Richer than Shah Rukh, maker of Rs 4,000 cr Ramayana is worth Rs 16,000 cr: Hurun list - The Indian Express
Namit Malhotra, who is producing Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Ramayana, comes from one of the wealthiest families in India and as per the recent Hurun India Rich List 2026, the family has witnessed a 279 percent spike in their wealth. His father, Naresh Malhotra, who owns the visual effects company Prime Focus, and the family are now worth Rs 16,000 crore. This takes the Malhotra family to the 232nd spot on the list.
It may be recalled that the Hurun Global Rich List 2026, released earlier this year, had positioned Namit Malhotra at the 3,306th spot, with an estimated net worth exceeding Rs 9,204 crore.
A film producer and visual effects entrepreneur, Namit is the eldest son of film producer Naresh Malhotra, renowned for bankrolling movies like Shashi Kapoor’s Duniya Meri Jeb Mein (1979), Amitabh Bachchan’s Shahenshah (1988), and Debu Bose’s Sahari Bagha (1985).
According to ET Now, Namit commenced his entrepreneurial journey in 1995 with a video workshop set up in his father’s garage. He subsequently merged his company with Naresh’s production banner, Video Works, and their combined venture was named Prime Focus. The firm later expanded to London, New York City, Los Angeles, and Vancouver.
Prime Focus subsequently merged with Double Negative (DNEG), a UK-based visual effects studio. For the uninitiated, DNEG did the visual effects for Oscar-winning films such as Inception, Interstellar, Dune and Dune: Part Two. Namit Malhotra currently serves as DNEG’s chairman and CEO.
Mounted on a total budget of Rs 4,000 crore, the Ramayana franchise’s first instalment will hit screens worldwide on the occasion of this year’s Diwali. In an earlier chat with Prakhar Gupta on his YouTueb channel, Namit had shared, “So, when we set out to make it 6-7 years ago, just after the pandemic, when we started to really get serious about mounting it and producing it, and budget-wise, it was like everybody thought I’m a lunatic. Because no Indian film, by a long distance, comes close to it. So, to put it simply, it’ll be about $500 million by the time we’re done, on both films put together, part one and part two, which is over Rs 4,000 crore.”
Starring Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman, Ramayan features music by Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman.
