Jayantilal Gada | |
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Born | Lakadia, Gujarat, India |
Nationality | India |
Occupation | Producer |
Jayantilal Gada is an Indian film producer and distributor in Hindi cinema. He ventured into film production under his production company, Popular Entertainment Network(PEN) India Ltd.
He is known for producing the 2013 Hindi-language film Mahabharat, which won Best Animation Film at the 3rd Fiji Film Festival.
He founded PEN India (full name, Popular Entertainment Network India and also sometimes written as Pen) in 1987; today the company produces and presents Bollywood films. Gada retired in 2014 at the age of 52. His son is the film and TV producer Dhaval Gada and was announced as his successor at PEN on 3 November 2014. Jayantilal Gada resumed office from 1st April 2016.On the same day, his younger son Aksshay Gada joint Pen to lead the Direction and Digital Business.
Jayantilal Gada is a Kutchi Vagad born in Lakadia, Gujarat. He studied till 10th in Gurukul High School, Ghatkopar. He began working in his father's small grocery store, also taking courses in radio repairing and photography.
Gada started a small video library in a section of his father's store, buying video cassettes from producers for distribution. This sideline grew as he first began hiring out video cassette players, then began filming weddings on video. Later, he moved into wholesaling videos. Popular Video Cassette Library was restructured and renamed PEN in 1992. After financial problems, Gada began moving into acquiring the copyright to films – at this stage he was aged 25.
He married his wife, Hansa at the age of 21 and they have two children - daughter Bhavita and son Dhaval. He has another son Akshay with his partner Reshmaa Kadakia, who is the CFO of his company. While Dhaval has taken over PEN on 3 November 2014, his younger son Aksshay Gada has completed his Whistling Wood training in Production and Direction which are his key interests. His Daughter Bhavita married and settled with Dr.Ninal Shah. They all are based in Mumbai.
In 2004, Gada acquired the rights to supply Hindi-language feature films to public service broadcaster Doordarshan, beginning with the film Yeh Mera India. He convinced Doordarshan to show the remastered and extended version of the classic action-adventure Sholay, which had record viewing figures despite its long running time. Gada also gained the rights to screen films on Zee.