Rohinton Soli Screwvala (born 8 September 1956), known professionally as Ronnie Screwvala, is an Indian entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and film producer. He has been named on Esquire's List of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century in 2008 and ranked 78 among the 100 most influential people in the world on the Time 100. He was also listed amongst 25 Asia's Most Powerful people by Fortune Magazine.

Ronnie is considered a pioneer of cable television, built a media and entertainment conglomerate (UTV Software Communications) that partnered with News Corp, 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, and Bloomberg, and later in 2012, he divested the company to Disney for an enterprise value of US$1.4 billion.

From 2013 onward, he and his wife scaled their non-profit, The Swades Foundation, whose goal is to work with a million people in rural India, empower them, and move them out of poverty every 6–7 years before moving onto another geography. Cofounded UpGrad, which is into online education in the higher education and specialization sector, founded a sports company—U Sports—spanning football, e-sports, and kabaddi, and through his investment company, Unilazer Ventures, has been a significant private equity investor in Indian start-ups with early stage investment and significant minority stakes. After his entrepreneurial period, he founded creative content company RSVP Movies to produce movies and digital content. He has also launched a personal $50 million fund to invest in early-stage AI, deeptech, and space-tech startups.

Early life and education Screwvala was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a Parsi family. His father was an executive at the British firm J L Morrison and Smith & Nephew. Screwvala schooled and went to college in Mumbai at Cathedral and John Connon School and Sydenham College. Screwvala had a keen interest in theatre while in school and acted in professional plays with Bombay theatre as a hobby. He played notable roles in Shakespeare’s Othello and Death of a Salesman.

Personal life Screwvala is married to Zarina Mehta, his second marriage. Zarina has been a co-founder in the media company UTV they founded, and now is the co-Trustee of their Philanthropic foundation; The Swades Foundation. They live in Breach Candy, South Mumbai. His first wife, Manjula Nanavati and Screwvala have one daughter, Trishya Screwvala, who runs her own Not For Profit, The Lighthouse Project, and who is married to sports commentator Suhail Chandhok. Career Early days Opportunistic in the early days of his entrepreneurship, Screwvala founded a toothbrush manufacturing company. Screwvala's is also credited with pioneering Cable TV in India (1981) at a time when there was a single terrestrial channel (Doordarshan) and grew that to multiple cities and most of the hotel chains in India.

United Television (UTV) 1990-2012 Screwvala founded UTV and over the period grew it into a media conglomerate spanning a leading movie studio, a Games Studio and creative content company that went public and listed on stock exchanges in 2005 and into which Disney gradually took a substantial stake until he divested the whole company to them in 2012.

2013 onwards

The Swades Foundation Along with his wife Zarina, Ronnie has founded The Swades Foundation, named after the acclaimed film he produced, whose goal is to lift a million people out of poverty.

Presently, Swades is active in Raigad district in the state of Maharashtra in two thousand villages and involving half a million people. It is working on Water, Sanitation, Health, Education and the main focus is on Livelihood opportunities.

upGrad Screwvala co-founded upGrad, which is one of the largest Online Education companies in India - focused on the higher Education and Specialization sector. They focus majorly on Digital Marketing, Data Analytics, Digital Technology Management, Data Driven Management and Product Management. upGrad has tie-ups with several colleges including MICA.

USports Screwvala co-founded U Sports with a focus on three sports, Kabaddi a popular sport in India and around Asia (his team U Mumba is one of the top teams in the 12 team Pro Kabaddi League), E Sports and in Football where under the brand U Dreams the focus is to train and manage talent under various years of age for a sustained duration, and then manage their careers for the long term to play professionally in India and globally.

RSVP Movies RSVP Movies is a film production company established by Ronnie Screwvala. The company develops original scripts and screenplays in collaboration with various directors.

Unilazer

Unilazer was incorporated by Screwvala as a public equity company that has made investments in the Indian new economy companies with early stage investments with significant minority stake as also bringing with him his entrepreneurial experience to the founders. The sectors in which Unilazer has invested range from e commerce to a leading online eyewear company in India, and from AI and Bots to Agriculture to Microhousing Finance.

International film industry Screwvala has contributed to the international reach of Indian cinema. In 2017, his company RSVP produced Love per Square Foot, the first mainstream Indian film to premiere exclusively on Netflix, reaching subscribers in 190 countries. In 2018, Screwvala produced Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, where it won the People's Choice Midnight Madness Award. That year, Screwvala also participated in the “Shalom Bollywood” event in Mumbai, describing closer India–Israel film-industry ties as “a lovely move”, citing the two countries' shared entrepreneurial culture.

Filmography Films The following is a list of films produced / co-produced by Screwvala

+ Year Title1997 Dil Ke Jharoke Main2000 Fiza2004 Lakshya Swades2005 D Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh The Blue Umbrella2006 Rang De Basanti Chup Chup Ke The Namesake Khosla Ka Ghosla2007 I Think I Love My Wife Hattrick Life in a Metro Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal2008 Phir Kabhi Jodhaa Akbar Aamir The Happening A Wednesday Poi Solla Porom Welcome to Sajjanpur Fashion Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!2009 Dev D Delhi-6 Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge ExTerminators Harishchandrachi Factory Agyaat: The Unknown Kaminey: The Scoundrels Aagey Se Right What's Your Raashee? Main Aurr Mrs Khanna2010 Chance Pe Dance Peepli Live Udaan I Hate Luv Storys Phillum City Paan Singh Tomar Guzaarish Tees Maar Khan2011 No One Killed Jessica 7 Khoon Maaf Thank You Delhi Belly Chillar Party Deiva Thirumagal Muran My Friend Pinto2012 Vettai Vazhakku Enn 18/9 Grandmaster Arjun: The Warrior Prince Rowdy Rathore Mugamoodi Barfi! Heroine Husbands in Goa Thaandavam2013 ABCD (Any Body Can Dance) Kai Po Che! Himmatwala Settai Ghanchakkar Chennai Express Satyagraha Shahid The Lunchbox Ivan Veramathiri2018 Love per Square Foot Lust Stories Karwaan Pihu Kedarnath2019 Uri: The Surgical Strike Sonchiriya Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota The Sky Is Pink Bhangra Paa Le Raat Akeli Hai2020 Ghost StoriesMismatched2021Pitta KathaluDhamaka2022 Mahi Mera Nikka Jeha2023Mission MajnuLust Stories 2TarlaTumse Na Ho PayegaTejas2024PippaSam BahadurUllozhukku2025Azaad2026Satluj

Television Year Title1 Notes1994–1998 Shanti 1997–1998 Sea Hawks 1998 Saaya 1998–2001 Hip Hip Hurray 2000–2004 Shaka Laka Boom Boom namaste 2000 For Better or For Worse executive producer2001–2003 Sarhadein 2002–2008 Bhabhi 2002–2005 Kehta Hai Dil 2002–2004 Khichdi executive producer2003 Salanam 2003 Toad Patrol Miscellaneous crew2003–2007 Shararat 2004–2006 Meher 2004 Rooh 2004–2005 Special Squad 2005 Bombay Talking 2005–2007 Hero - Bhakti Hi Shakti Hai 2005–2006 Sanya executive producer 2006 Kabhie To Nazar Milao 2024 Shark Tank India

Awards Year Award Category Film2007 National Film Awards Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Rang De Basanti2007 Filmfare Awards Best Film2009 Jodhaa Akbar2013 Barfi!

References