SC Johnson – Draft FCB (FMCG).

What success have you had with Abundantia?

Operating across Film, TV and Digital platforms, Abundantia’s first title, ‘Baby’, met with spectacular success in 2015 and its next film, ‘Airlift’, (2016), was a massive hit at the box-office,earning unprecedented critical and audience acclaim. Abundantia notched up another winner with ‘Toilet-Ek Prem Katha’ and also boasts of mid-range titles like ‘Noor’, ‘Missing’ and ‘Chef’ – the remake of Jon Favreau’s Hollywood indie by the same name as part of its filmography. The highly rated Amazon Prime Video Original ‘Breathe’ is also an Abundantia creation.

What success have you had with Abundatia?

Abundantia created a buzz in the digital space with India’s premiere Amazon Original, ‘Breathe’. After a very successful first season, the show is currently in post-production for its second season, which marks the digital debut of movie stars Abhishek Bachchan. 

In March 2019, Abundantia also announced its latest venture in the OTT originals space with THE END, which has superstar Akshay Kumar leading the cast. THE END is also an Amazon Prime Original and is being heralded as India’s first global tent-pole show. There is an active pipeline of digital content under development at Abundantia, which includes a serialized drama based on the book ‘Men Who Killed Gandhi’, and a multi-season procedural series on the bestselling ‘Rita Ferreira’ books.

What are Abundatia’s future plans?

Upcoming Abundantia titles include biopics on the math genius Shakuntala Devi, starring Vidya Balan, and on the badminton ace and coach Pullela Gopichand, the remake of Hollywood hit Begin Again, and the remake of the Malyalam cult-hit Angamaly Diaries.