India's richest filmmaker is not from Bollywood; ₹26000 cr wealth dwarfs Shah Rukh, Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra combined

The richest filmmaker in India, according to the Forbes 2026 Billionaires List, is a man with $2.8 billion and multiple blockbusters in Tamil cinema.

Mar 13, 2026, 16:20:27 IST

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Forbes Magazine recently released its annual list of billionaires, listing the richest men and women in the world. The Forbes 2026 Billionaires List contains 4000 of the world’s most influential and wealthiest people, including over 300 from India. This includes a handful of people one may call celebrities, as they are associated with the world of art and entertainment. Among them is a media baron who has, for the fourth year in a row, been crowned the richest filmmaker of India.

Kalanithi Maran with Rajinikanth, a regular star of his films.

India’s richest filmmaker

Business tycoon Kalanithi Maran is the current richest filmmaker in India. Forbes has reported his wealth at a staggering $2.8 billion (almost ₹26000 crore). Part of this comes from his ownership of the production house, Sun Pictures. One of the leading names in Tamil cinema, Sun Pictures has produced successful films like Enthiran, Petta, Beast, Jailer, and Coolie. Their slate of upcoming films includes two huge titles - Jailer starring Rajinikanth and Allu Arjun, and Atlee’s untitled collaboration.

Kalanithi Maran has beaten Ronnie Screwvala in the race to be the richest filmmaker from India. Screwvala is the only other Indian name from the entertainment industry in Forbes’ list, with a net worth of $1.6 billion.

Just how rich Maran is can be gauged by the fact that his ₹26000 crore net worth is more than the combined wealth of Bollywood biggies like Shah Rukh Khan ( ₹7500 crore), Aditya Chopra ( ₹7700 crore), and Karan Johar ( ₹2000 crore).

How Kalanithi Maran made his billions

Son of former Union Minister Murosili Maran, Kalanithi began his career handling his family’s modest publishing business in the 80s. In 1993, he launched the Sun TV Network, which Forbes now describes as “a regional television heavyweight with 37 channels reaching more than 140 million households in India.” His other business investments include newspapers, radio and direct-to-home television, as well as three cricket teams - Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SAT20 League, and Sunrisers Leeds in The Hundred.

His wife, Kavery, is an executive director at Sun TV Network and oversees content, while his daughter, Kaviya Maran, is the CEO of all three of his cricket franchises.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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