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The company recorded revenues of Rs 619 crore in FY22, according to its regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
“It’s been one of our best years in our 50-year history,” Akshaye Widhani, chief executive of Yash Raj Films (YRF), said about calendar 2023. “Our hits have been more than our misses due to our focused content approach,” he told ET, referring to the performances of Pathaan and Salman Star-starrer Tiger 3, which was released in November.
Widhani refused to comment on the financials since YRF is a privately held company.
Global box office collections of Pathaan, which made its theatrical debut on January 25, and Tiger 3 stood at Rs 1,100 crore and Rs 480 crore, respectively.
Widhani said the five films in the YRF Spy Universe franchise have garnered close to Rs 3,000 crore at the global box office. The other three films in this franchise included Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, and War (starring Hrithik Roshan as agent Kabir).The company’s net profit for FY23 increased 10.3% to Rs 117 crore, while expenses zoomed over 2.8 times to Rs 1,375 crore, as per its RoC filing.The surge in FY23 revenue and profit is despite the underperformance of Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordar, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj, and Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera last fiscal.
Widhani said the Indian film industry has bounced back in 2023 with the highest-ever box office collections and the addition of a record 250 movie screens. “The outlook for 2024 and thereafter is very positive,” he added.
Fiscal year 2023 also marked YRF’s foray into streaming with the launch of the docuseries The Romantics on Netflix. The company this year produced a four-part thriller series, The Railway Men, which was released in November.
Widhani said YRF is working on multiple projects with Netflix as part of a wider creative partnership between the two companies.
In 2024, the company will have three new projects for Netflix, including a web series titled Mandala Murders and the direct-to-digital films Vijay 69 and Maharaja.
“The partnership with Netflix will allow YRF to tell stories to new audiences and allow them to consume Indian stories in their languages too,” Widhani said, noting that The Railway Men was among the Top 10 trending on Netflix.
As of date, YRF does not have any theatrical releases scheduled for 2024, as it is still working on its future film slate. It has started filming War 2, the sixth movie in the YRF Spy Universe franchise, which will be released in 2025.
“We are getting ready to lock the rest of the slate and put our films on the floors. We are taking our time on future film slates since audience tastes have also changed post-pandemic,” Widhani said, adding that the focus is on quality rather than quantity.
Yfx Studios, the visual effects arm of YRF, is expanding its facility to cater to the rise in VFX-related work.
“Our films are getting bigger. We are getting bigger. So YFX primarily caters to YRF. We built a visual effects studio to cater to YRF’s growing appetite for visual effects,” Widhani added.
Widhani said YRF has adopted a tech-first approach to filmmaking. “We are experimenting with virtual production, which is going to be a big enabler for content production going ahead,” he noted.
YRF Talent, the company’s talent management division, is looking to expand its roster, which currently includes Rani Mukerji, Anushka Sharma, Arjun Kapoor, Vaani Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Aadar Jain, Anya Singh, Manushi Chillar, Shalini Pandey, Sharvari, and Vishal Jethwa.
“YRF has always believed in creating a brand right from scratch, which is why our pool of talent is always distinct and it carves a unique niche for itself.
We will expand and continue to grow our talent,” the YRF CEO said.
Widhani said the film industry will grow in tandem with the broader media and entertainment industry as the Indian economy expands and people’s disposable income increases.
“As disposable income goes up, the willingness to spend on entertainment will go up. Overall, not only films, but I think the entire media and entertainment industry in India is going to see rapid growth,” he noted.
