| Yash Raj Films | |
| Type: | Privately held company |
| Founder: | Yash Chopra |
| Key People: |
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| Subsid: |
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| Location City: | Mumbai |
| Location Country: | India |
| Products: | Films released |
Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company primarily produces and distributes Hindi films and has played a significant role in shaping the Hindi film industry.[1]
In 1970, YRF was founded by Yash Raj Chopra, a veteran director and producer in the Indian film industry.
In 2005, Chopra built YRF Studios in Mumbai. In 2006, the first film shot at YRF Studios was the romantic thriller Fanaa. Since then, several notable films have been shot at YRF Studios, including Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Partner (2007), Taare Zameen Par (2007), Dostana (2008), Wanted (2009), 3 Idiots (2009), Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ra.One (2011), Agneepath (2012), Chennai Express (2013), Jai Ho (2014), and PK (2014). The studio consists of six floors and spans 20 acres. YRF Studios has also been rented out for other film and television productions, including 10 Ka Dum and Kaun Banega Crorepati for Sony Entertainment Television, as well as Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, Koffee With Karan, and Satyamev Jayate for STAR India.[2]
YRF since launching their distribution arm, has not just distributed films produced by them but also but also several films made by other production companies, within India as well as overseas, which includes a variety of independent films and Parallel Cinema productions such as Godmother (1999), Zubeidaa (2001), Maqbool (2004), and (2004) among others.In recent years, YRF has distributed successful films like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023), Laapataa Ladies (2024), and Chhaava (2025). While they mostly distribute Hindi films, they have also distributed a few regional films in various languages.
In 2013, the company's distribution team sold the satellite rights of its venture Dhoom 3 for [3] to Sony Entertainment Television.[4]
YRF Home Entertainment division produces and releases Audio CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs & VCDs. While these include films from YRF's own film catalogue, the division also selectively acquires films from outside banners for releasing them across Home Video formats. YRF Home Entertainment Forever Classics Collection includes many of their own classic films, directed by the company's founder, Yash Chopra and his son Aditya Chopra, besides several popular films from Raj Kapoor Films and B.R. Films, among others.
The company impacted the music industry through chartbuster soundtracks in their filmography such as Darr (1993), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997).[5]
In 2007, The Walt Disney Company entered Indian entertainment through a three-film co-production agreement with YRF, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, and Roadside Romeo. Disney's move was seen as a bid to increase its global recognition and finally enter the increasingly lucrative Indian cinema arena. In 2009, Disney offered a 49% acquisition of YRF for [6] (unadjusted for inflation), which took the valuation of the Indian entertainment company to .[7] The acquisition proposal did not materialise, as Yash Raj Films chose not to proceed with Disney’s offer and continued to operate independently till date.
From 2007 to 2010, the company saw an all-time low, with several of their high-budgeted films failing at the box office, and thereby suffering losses amounting to millions. The films broke YRF's perfect success ratio and were oddly released one after another. Some of the most unsuccessful films produced under the banner were Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Aaja Nachle, Tashan, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Roadside Romeo, Dil Bole Hadippa!, and Pyaar Impossible.
Aditya Chopra then took over as the vice-chairman of Yash Raj Films in 2010, soon after the release of the film Badmaash Company under the same banner.[8]
In 2011, the company went into production of three individual films with Aamir Khan for Dhoom 3, Shah Rukh Khan for Jab Tak Hai Jaan and with Salman Khan for Ek Tha Tiger, the first installment in the YRF Spy Universe. The three films would become the most expensive productions ever undertaken by YRF; Ek Tha Tiger[9] was produced at,[10] Jab Tak Hai Jaan was produced at [11] and Dhoom 3 was produced at .[12]
| Film | Day of Release | Screen Releases | Distribution | Budget | Worldwide Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ek Tha Tiger | Eid (2012) | 3,850 screens[13] | YRF Distributors | ||
| Jab Tak Hai Jaan | Diwali (2012) | 3,100 screens[14] | |||
| Dhoom 3 | Christmas (2013) | 5,250 screens[15] | [16] [17] |
All three of these films broke box office records in India and went on to become some of the highest-grossing films of their time. Ek Tha Tiger,[9] which released on the 66th Independence Day of India, earned approximately and became the eleventh highest-grossing film of Indian cinema. Jab Tak Hai Jaan opened worldwide on the Diwali day of 2012 and went on to earn [18] and became the fifteenth highest-grossing film in India. Dhoom 3 released in (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Arabic) on the Christmas week of 2013 and grossed approximately,[19] [20] in the worldwide market and went on to become the twelfth highest-grossing film of Indian cinema, .
After the death of Yash Chopra in October 2012, Aditya Chopra was elevated to the position of chairman and Chief Executive of the company's studio wing. Facing overwhelming pressure by the Indian bourses to be publicly listed around the same period, the company went for a soft-launch on 3 January 2013.
The company received angel investment by institutional fund-raisers such as LIC of India, RNT Associates, PremjiInvest, Catamaran Ventures, Maruti Udyog and Unilazer Ventures. YRF was made open to Indian enterprises only, and no FDI was accepted. Venture capitalists also showed interest in Adi Godrej, Y. C. Deveshwar, Kumar Birla, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Anand Mahindra, Chanda Kochhar, Sunil Mittal, Shikha Sharma and Uday Kotak investing undisclosed sums. YRF produced more films under the chairmanship of Chopra and the new management.[21]
See main article: List of films released by Yash Raj Films.
In November 2011, YRF Entertainment was announced as a subsidiary of Yash Raj Films, in Beverly Hills, California, US, with Uday Chopra as the CEO.[22]
By 2023, YRF Entertainment was transformed into the streaming division of Yash Raj Films.[23]
| Year | Title | Language | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Longest Week | English | ||
| Grace of Monaco | [24] | |||
| 2024 | Maharaj | Hindi | Netflix Original | |
| Vijay 69 |
| Year | Title | Language | Platform | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Romantics | English Hindi | Netflix | Documentary series | |
| The Railway Men | Hindi | ||||
| 2025 | Mandala Murders | [25] | |||
| 2026 | [26] |
YRF Television was a TV production company, based in Mumbai, India,[27] and promoted by Aditya Chopra. YRF Television, although it produced a small number of programmes, all of which were content-oriented productions. It was mainly focused on creating and producing unique, distinctive shows for television audiences, rather than most of the shows that were developed during that time, aiming to provide television viewers with compelling content through fresh, contemporary, and engaging storylines.
YRF Television's shows include Lift Kara De, Seven - The Ashvamedha Prophecy, Mahi Way, Rishta.com, Powder, Khotey Sikkey, Kismat.[28] It was owned by Yash Raj Films (YRF) and entered into an exclusive agreement with Sony Entertainment Television to produce exclusive fiction and non-fiction content for the channel.[29]
YRF launched a number of budding screenwriters and directors under their banner throughout these years. Directors and screenwriters such as Kunal Kohli, Kabir Khan, Sanjay Gadhvi, Ali Abbas Zafar, Jaideep Sahni, Siddharth Anand, Shimit Amin, Habib Faisal, Shaad Ali, Maneesh Sharma and Vijay Krishna Acharya debuted under YRF and have gone on to become independent entities in films. The company also produced films for filmmakers such as Anil Mehta, Chandraprakash Dwivedi, and Pradeep Sarkar under their banner. The company was ranked as one of the most powerful film production companies in India in a survey conducted by Filmfare in 2006.[30]
YRF Talent, the talent management division of Yash Raj Films, also manages several actors and actresses.[31]
YRF is headquartered in Mumbai. In India, YRF has a network of distribution offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Amravati, Indore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi. Internationally, there are offices in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the United Arab Emirates.[32]
Throughout the years of its existence, YRF entered into various business agreements with independent film and media entities present in the country.
| Entity | Period | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saregama[33] | 1995–2005 | Music rights of all films produced under the YRF banner (deal existed until the launch of the company's independent music distribution leg, YRF Music) | |
| Raj Kapoor Films[34] | 1995–present | Satellite and home entertainment rights to all films produced under the Raj Kapoor Films banner through the company's home entertainment division, YRF Home Entertainment | |
| Sony Pictures Networks India[35] | 1995–2018; 2025–present | Exclusive satellite rights of all films produced under the YRF banner | |
| Dharma Productions[36] | 1998–2008 | Film distribution and home entertainment rights of all films produced by Dharma Productions (deal existed until the release of Dostana) | |
| FilmKRAFT[37] | 2000–2008 | Theatrical and home entertainment rights to all films produced under the FilmKRAFT banner (deal existed until the release of Krazzy 4) | |
| Disney[38] | 2006–2008 | 3-film (Ta Ra Rum Pum, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic and Roadside Romeo) co-production agreement with Walt Disney Studios | |
| The IMAX Corporation[39] | 2012–present | Multi film co-production agreement for releasing films such as Dhoom 3, Thugs of Hindostan, War, Shamshera, Pathaan, Tiger 3, and War 2 in the IMAX format. | |
| Dolby Laboratories[40] | 2013–present | Multi-film co-production agreement for all YRF projects | |
| The Nikkatsu Corporation[41] | 3-film exclusive distribution agreement for Ek Tha Tiger, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Dhoom 3 in the Japanese market | ||
| Dell Inc.[42] | Joint Venture agreement with Dell Computers for digitization and electronic re-distribution of the entire YRF Library up to Fiscal year 2015 | ||
| Dibakar Banerjee Productions[43] | 2013–2015 | 3-film (Titli, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar) co-production agreement for feature films to be directed by Dibakar Banerjee and his assistant Kanu Behl. | |
| Red Chillies Entertainment[44] [45] [46] [47] | 2014–present | Theatrical film distribution of multiple films | |
| Luv Films[48] [49] | 2019–present | Theatrical film distribution of multiple films | |
| Star India[50] | Exclusive satellite rights of all films produced under the YRF banner | ||
| Amazon Prime Video[51] | 2016–2025 | Exclusive streaming rights of all films produced under the YRF banner | |
| Netflix[52] | 2025–present (films) | Exclusive streaming rights of web series and films produced under YRF Entertainment, the streaming division of YRF. | |
| Posham Pa Pictures[53] | 2024–present | Theatrical films co-production |
