Film Production
Producers Guild ropes in Nitin Tej Ahuja as CEO
MUMBAI: It was during the pandemic that the Producers Guild of India lost its affable and hard-working CEO Kulmeet Makkar who passed away following a heart attack. Now the board of the Guild has found his replacement: Nitin Tej Ahuja. Nitin has had a pretty well-rounded career trajectory and he describes himself as a professional with experience as a film producer/publisher/screenwriter/journalist/music IPR on his LinkedIn profile.
He started his career at Star India as a publicity executive in January 1996, moved on to writing for TV for a few years, hopped on to royalty organisation PPL as the head of mobile and broadcasting, worked with World Space Radio as general manager –music and artiste relations, became publisher of Box Office India, and then finally turning producer with Moving Pictures bringing out movies such as Saheb Biwi Gangster Returns, Bullet Raja, Revolver Rani, Anaamika (Telugu), Zhapatlela, Sata Lota (Marathi).
Guild members revealed that the announcement was made this morning to them and they have welcomed his appointment as the association’s CEO.
Ahuja confirmed this to indiantelevision.com adding that he is happy about getting on to the guild. “As a long-time observer and admirer of the Guild’s wide-ranging and pathbreaking initiatives in championing the interests of content producers, I am honoured to serve in the continuation of the Guild’s untiring efforts. I look forward to working closely with the PGI President and members as we navigate the challenges brought about by the global pandemic and the vastly different landscape that awaits us in the post-Covid2019 world," he said.
Producers Guild of India president Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “I have known Nitin for many years as someone with an expansive and in-depth understanding of the media and entertainment industry. He is uniquely equipped with the knowledge, experience and ability to take on the challenges and to build on the opportunities that will be presented by the unprecedented times ahead of us. I am confident that in this role, Nitin will be a huge asset to the PGI and to the industry as we move forward.”
Siddharth further added, “I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the immense contribution of the late Kulmeet Makkar, in his role as CEO of the Guild for the past decade. His sudden demise left us all in grief, and created a huge void at the PGI. Kulmeet worked long and hard with passion and perseverance to bring the Guild to its present stature, and I have no doubt that Nitin will go on to ably build on this wonderful legacy.
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
