Sagar Pictures plots global franchise push with Shrimad Bhagavatam
The Mumbai studio is expanding beyond film and TV, with a seven-part theatrical saga leading plans across gaming, music, products and theme parks.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Sagar Pictures Entertainment is putting one of Hinduism’s best-known sacred texts at the center of a bigger play for global entertainment.
The Mumbai-based company has confirmed a new studio business built around intellectual property, with ambitions stretching beyond film and television into gaming, music, consumer products and theme parks. The plan, according to the studio, is to turn stories and franchises into projects that can live across multiple formats and platforms.
Its first major swing under that strategy is Shrimad Bhagavatam, which Sagar Pictures Entertainment says is now in production. The project is planned as a seven-chapter live-action feature film franchise for theatrical release, designed with premium large-format screens in mind.
A mythological saga built for the big screen
Shrimad Bhagavatam adapts the Bhagavata Mahapurana, one of Hinduism’s eighteen major Puranas. The text centers on devotion to Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu and also includes cosmology, genealogy and mythology.
Akash Sagar Chopra, CEO of Sagar Pictures Entertainment, said the company sees India’s story traditions as both culturally significant and underused in cinema. He said the studio’s aim is to keep those stories authentic while retelling them with large-scale filmmaking for audiences across generations and territories.
Chopra said Shrimad Bhagavatam is the studio’s first step in the new direction and reflects the level of scale the company wants for its storytelling. He added that future franchises are being developed with the idea that they can expand beyond cinema while remaining tied to India’s cultural heritage.
A legacy brand reaches for new formats
Sagar Pictures Entertainment is the film studio arm of Sagar Pix Group, which operates across Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The studio says the new push builds on more than 75 years of storytelling history tied to the Sagar name.
The banner was founded in 1954 by filmmaker and producer Ramanand Sagar, who received India’s Padma Shri honor. Under chair and director Moti Sagar, the group has been associated with films and television programs based on ancient Indian epics, with a focus on spiritual, historical and family entertainment.
The company’s earlier work includes adaptations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Its catalogue spans more than 55 television series and more than 25 feature films, according to the studio.
Sagar Pictures Entertainment says its productions have been seen by audiences in India, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and among the Indian diaspora worldwide. Citing BAARC India and other sources, the company says its productions have reached more than a billion viewers in India.
The studio’s library also includes Indian National Film Award-winning features and award-winning television programming. With Shrimad Bhagavatam, Sagar Pictures Entertainment is now trying to turn that heritage into a broader franchise machine, one built for screens, shelves, speakers and attractions beyond the cinema.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.