Jayantilal Gada is an Indian film producer who is also a distributor of several Indian films. He established the popular Indian film production and distribution company Pen Studios (formerly Pen India Limited) in 1987.
Wiki/Biography
Jayantilal Vershi Gada was born on Saturday, 31 March 1962 (age 61 years; as of 2023) in Lakadia, Gujarat, India. His zodiac sign is Aries. He studied in a Gujarati medium school till the tenth standard. Gada completed two courses: photography and radio repair.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family & Caste
He belongs to a Hindu-Kutchi Wagar family in Gujarat.
Parents & Siblings
His father, Vershi Khetshi Gada, ran several Kirana stores in Ghatkopar. In 2013, he passed away within 11 days of getting diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. His mother’s name is Jivaben Vershi Gada.
A picture of Jayantilal Gada with his mother and late father’s photograph on the wall
Wife & Children
Jayantilal Gada got married to Hansa Gada at the age of 21. The couple has three children, two sons and a daughter. Their eldest, son, Dhaval is a film and TV producer. Their younger son Akshay Gada founded Bollywood Times Private Limited, an entertainment digital portal, at the young age of 19. In 2015, Akshay Gada was welcomed into the Board of Directors of Pen India Limited.
Jyantilal Gada with Dhaval and Akshay
His daughter, Bhavita Jayantilal Gada, became a part of Pen India Limited’s animation department in 2006.
Jyantilal Gada’s daughter with her family
Relationships/Affairs
Gada and Reshmaa Kadakia, the head of Pens Studio’s Finance & Accounts department, were attracted towards each other but as Gada was already married to Hansa, he could not marry his new love interest. Somehow, the two got together and began calling each other “husband and wife.” He has a son from Reshmaa out of wedlock who studied film production. In an interview, while addressing his love life, Gada said,
I, being a Hindu, could not have married twice, so while I cannot get married to Reshmaa, she is no less than a wife to me. We have been together for 22 years and have a son.”
Reshma Kadakia and Jayantilal Gada
Religion
He follows Hinduism.
Career
The origin of trading
After completing the tenth standard, Gada started working at his father’s shops. He continued this for two straight years and later, he started a video library out of boredom in his father’s store. There, he used to give out rented cassettes for Rs. 10. His father disliked his business so he started renting VCR machines. He also started a video photography business where he used to film weddings and charged Rs. 10,000 for each event. At the age of 25, Jayantilal Gada obtained the copyright of films from Dhirubhai Shah. This business experienced some losses and left Gada bankrupt. In an interview, Gada talked about how he was on the road to success after he partnered with Doordarshan and said,
So, we presented DD with an innovative policy where we would buy a three-hour slot from them, play a film on it and also sell ads to recover money for it. That policy got passed and they granted the rights to NFDC, which further sold the slots to us. The government, we and the producers of the film, all made money.”
In an interview in 2014, while talking about how his career boomed, Jyantilal said that he always dreamt of presenting Sholay’s 3D version on TV. Further, he added,
It [Sholay] was still running in theatres and thus, G. P. Sippy sahab was not wanting it to come on TV so as against the normal price of Rs. 25 lakhs for a film on TV, he asked me for Rs. 1.25 crore, knowing that I would not be able to pay it. But I was determined. We convinced DD to treat Sholay as three films so that they would give us three times the air-time on TV for Rs. 1.25 crores and they did. Can you imagine that one show of Sholay would have run for about 9 hours as it had so many ads and we ran the songs twice each? And while we really troubled the audience, the film had a record TRP of 76 which till today is a benchmark. Through Sholay, I made both money and name. I had bought the rights to show it twice and I then went to Sony TV and convinced them to show it. ”
Jyantilal Gada with film producer G. P. Sippy
Pen Studios
On 31 March 1987, Jayantilal Gada founded a film production and distribution company in Mumbai and named it Pen India Limited; now called Pen Studios. The production house is primarily responsible for the production and distribution of Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu films. Gada’s Pen Studios is popularly known for being a loyal buyer of Zee Entertainment Enterprises. In 1952, Gada took retirement at the age of 52. His son Dhaval Gada was named as his successor at Pen Studios on 3 November 2014; however, due to some reasons, he returned to the office on 1 April 2016.
Pen Studio logo
Production and Presentation of films under Pen Studios
He has produced several films under Pen Studios including Kahaani (2012), the animated film Mahabharat (2013) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan, and Ajay Devgan, which has the biggest box office earnings of all the animated films made in India, and Akshay Kumar starrer Entertainment (2014). Apart from producing, Gada also presented the award-winning film RRR (2022) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022). As of 2023, Pen Studios has universally recognized rights to distribute Hindi films to television networks including Zed TV, Sony Entertainment Television, Sahara One, and Star. Jayantilal Gada has been associated as the rights-holders with several films including Sauda (1995), Kohram (1999), Lal Baadshah (1999), Kitne Door Kitne Paas (2002), Shararat (2002), and Yeh Mera India (2009).
Controversy
Raided for Tax Evasion
On 19 April 2023, the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing from Mumbai began investigations at popular production houses on suspicion of tax evasion. Among the leading production houses was Jayantilal Gada’s Pen Studios. The searches commenced at his office and residence in the morning and went till late evening that day. Reportedly, the producer was investigated by the tax agency for alleged tax evasion and also financial irregularities. Another producer whose office and residence were searched was Vinod Bhanushali.
Awards
- In 2013, he was awarded the Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Award at the 13th Annual Transmedia Screen & Stage Awards.
Jayantilal Gada after receiving an award at the Gujarati Screen and Stage Awards 2013
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, while talking about his success, Gada said that he felt proud for being someone who sold video cassettes of celebrities to producing films with them. He further added,
What can be bigger than that for me? From hereon, my journey would have been only about money. I was interested in films, not money.”
- In an interview, Gada said had Hansa not been there, he would not have achieved his dreams.
- In 2021, Jyantilal Gada was taken to a hospital and underwent heart surgery in which doctors fitted a pacemaker in his heart.
- In an interview, he regretted that he could not spare an ample amount of time with both his wives and said,
I feel I have not given enough time to both my wives as I was busy working for Zee, managing two families and keeping the stars, producers and directors happy. It was challenging and I have completed that.”
- In 2018, Jyantilal Gada was conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by the Academy Of Universal Global Peace (AUGP).
Dr. Jyantilal Gada receiving an honorary doctorate degree in 2018
- After receiving an honorary doctorate, he was appointed as an ambassador of the Academy Of Universal Global Peace for Peace and Humanity in India.
- Jyantilal Gada has met several notable people including Narendra Modi.
Jyantilal Gada with Narendra Modi
