Film Production
Dharma Productions acquires Cornerstone stake, relaunches talent agency as DCAA
MUMBAI: Dharma Productions is tightening its grip on India’s talent economy. The film studio has bought out Cornerstone’s stake in Dharma Cornerstone Agency and relaunched the venture as Dharma Collab Artists Agency (DCAA), positioning it as its exclusive platform for artist representation across film, music, sport, digital media and live experiences.
The move brings the agency fully in-house and signals a broader cultural play by Dharma, jointly owned by Karan Johar and Adar Poonawalla. DCAA will be led by Uday Singh Gauri as chief executive, with Rajeev Masand continuing as chief operating officer, providing continuity as the business scales up.
DCAA’s mandate goes well beyond film stars. The agency will focus on building multi-format careers, cross-platform deals and long-term cultural relevance for talent operating across entertainment and influence-led industries. It is a bet on convergence: cinema colliding with music, sport, creators and live culture.
Chief executive of Dharma Productions, Apoorva Mehta, said talent had always been central to the studio’s identity. DCAA, he added, was a “structured, long-term platform” designed to deepen Dharma’s role in India’s creative economy.
For Gauri, who has spent two decades working across talent management, music and live entertainment, the relaunch is about redefining representation itself.
Today’s artists, he said, need cultural intelligence, business instinct and strategic navigation, not just deals and visibility.
The agency’s roster reflects that ambition. It includes film actors such as Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan, Disha Patani, Aditya Roy Kapur, Harshvardhan Rane, Lakshya and Rohit Saraf; musicians Neeti Mohan and Jonita Gandhi; and digital and cultural voices including Orry, Sumukhi Suresh, Anahita Shroff, Kareema Barry and Erika Packard.
With DCAA, Dharma is no longer just making films. It is building an ecosystem—owning the talent pipeline, the platforms and the cultural conversation. In an industry where attention is currency, Dharma has decided not just to cast the stars, but to manage the constellations.
Film Production
Arka Mediaworks onboards 88 Pictures as animation studio partner on ‘The Eternal War – Part 1’
Arka Mediaworks announces that 88 Pictures, the acclaimed animation and visual storytelling studio known for its cutting-edge CGI and cinematic artistry, is on board as the animation partner for the highly anticipated Baahubali: The Eternal War, a groundbreaking two-part 3D animated feature film set in the globally beloved Baahubali universe.
Baahubali: The Eternal War represents a bold new chapter in the Baahubali saga envisioned for national and international audiences and crafted with the ambition of delivering one of India’s most ambitious and globally benchmarked animation projects to date.
88 Pictures will execute the animation production, bringing to life the film’s richly detailed worlds, epic battle sequences, and larger-than-life characters with its signature blend of artistic vision, performance-driven animation, and advanced production pipelines. Working closely with the film’s creative leadership and technical partners, the studio aims to set new benchmarks in animation quality, cinematic storytelling, and global scalability.
This animated epic follows the successful re-release of Baahubali: The Epic (the combined theatrical version of the original live-action films) on 31 October 2025 across India and the USA. During the film’s interval, legendary creator and director S.S. Rajamouli (Baahubali 1 & 2, RRR) stunned audiences with a surprise teaser for The Eternal War – Part 1. The video immediately went viral, garnering widespread national and international acclaim across LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube for its ambitious visual style and scale.
Produced by Arka Mediaworks and led by co-founder and CEO Shobu Yarlagadda – producer of the iconic Baahubali duology, The Eternal War brings together fantastic storytelling and cutting-edge animation.. The film is directed and written by acclaimed animation filmmaker Ishan Shukla (Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, Star Wars: Visions – “The Bandits of Golak”) and screenplay by Scott Mosier (The Grinch). Mihira Visual Labs, the studio co-founded by Yarlagadda anchors the film’s animation, visual development, and execution.
The partnership with 88 Pictures brings significant pedigree to the project; the studio is well-regarded for its work on high-profile international titles including DreamWorks’ series Trollhunters, the HBO Max original series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Disney’s animated short An Almost Christmas Story to name a few.
Yarlagadda shared, “We are happy to onboard 88 Pictures as the animation studio partner for our prestigious and most expensive animated film from India. We believe that their expertise and capabilities will allow us to produce a first-of-its-kind, world-class animated feature film from India.”
88 Pictures founder & CEO Milind D. Shinde said, “Baahubali changed the way cinema is perceived and became a defining milestone that turned the tide for Indian live-action filmmaking. Expanding the franchise into an entirely new universe—at a never-seen, never-done scale—through an animated feature created in India for a global audience is set to redefine how the world views Indian animation. We are truly thrilled to be part of this landmark project and to bring it to life under the visionary direction of Ishan Shukla, guided by the experience and leadership of acclaimed producer Shobu Yarlagadda.”
Shukla expressed, “Eternal War requires a level of visual and emotional precision that can only come from teams who truly understand both craft and intent. Working with 88 Pictures, alongside Mihira Visual Labs, has been a deeply collaborative experience. This association brings together technical excellence and creative sensitivity, enabling us to translate an ambitious vision into a compelling cinematic reality.”
Baahubali: The Eternal War – Part 1 is scheduled for release in 2027
