New Delhi: To mark 26 years in the industry, Excel Entertainment is launching Excel Origins. The production house will focus on discovering young filmmakers.
Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani announced the new initiative in a joint statement on Monday.
“As Excel celebrates its silver anniversary, we’re launching EXCEL ORIGINS—an endeavour to discover and back the next generation of filmmakers,” the statement read.
The founders jointly produced the first film under the production house, Dil Chahta Hai, in 2001. The film won National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Hindi, and also became a box Office hit. It collected nearly Rs 34 crore against the budget of Rs 8 crore.
“We were 26 years old, we didn’t have all the scars, but we had an idea we believed in, the courage to take risks and the tenacity to make it happen,” the statement added.
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Investing in future talent
Directed by Farhan Akhtar, the film features Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna as three childhood friends who are inseparable in their younger years, but adulthood, relationships and career choices keep them apart. The film also stars Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia. Akhtar wrote the film based on his personal diaries.
Both of them formed Excel Entertainment in 1999, and then went on to produce films such as Lakshya (2004). Although the film was not a box-office hit, it became an audience favourite after it was aired on television. They then went on to build one of their most successful franchises with Don (2006). In nearly two and a half decades of their history, they have made Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), Talaash (2012), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), and Gully Boy (2019), and Raees (2017).
With Excel Origins, the production company aims to go back to where they started making films for the youth. Most of the films they produced in their initial years were made for young people.
“The best way for us to celebrate where we came from is to invest in where we’re going next,” the statement added.