Saregama, India’s oldest and largest music label, announced that it has has been signed as by prominent film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali as the music label for three of his forthcoming projects.
These include Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi – the music rights of which has been acquired from Pen Studios, the next untitled Bhansali directorial, and his first non-film Hindi originals album which will have music composed by him.
In a statement, Bhansali said he grew up on music from Saregama. “What an absolute delightful moment it is for me then that the music of three of my most zealous projects in the near future will add to this rich legacy of Saregama.”
Financial details of the partnership were not announced.
Saregama India Limited, formerly known as The Gramophone Company of India Ltd, is part of the RP Sanjiv Goenka group.
It owns the largest music archives in India and one of the biggest in the world, and has leveraged its extensive portfolio to launch several packaged digital music products, such as the enormously successful Carvaan digital player.
The company claims to hold rights to nearly 50 per cent of all the music ever recorded in India.
The company has also expanded to other areas like publishing, film production and digital content.
The RP Sanjiv Goenka group has businesses in a variety of sectors, including power and energy, carbon black manufacturing, retail, IT-enabled services, FMCG, media and entertainment, and agriculture.
Bhansali, born in a Gujarati Jain family in Mumbai, is one of the most successful makers of music- and art-oriented mainstream bollywood films, and rose to prominence with the successful romantic drama Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999.
His 2002 film Devdas received a nomination for the Best Film Not in the English Language at British Academy of Film & Television Awards (BAFTA).
He also made biographical films like Mary Kom (2014), Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018).