Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani have launched Excel Origins, a talent-development initiative aimed at discovering and supporting Indian filmmakers under 30. Created as Excel Entertainment marks 25 years, the programme will seek emerging directors, writers, actors and other creative talent across genres and formats. The initiative builds on the founders’ early philosophy behind films such as Dil Chahta Hai, which challenged conventional storytelling. Excel Origins is positioned as a long-term talent pipeline designed to develop original ideas and future creative voices for Indian cinema and streaming.
Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani Launch Excel Origins to Back Filmmakers Under 30
Excel Origins will discover, develop and support Indian filmmakers under 30 years of age, in keeping with Excel Entertainment’s long-standing focus on new voices, original stories and creative risk-taking.
Excel Origins will discover, develop and support Indian filmmakers under the age of 30 across the country to celebrate the 25 years of Excel Entertainment, started by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar. The move is in line with Excel Entertainment’s founding philosophy of supporting new voices, new ideas and creative risk-taking, and it also opens doors to new directors, writers, actors and other talent.
Excel Entertainment is celebrating its silver anniversary and is on the lookout for young creators who can create original stories, across genres and in a variety of storytelling formats. And Excel Origins is coming. At 26, Sidhwani and Akhtar founded Excel Entertainment and started working on a film that would change the game for a generation of viewers: Dil Chahta Hai.
The makers say Dil Chahta Hai was a simple belief that new voices and new ways of telling stories could find audiences, even when there was no certainty about untested creative choices. The founders said Excel Origins is shaped by their early experience, taking the same risk-taking approach to filmmakers at the beginning of their professional careers.
Variety journalist Naman Ramachandran reported the initiative as an exclusive, noting it celebrates Excel Entertainment’s 25th anniversary and its new talent-development push for Indian cinema and streaming.
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Emerging Directors, Writers and Actors to Receive Opportunities
The company will search for new directors and writers under Excel Origins, giving them support and creative freedom to develop new material, rather than relying mostly on established formats. The search will span multiple genres and storytelling styles and will include casting opportunities for actors and other early career creatives looking for industry support.
Sidhwani and Akhtar have created Excel Origins as a constant flow of talent, not a one-time slate of films, concentrating on building creative capabilities of the future. The initiative is to develop new directing, writing and acting talent as well as original intellectual property that can feed into Excel Entertainment’s projects in the years ahead.
The company’s announcement comes at a time when India’s entertainment industry continues to walk the tightrope of established franchises and recognizable talent with demand for fresh concepts, distinctive voices and original intellectual property.
The initiative comes in the backdrop of Excel Entertainment’s established filmography ranging from Dil Chahta Hai to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Don, Fukrey, Raees and Gully Boy. The company also produced Dil Dhadakne Do and has expanded its television and streaming work with Inside Edge, India’s first original series for Prime Video.
Excel Entertainment’s Next Chapter After 25 Years
Since then, the company has expanded its work across streaming formats and serialized storytelling with Mirzapur, Made in Heaven, Dahaad and Bambai Meri Jaan for Prime Video. Excel Origins is, in a sense, a marriage of the company’s history of experimentation with a more systematic search for young creators who can define Indian cinema.
The under-30 focus puts emerging filmmakers at the heart of the initiative, but the company says it will also involve actors and other creative professionals at an early stage. For up-and-coming creators, the initiative could mean access to production support and more creative freedom, especially for projects that might not fit into tried-and-true commercial formulas.
Excel Origins is also a reflection of Excel Entertainment’s desire to look beyond the 25-year milestone and use the anniversary as a springboard to create a longer-term trajectory for new cinematic voices. Excel Origins will be an additional avenue to discover talent, and the company has not indicated that it will replace any of its existing franchises and productions.
The initiative’s impact will be determined by the filmmakers selected, the projects funded, and the degree of artistic freedom filmmakers will be afforded as they develop and produce projects throughout the initiative.
Sprouts News will keep an eye out for any announcements relating to Excel Origins, new filmmakers, projects, and developments as Excel Entertainment begins a new chapter after 25 years.
