Rohinton Soli Screwvala better known as Ronnie Screwvala is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the pioneer of Cable Television in India and is one of the most influential businessmen. He has been one of the key Indian investors in early-stage tech and new economy companies. Being the jack of all trades, Screwvala is the founder of UTV Software Communications, chairperson and co-founder of upGrad, movie producer, philanthropist, author, and one of the biggest names in film production and distribution.
Wiki/Biography
Ronnie Screwvala was born on Saturday, 8 September 1956 (age 65 years; as of 2021) in Bombay, Maharashtra (now called Mumbai). He did his schooling at Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and graduated from Sydenham College. While studying at university in Mumbai, Screwvala wanted to become an entrepreneur, which wasn’t the same as what his parents wanted for him. They wanted him to pursue accountancy in Britain. Talking about his passion for the same in an interview, he said,
Everyone [in India] believed that you only wanted to be an entrepreneur if you didn’t get a good job,”
He seemed interested in theatre and drama, while he was in school and also did plays professionally with Bombay Theatre, as a hobby.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5’11”
Weight (approx.): 80 kg
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Ronnie Screwvala in his home
Family
Parents & Siblings
Ronnie Screwvala belongs to a Parsee family. He comes from a humble background with a lower-middle-class living situation. His father used to work as an executive at the British firm J L Morrison and Smith & Nephew. His parents now live in a separate apartment, right below his apartment. Reminiscing the old times, he said,
My parents used to play cards on Saturday . . . all the friends would come across. So it was like one massive Parsee gathering . . . and the value system kind of creeps in.”
Wife & Children
Ronnie got married to Manjula Nanavati, daughter of Suresh Nanavati, who is the chairman of Nanavati Hospitals in Mumbai. The couple welcomed their daughter and named her Trishya Screwvala. Trishya runs her own Not For Profit Organisation, The Lighthouse Project and got married to sports commentator Suhail Chandhok on 19 January 2017. Ronnie and Manjula got divorced, after which Screwvala got married to Zarina Mehta. Zarina is the co-founder of UTV and co-trustee of their Philanthropic foundation; The Swades Foundation.
Ronnie Screwvala with his wife Zarina and daughter Trishya
Religion/Religious Views
Ronnie Screwvala belongs to the Parsee community and follows Zoroastrianism. In an interview, he talked about his views on the Parsee community and said,
Parsee culture is definitely one of strong business acumen, high ethics, and an element of philanthropy,”
Address
Breach Candy, South Mumbai, Maharashtra
Career
Entrepreneur
Ronnie Screwvala is an astute entrepreneur and has quite a lot of feathers in his cap. He began by starting a company, which manufactured toothbrushes, which is now the largest in the country and produces around 6 million brushes per month, for most of the leading toothbrush brands in India. He pioneered home shopping in India with Tele-Shopping Network (TSN) and is also known for introducing Cable Television in India, in 1981. He went ahead and found South Asia’s premier studio and animation complex, called the United Studios.
UTV
Screwvala incorporated the UTV Group in 1990 and diversified it into a leading movie studio, a Games Studio and a creative content company. It went public and got listed on stock exchanges in 2005. In 2008, The Walt Disney Company picked up a 15 per cent stake in UTV Global Broadcasting for Rs 118.98 crore which made it the largest foreign investment in India followed by the acquisition of 32.1 per cent in the parent, UTV Software Communications Ltd for Rs 805.05 crore. In the year 2012, Screwvala divested the entire company to the WDC. This made him a global name in the Media industry.
The Swades Foundation
Ronnie is the co-founder of The Swades Foundation, along with his wife Zarina. The purpose of the initiative is to uplift a million people out of poverty, where the main focus is on livelihood opportunities. It is currently active in Maharashtra, in a 3000 sq km concentric geography in Raigad – in 2000 villages working on Water, Sanitation, Health and Education.
upGrad
Screwvala took an opportunity to explore the uncharted areas of the education sector and co-founded the largest online education company in India, called upGrad in 2015. It is a higher-education learning platform that provides programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology and Management to college students, working professionals and enterprises. upGrad is in association with universities like IIT Madras, IIIT-B, BITS Pilani, MICA, Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education etc.
Founders of upGrad (Ronnie Screwvala in the middle)
USports
Screwvala cofounded USports with a focus on three areas, Kabadi, ESports and Football. USports has an initiative called UDreams, which helps in the professional training of children in these sports, to play at the international level.
Unilazer Ventures
Unilazer Ventures was incorporated by Screwvala as a private equity company that invests in the Indian new economy companies and start-ups, with early-stage investments with a significant minority stake that brings his entrepreneurial skills to the companies. Unilazer has invested in a wide arena of industries ranging from e-commerce to the leading online eyewear company in India, and from AI and Bots to Agriculture to Micro housing Finance.
RSVP Movies
Screwvala re-entered the media and film industry with RSVP Movies. The main aim is to focus on developing own scripts.
Producer
Film
Screwvala has produced dozens of mainstream blockbusters, indie movies across all genres and contemporary Bollywood classics. Some of these worth mentioning productions of Ronnie include Swades (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Jodha Akbar (2008), Paan Singh Tomar (2010), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) and The Sky is Pink (2019).
Television
Ronnie has also produced some successful television shows, such as Shanti (1994-98), Shaka Laka Boom Boom (2000-04), Khichdi (2002-04), Shararat (2003-07), Hero – Bhakti Hi Shakti Hai (2005-07) etc.
Author
Ronnie Screwvala is an author and has written books like Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey, Skill It, Kill It: Up Your Game and Dream with your Eyes Open 101: Practical Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Ask. Screwvala has shared his insights, his experiences and wisdom through these books.
Ronnie Screwvala’s book Skill It Kill It
Ronnie Screwvala’s Book Dream With Your Eyes Open
Not only confined to books. Ronnie has also tried to impart some of his knowledge to the youth through his articles like ‘The growing realization of self-reliance in India is a welcome change, but not without the Triple E Highway – Education, Entrepreneurship & Employment’, ‘Changing Perceptions of Online Learning’ and ‘Live life on your own terms and other lessons for my daughter.’
Controversies
- Ronnie Screwvala’s new film, Captain India, gathered controversy when it was revealed that another movie, Operation Yemen, is based on the same plot and is in the making.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- Named on Esquire’s List of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century
- Ranked 78 among the 100 most influential people in the world on the Time 100 (compiled by Time Magazine, 2009)
- Nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Non-English Film – Rang De Basanti
- Won Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at National Film Awards (2007) for Rang De Basanti
- Won Best Film by Filmfare Awards (2007) and IIFA Awards (2007) for Rang De Basanti
- Won Best Film by Filmfare Awards (2009) and IIFA Awards (2009) for Jodha Akbar
- Won Best Film by Filmfare Awards (2013) and IIFA Awards (2013) for Barfi!
Net Worth
In the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020, Ronnie Screwvala stood at 188 rank with a wealth of INR 6,500 Crore.
Facts/Trivia
- Ronnie Screwvala is a dog-lover and has a pet dog named Sprite which is a Labrador.
- A little known fact about Screwvala is that he started a theatre production company and won a role as a teenage presenter on India’s sole national TV station.
- Ronnie suffered a loss of 30 crores with his investment in a film that was supposed to be an action-packed, modern-day superhero saga, starring Vicky Kaushal. The movie required huge funds and in the producer’s opinion, it would not earn those back even in the non-covid times, so he decided to put it on hold.
- He played notable roles in Shakespeare’s Othello and Death of a Salesman as he was always intrigued with acting and drama.
- His house has a large carved chessboard and he enjoys playing chess with Bollywood Star Aamir Khan. Speaking about the same in an interview, Ronnie said,
I know how to play chess. Occasionally my daughter and I would do that, or when Aamir comes over, he and I play, But I haven’t yet beaten Aamir, so that’s a bad thing.”