MPW Repeat Winners: Meet Jyoti Deshpande, the brain behind the stupendous success of Jio Studios

Without a doubt, 2024 has been a remarkable year for Jyoti Deshpande. Jio Studios, the media platform and content business of Reliance Industries, which she oversees, was responsible for more than half of India’s net box-office collections of Rs 2,000 crore.

The year began with the success of Article 370, as Laapataa Ladies emerged as India’s official entry for the Oscars. Nothing, however, has surpassed Stree 2, a comedy horror film that was released on August 15 and has grossed over Rs 600 crore.

“The acumen lies in greenlighting the right project,” she says. She incubated the business, and in six years, it has produced 150 films and web series in various Indian languages. And this Diwali, Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again opened to a good response in the first week.

For Deshpande, the future will, to a large extent, be determined by technology. “We want to use it to bring scale, quantity, and a new breed of storytellers,” she says. The show has barely started.