Phantom Studios

Phantom Films was founded in 2011 by Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, and Vikramaditya Motwane, and was cited as the "directors' company".[11] The idea to start their own production house came to mind because of their ‘constant struggle in convincing producers’ every time to believe in the kind of cinema they make.[12][13]

The company's first film was Motwane’s period romance Lootera, starring Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha. Based on O. Henry's short story, The Last Leaf, the film received high critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise directed towards Sinha and Singh's performance.^[14]

Phantom films then went on to collaborate with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions to produce the romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee. Starring Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra and, the film was directed by the debutant Vinil Mathew. It was followed by the Vikas Bahl-directed comedy-drama Queen, starring Kangana Ranaut and Lisa haydon. The film was a critical and commercial success, it also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.^[15][16][17] Ugly, a drama thriller was the next production venture of Phantom, directed by Anurag Kashyap starring Rahul Bhat and Ronit Roy, which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2013 Cannes Festival.[18]

In 2015, the company produced Anushka Sharma's NH10, which was directed by Navdeep Singh and the coming of age comedy Hunterrr was directed by Harshvardhan Kulkarni, starring Gulshan Devaiah and Radhika Apte. Both films proved to be a success by critics and audiences.^[19][20] Bombay Velvet which was directed by Anurag Kashyap, a period film set in Bombay in the 1960s was next on the release radar, based on the Princeton University Historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables the film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.[21][22] Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan was Phantom's fourth release of the year, the film marked Vicky Kaushal’s debut where he starred alongside Richa Chadda. The film won the FIPRESCI Award and the Promising Future award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.^[23] Phantom Films continued exploring genres with Vikas Bahl’s Shaandaar (2015), starring Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor.^[24][25]

In February 2016, Phantom Films announced that they will co-produce three Gujarati films with Cine Man Productions, a Gujarat-based production company co-founded by Abhishek Jain.^[26] Phantom's first release that year was Udta Punjab, a crime drama from the director Abhishek Chaubey starring Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Dilijit Dosanjh, the film documents the substance abuse endemic in the Indian state of Punjab. The film generated controversy when the Central Board of Film Certification demanded extensive censorship before its theatrical release, citing that the portrayal of Punjab in it was negative[27] after the producers of the film filed a lawsuit against the board, the Bombay High Court cleared the film for exhibition with only 1 scene getting trimmed out in the final draft.[28] It was followed by Raman Raghav 2.0, a thriller directed by Anurag Kashyap based on the notorious serial killer Raman Raghav, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal. The film premiered at the 2016 Sydney Film Festival and the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, in the Director's Fortnight section to receive a positive response.[29][30] The company's final release of the year was the Gujarati film Wrong Side Raju starring Pratik Gandhi and Asif Basra which was directed by Mikhil Musale.[31][32]

In March 2017, Phantom released Vikramaditya Motwane’s survival drama film Trapped starring Rajkumar Rao and Geetanjali Thapa.[33] This was followed by the release of Mukkabaaz in 2018, starring Vineet Kumar Singh and Zoya Hussain which was directed by Anurag Kashyap.[34] The company went on to release 3 movies later that year, starting with Akarsh Khurana’s High Jack starring Sumeet Vyas and Mantra,[35] then they released Bhavesh Joshi Superhero starring Harshvardhan Kapoor and Nishikant Kamat directed by Vikramaditya Motwane,[36] and an other Kashyap’s release Manmarziyaan starring Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu.[37] That year Phantom also released the neo-noir crime-thriller series Sacred Games starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui which was co-directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.[38] Patrick Graham’s Ghoul a mini thriller series on Netflix starring Radhika Apte and Manav Kaul.[39] In 2019, Phantom released Super 30 starring Hrithik Roshan and Mrunal Thakur which was directed by Vikas Bahl which was followed by Makrand Mane’s Youngraad starring Chaitanya Deore and Shireen Patil.[40] In 2020, they released a comedy-drama; Ghoomketu starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Ragini Khanna which was directed by Pushpendra Nath Misra.[41] The company also worked on 83 starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone which was directed by Kabir Khan.[42] The company was also a co-producer for the 2023 series called ‘Jubilee’ which was co-produced with Reliance Entertainment starring Aditi Rao Hydari and Aparshakti Khurana which was directed by Vikramaditya Motwane[43][44] and they are currently working on the Hindi remake of the Tamil film ‘Love Today’ (2022) with AGS entertainment.[45]

After an 8-year-long run, the company announced its dissolution on 5 October[46] due to internal disputes about the alleged me-too allegations on Bahl by a former Phantom employee, which was reported in 2015.[47] The other three founders, Mantena, Kashyap and Motwane, all issued statements on Twitter confirming the company's disbanding and moving on to independent projects.[48]

In January 2021, Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Talwar bought out Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Vikramaditya Motwane's stakes in Phantom to become equal shareholders in the company with Reliance Entertainment. However, shortly before the release of 83, they sold their shares back to Reliance, making it the sole shareholder of Phantom, and left the company. In March 2022, Mantena and Talwar acquired the Phantom brand as well as its film and television library and some film properties from Reliance.

In 2022, Phantom Films brought on Srishti Behl to lead the team and took on a new persona as Phantom Studios.^[49] With a new creative outlook and under new leadership the company has a few projects in the pipeline. The team is working with AGS Entertainment on the Hindi-language remake of the 2022 Tamil film Love Today.[50]

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