Bollywood has always been about its stars and superstars. Shah Rukh romances in Europe, Salman flexes muscles and moral codes, Aamir returns with “cinema that matters” every once in a while and Amitabh Bachchan is omnipresent playing different characters. But while the superstars are busy battling over Eid, Diwali and Christmas releases, someone else has quietly taken over; not the box office but the billionaire charts.
Enter Ronnie Screwvala, the unassuming tycoon who features in the 2025 Forbes Billionaire List with a jaw-dropping net worth of $1.5 billion, making him the richest man in Bollywood. And no, he has not danced around trees or launched a six-pack in his sixties. It is brains, business and blockbuster instincts that has put in this position.
Not an actor, still the star
The Forbes list features 3,028 dollar billionaires globally, with 205 from India. Yet, from the glittering world of Hindi cinema, only one name made the cut. Surpassing Shah Rukh Khan (net-worth $770 million), Salman Khan ($390 million), Aamir Khan ($220 million). Even if you add all three Khans together, they still wouldn’t match Ronnie’s empire.
He also leaves behind other Bollywood powerhouses like Gulshan Kumar ($900 million) and Aditya Chopra ($800 million).
Man who went from toothbrushes to television
Born in Bombay in 1956, Ronnie Screwvala’s first business wasn’t remotely glamorous. He opened a manufacturing unit of toothbrushes. But like every great Bollywood script, his story had a turning point. That came in the early ’80s, when colour TVs entered Indian homes during the Asian Games. Ronnie saw what others didn’t: entertainment was about to explode.
He jumped in headfirst and became one of India’s first cable TV entrepreneurs. This small step for Screwvala turned out to be a giant leap for Indian media.
By 1990, he launched UTV, which soon became one of India’s most influential entertainment companies. Under his banner, the industry saw genre-defining hits like ‘Swades’, ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Barfi!’ and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’. And let’s not forget ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, which proved that even land-grabbing uncles could be comedy gold.
He didn’t just dominate the big screen. If you grew up in the ’90s, you probably owe a good chunk of your childhood to shows like ‘Shanti’, ‘Hip Hip Hurray’, ‘Shaka Laka Boom Boom’, ‘Khichdi’ and ‘Shararat’; all came from Ronnie’s production house.
Disney, dollars and a comeback
In 2012, Ronnie sold UTV to Disney. He briefly stepped away but returned with RSVP Movies in 2017. Since then, he’s backed critically acclaimed projects like ‘Uri’, ‘The Sky Is Pink’ and ‘Sam Bahadur’.
In 2024, he added another feather to his cap by becoming one of the sharks on Shark Tank India, schooling the next generation of dreamers and disruptors.
The business of everything
Films are just one slice of the Screwvala pie. He’s also the co-founder of ed-tech platform UpGrad, investment firm Unilazer Ventures and sports enterprise USports. At 68, he’s more active than ever. So while the stars may still rule the red carpets, Ronnie Screwvala rules something far shinier: the Forbes list. And to think — it all started with a toothbrush.