Ajit Andhare

Ajit Andhare (born July 11, 1973) is an Indian businessman, entrepreneur and media executive. He is currently the chief operating officer at JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Viacom18 Studios, and The Walt Disney Company. ^[1] Prior to this, he served as the Chief Operating Officer at Viacom18 Studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures for over a decade.^[2]

Ajit Andhare
Nationality	Indian
Education	NIT Rourkela (Bachelor of Technology) Indian School of Business (MBA)
Occupation(s)	COO, Viacom18 Studios

Career

Ajit currently serves as the chief operating officer at Viacom 18 Motion Pictures (VMP), the motion pictures business of Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd.^[3]

Viacom18 Studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures

In April 2013, Andhare was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Viacom18 Motion Pictures.^[4] He contributed to films such as Queen, Padmaavat, and Andhadhun.^[5] In 2018, he became COO of Viacom18 Studios.^[6]

JioStar

In November 2024, Andhare was appointed to head the combined studio business at JioStar.^[7]

Early life and education

Ajit earned a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and an MBA from the Indian School of Business.^[8][9] Before entering the media industry, he worked at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Brooke Bond Lipton in various roles, including Senior Brand Manager and Regional Brand Activation Director.^[10] He later founded Colosceum Media, a content production company funded by Capital18.^[11]

He is known for producing television programs such as MTV Roadies, MTV Splitsvilla, Jai Shri Krishna for Colors, Wheel Smart Shrimati for Unilever and the Master Chef India series for Star India.^[12][13][14]