Indian media veteran Ronnie Screwvala is saddling up for a diverse slate at his production company RSVP.
Director Abhishek Kapoor’s equine drama “Aazad”; an untitled Punjab-set period piece from director Honey Trehan that was voluntarily withdrawn from Toronto last year amid sensitive Indo-Canadian relations; and new seasons of Netflix hits “Mismatched” and “Lust Stories” all galloping toward release in the next 90 days. Meanwhile Kanu Behl’s Manoj Bajpayee-starring thriller “Despatch” has just started streaming on ZEE5 Global after playing at the Mumbai Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India, Goa.
Since launching RSVP in 2018, Screwvala has maintained a prolific output of 39 films and series, including the Emmy-nominated “Lust Stories,” war drama “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” and real estate-themed romcom “Love Per Square Foot,” one of India’s first Netflix original films. The company’s track record includes launching new talent and backing unconventional projects like martial arts film “Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota,” which won at Toronto, and bandit drama “Sonchiriya,” which earned Best Film at India’s Filmfare awards.
One of the pioneers of cable television in India, Screwvala and his wife Zarina went on to build media and entertainment conglomerate UTV, which was eventually bought out by Disney in 2012, with a five-year non-compete clause.
Speaking with Variety, Screwvala explained how RSVP emerged from a deliberate pause after his UTV exit. “The fact that we divested UTV to Disney at that stage was [we were] extremely passionate about everything we’ve done, but not emotional to understand that here’s a 100x bigger brand that was going to come in,” he said. That shift in priorities led him to approach RSVP differently than his previous media ventures, focusing on storytelling rather than rebuilding a full-service media company.
“I was quite clear that doing a second act in life is not the most interesting thing,” Screwvala said, explaining his choice to position RSVP as a passion project. Industry insiders note that approximately 30% of RSVP’s greenlit projects were passed on by other producers before finding success under Screwvala’s guidance.
Recent RSVP releases have included “Sam Bahadur,” “Pippa,” and “Tejas,” all military-themed, while also launching new talent through films like survival drama “Kedarnath,” which introduced Sara Ali Khan. The company has consistently balanced theatrical releases with streaming content, producing anthologies series like “Ghost Stories” and “Ankahi Kahaniya.”
Beyond entertainment, Screwvala has focused on education and rural development. He co-founded online higher education platform UpGrad, which achieved unicorn status, and scaled The Swades Foundation with his wife to address rural poverty in India. His experience with UpGrad, which serves over 200,000 learners across India and Southeast Asia, directly informs his content strategy.
“If I understand what aspiration and ambitions are for different sectors of different people at different times, at the end of the day, storytelling is about kindling your emotion,” he said.
Reflecting on India’s theatrical market in 2024, Screwvala noted significant shifts in audience behavior. “The younger audiences are intolerant of going to the movie theater more often than they absolutely need to,” he observed, citing both heightened selectivity and price sensitivity. He pointed to successful “multiplex days” promotions as evidence that consumption patterns remain strong when pricing is attractive.
Regarding India’s streaming sector in 2024, Screwvala identified Netflix’s push for localization as a key development. “At INR199 [$2.35] per month, which is the first time Netflix has broken their fee barrier anywhere in the world, they opened up the flood gates to large volumes,” he said, noting the platform’s increased investment in Indian content.
He highlighted the impact of the Jio-Disney merger and sports rights on the streaming landscape. “Sport has disrupted the whole OTT [streaming] space in India,” he said, referring to how cricket rights influenced Disney’s strategic decisions in the market.
Looking ahead, Screwvala sees opportunities for Indian content to reach global audiences but cautions against overreliance on streaming platforms as the sole path to international success. “OTT stories are giving you a little bit of exposure and widening your audience, but they’re not going to take India to the world,” he said, advocating for more ambitious theatrical releases to build a stronger domestic market.
As for the term “regional cinema” often applied to non-Hindi language Indian films, Screwvala called for its retirement. “I don’t think we should call anything regional anymore. Korean doesn’t think of themselves as regional. If you start saying regional, we’ll think myopic,” he said, pointing to recent successes of Tamil and Telugu language films as evidence of India’s evolving national entertainment market.
RSVP’s founder maintains that his entrepreneurial background continues to influence his creative decisions. “I’m an entrepreneur first before being a media person, and I’m a media person first before being what I would call a film person,” he said, crediting this perspective for his ability to take calculated risks on unique projects.
“When I failed, I failed on a 1x but when I’ve been counter intuitive, the success has been 10x,” he explained. “That means it allows me to fail eight times and have a minus eight and yet have one success, which is 10x and still be plus two.”
