G. Dhananjayan


G. Dhananjayan is an Indian film producer, two-time National Award Winner, columnist, author of four books, founder-dean of BOFTA Film Institute. He was instrumental in producing a number of films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi languages. Dhananjayan received the 'Doctor of Philosophy Degree' for his thesis on Indian Film Industry in March 2019.

Education and work

GD holds MBA degree from Sydenham Institute of Management SIMSREE, University of Mumbai. He worked in Asian Paints Ltd, Kansai Nerolac Paints, Saregama, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone for more than 15 years before joining Moser Baer Entertainment in 2006. Dhananjayan was company's Chief Operating Officer of Home Video Business and then Chief Executive Officer of the Film Business.
GD was one of the two founding members of Moser Baer Entertainment, which was set up in April 2006. Within a span of 6 months, GD acquired the copyright/marketing rights for over 10,000 film titles in 10 key languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi etc. to launch DVDs and VCDs under the banner of Moser Baer. Thus, the company revolutionised the Home Entertainment market in January 2007, with the launch of DVDs/VCDs at an economical consumer prices of Rs. 28 and Rs. 34 and redefined the way the consumer looked at this segment. This helped the consumers to start collecting the films for creating their own library.

Movie production

At Moser Baer Entertainment GD ventured into film production with "Shaurya" in Hindi and "Vellitherai" in Tamil. There after, Moser Baer produced and released "Sankat City" and "Hide & Seek" in Hindi, "Raman Thediya Seethai", "Poo", "Abhiyum Naanum","Kanden Kadhalai", "Aval Peyar Thamizharasi" and "Siddhu +2" with K. Bhagyaraj in Tamil and "Kaana Kanmani" in Malayalam in a span of two years.
GD was associated with UTV Motion Pictures since January 2011 till February 2016. At UTV GD had acquired and also produced films in Tamil and Malayalam. The first film, UTV marketed after his joining was Deiva Thirumagal which was a critically acclaimed movie. He was involved in producing, marketing and distributing films. Under his supervision UTV had co-produced in Tamil "Vettai" and Vazhakku Enn 18/9 with Director N. Lingusamy's Thirrupathi Brothers, Kalakalappu and "Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru" with Sundar C's Avni Cinemax, M.Saravanan—Vikram Prabhu' Ivan Veramathiri and Suriya's Anjaan with Director N. Lingusamy's Thirrupathi Brothers, and "Naan Sigappu Manithan" with Vishal Film Factory. GD had produced under UTV banner "Muran", "Mugamoodi","Thaandavam","Settai","Sigaram Thodu", Director S.P.Jhananathan—Arya-Vijay Sethupathi's "Purampokku" and Director Vishnuvaradhan—Arya's "Yatchan" in Tamil. In Malayalam UTV had produced "Grandmaster" and "Husbands in Goa". In his last assignment with UTV, GD was involved in the marketing of Director Sudha Kongara and Madhavan's “Irudhi Suttru" in 2016, which went on to become a huge success.
GD is currently an independent film producer and distributor. In 2018 he produced Tamil films Mr. Chandramouli by Thiru, starring Karthik, Gautham Karthik, Regina Cassandra, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Santhosh Prathap and others and Kaatrin Mozhi by Radha Mohan, starring Jyothika, Vidharth, Lakshmi Manchu and others, which went on to become a critical and commercial success.

Movie Distribution

GD has distributed the film “Zero" in 2016 under his production banner Blue Ocean Entertainment. In May 2017, he commenced his distribution company Creative Entertainers and Distributors and distributed the successful film “Ivan Thanthiran". In 2018 GD distributed the film U Turn starring Samantha Prabhu in Tamil Nadu, which became a success.
GD's recent distribution film is "Kolaigaran" which was released on June 7th, 2019.

Contributions to film industry

GD took the initiative of buying the video rights of several popular Tamil movies, other south Indian movies and mass marketing it as DVDs and VCDs at economical price at Moser Baer. Because of this initiative, several old Tamil movies were available in DVDs and VCDs at economical price with best quality. This was done to compete with unauthorised copies of DVDs typically sold for very low prices.
GD is known for his full involvement while producing the film with his director and observes carefully the way the movie is moulding in-shape without setbacks. Director Cheran once mentioned in an interview that producers should be like GD by visiting the shooting spots and being a part of the production process, so that they will know what hurdles the film crew is facing while making a movie.
GD is passionate about writing and has contributed several articles to Times of India, The Hindu Tamil, Dinathanthi Next, Deccan Chronicle, Indian Management, DNA, India Today and other publications.
GD has written a book about Tamil cinema titled The Best of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2010, in English, which was released by Legendary Actor Kamal Haasan on 2 March 2011 in the presence of eminent film makers. Super Star Rajinikanth personally appreciated the book by giving a memento for the fantastic research and writing on Tamil cinema. The book has reached out to many universities worldwide and has become a reference point on Tamil cinema for many interested foreigners to know about Tamil cinema.
GD's second book was "Pride of Tamil Cinema", released in 2014. The book was released at Indian Panorama, Goa in 2014 and it went on to win the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema for the year 2014. The book is highly appreciated by the film industry for the impeccable documentation of the films.
GD's monthly column in 'Galatta Cinema' for two years was widely read by eminent personalities in South Indian Cinema and was appreciated for his professional contribution to South Cinema. His article series in Tamil newspaper 'The Hindu' was widely read and appreciated for the valuable contribution he is doing by enlightening the readers on the happenings in Tamil cinema and the changes required. His collection of Tamil articles was published by 'The Hindu' under the title ‘Vellithirayin Vetri Manthirangal’ which is today one of the best sellers from their publication.
GD's fourth book titled 'The Art and Business of Cinema' was released in December 2017 comprising nearly 100 articles that explains the various art and business facets of cinema. The collection of articles in this book is a must read for interested filmmakers to understand the challenges in the industry and what to keep in mind to deliver a film successfully.
GD spends considerable time in interacting with students of various Film Institutes across India. He also delivered speeches at IIT, NIT and other management institutes on film business. GD is invited to various forums and programs to speak on film business, management and many other topics. GD also pursues speaking in All India Radio on public interest topics on many occasions and participates in several Television channel debates on Cinema.
GD is the founder–dean of BOFTA Film Institute, Tamil Nadu's leading film institute, based at Chennai.
GD's series of articles in various newspapers won him his second National Award as the Best Critic of the year 2016. He has also earned his Ph.D on the Film Industry from Mumbai University.
GD started making documentaries on legendary filmmakers. His first documentary on Producer-Director-Writer Panchu Arunachalam titled 'A Creator with Midas Touch' which was selected and screened at Indian Panorama of International Film Festival, Goa received widespread appreciation. His second documentary on legendary directors Krishnan-Panju was selected and screened at Mumbai International Film Festival received critical acclaim.

Filmography

At Moser Baer Entertainment as the Producer or Co-Producer
Also associated with Abhiyum Naanum and Mayilu in funding the project to Prakash Raj's Duet Movies.
At Disney-UTV as the Associate Producer
As Producer – Creative Entertainers
As Actor
As Distributor
Documentary films