G. Dhananjayan holds an MBA degree from Sydenham Institute of Management
SIMSREE,
University of Mumbai (1991 batch), and earned his Ph.D. from Mumbai University for his thesis on the Indian Film Industry in March 2019. He worked in
Asian Paints Ltd,
Kansai Nerolac Paints,
Saregama,
Bharti Airtel, and
Vodafone for more than 15 years before joining
Moser Baer Entertainment in 2006. Dhananjayan was the company's
Chief Operating Officer of Home Video Business and then chief executive officer of the Film Business. Dhananjayan was one of the two founding members of
Moser Baer Entertainment in April 2006. Within 6 months, GD acquired the copyright/marketing rights for over 10,000 film titles in ten languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi to launch DVDs and VCDs under the banner of
Moser Baer. This allowed to compete with low-priced unauthorized copies of DVDs. Dhananjayan was associated with
UTV Motion Pictures (now part of Disney-India) from January 2011 till February 2016 and was instrumental in producing several films in the South. Dhananjayan did lectures and interactions with students of various film institutes across India. He also delivered speeches at IIT, NIT, and other management institutes on film business. Dhananjayan has spoken at various forums and programs on the film business, management, and other topics. Dhananjayan was the founding Director of BOFTA Film Institute,
Film production At
Moser Baer Entertainment Dhananjayan ventured into film production with
Shaurya in Hindi and
Vellitherai in Tamil. Moser Baer then produced
Sankat City and "Hide & Seek" in Hindi,
Raman Thediya Seethai,
Poo,
Abhiyum Naanum,
Kanden Kadhalai,
Aval Peyar Thamizharasi, and
Siddhu +2 with K. Bhagyaraj in Tamil and
Kaana Kanmani in Malayalam in two years. At
UTV Motion Pictures (now called Disney-India) Dhananjayan had acquired and also produced films in Tamil and Malayalam. The first film, UTV marketed after his joining was
Deiva Thirumagal which was a critically acclaimed movie. He was involved in producing, marketing, and distributing films. Under his supervision UTV co-produced in Tamil
Vettai and
Vazhakku Enn 18/9 with Director N. Lingusamy's Thirrupathi Brothers,
Kalakalappu and
Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru with Sundar C's Avni Cinemax, M.Saravanan—Vikram Prabhu'
Ivan Veramathiri and Suriya's
Anjaan with Director N. Lingusamy's Thirrupathi Brothers, and
Naan Sigappu Manithan with Vishal Film Factory. GD had produced under UTV banner
Muran,
Mugamoodi,
Thaandavam,"
Settai,
Sigaram Thodu, Director S.P.Jhananathan—Arya-Vijay Sethupathi's
Purampokku and Director Vishnuvaradhan—Arya's
Yatchan in Tamil. In Malayalam UTV had produced
Grandmaster and
Husbands in Goa. In his last assignment with UTV, Dhananjayan was involved in the marketing of Director
Sudha Kongara and Madhavan's
Irudhi Suttru in 2016. Dhananjayan is currently an independent consulting film producer and distributor. In 2018, he produced Tamil films
Mr. Chandramouli by
Thiru (director), starring
Karthik (actor),
Gautham Karthik,
Regina Cassandra,
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar,
Santhosh Prathap and others and
Kaatrin Mozhi by
Radha Mohan, starring
Jyothika,
Vidharth,
Lakshmi Manchu,
Kabadadaari with
Sibi Sathyaraj and
Kapatadhaari in Telugu with
Sumanth. Dhananjayan is one of the partners of Infiniti Film Ventures and the company has produced
Kodiyil Oruvan,
Kolai, and
Raththam released in 2023.
Movie distribution Dhananjayan distributed the film
Zero in 2016 under his production banner Blue Ocean Entertainment. In May 2017, he commenced his distribution company Creative Entertainers and Distributors and distributed the successful film
Ivan Thanthiran. In 2018 GD distributed the film
U Turn starring
Samantha Prabhu in Tamil Nadu, which became a success. Dhananjayan's recently distributed film is
Kolaigaran which was released on June 7, 2019, and "
Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban, which got released in 2020. Both films were commercial successes.
Writing career Dhananjayan has contributed several articles to the
Times of India, The Hindu Tamil, Dinathanthi Next, Deccan Chronicle, Indian Management, DNA, India Today, and other publications. Dhananjayan has written a book about Tamil cinema titled
The Best of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2010, in English, which was released by Legendary Actor Kamal Haasan on 2 March 2011 in the presence of eminent film makers. Super Star
Rajinikanth personally appreciated the book by giving a memento for the fantastic research and writing on Tamil cinema. Dhananjayan's second book was "Pride of Tamil Cinema", released in 2014. The book was released at Indian Panorama, Goa in 2014. Dhananjayan's fourth book titled 'The Art and Business of Cinema(ABC)' was released in December 2017 comprising nearly 100 articles that explains the various art and business facets of cinema. Dhananjayan's series of articles in various newspapers won him his second National Award as the Best Critic of the Year 2016. Dhananjayan was also the compiling author of two books by legendary actor, painter, orator and philanthropist Sivakumar titled ‘Paintings of Sivakumar’ and ‘Golden Moments of Sivakumar’. In 2021, served for a brief period as the Head of Tamil content and digital business in
SonyLIV. In 2023, Dhananjayan and
Madhan Karky started SCRIPTICK, a "script bank" to help aspiring screenwriters better research their scripts. == Filmography ==