About Us

Mr. Shakti Samanta formed Shakti Films in 1957. Mr. Ashim Samanta joined the company from 1976. The company has so far produced 27 Hindi feature films, 7 Bengali feature films and 1 Bhojpuri feature film.

Shakti Films also owns Aradhana Sound Service, a state of the art, complete Digital audio postproduction facility (Dubbing/ADR, Foley/Synch Effects, Mixing) spanning over 4500 square feet.

Aradhana Films and Samanta Movies Pvt Ltd are sister concerns of Shakti Films.

MR. SHAKTI SAMANTA:

Shakti Samanta (born 13th January 1925 in Burdwan, West Bengal) was an Indian film producer & director. He graduated in 1944 from Calcutta University. He joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director and worked with Gyan Mukherjee, Satish Nigam and Phani Mazumdar.

Shakti Samanta directed first feature film in 1954 and started his own production company, Shakti Films in 1957. In all, Shakti Samanta has directed 43 feature films: including 37 Hindi, and 6 Bengali films. His best-known films are Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Anuraag, Amanush, Anand Ashram Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, The Great Gambler and Mehbooba. Shakti Samanta is credited for starting the trend of making double version films in Hindi and Bengali with Amanush in 1974. Shakti Samanta also made the first co-produced film between India and Bangladesh in 1984, Anaya Abichaar (Bengali) which was a huge hit. He died on 9th April 2009.

Awards and Recognition:

Shakti Samanta received Filmfare awards for “Best film” for Aradhana, Anuraag and Amanush. He has also received several Lifetime Achievement awards and several other awards from Zee and other Indian organizations. Some of his films have been shown at international festivals in Berlin, Tashkent, Moscow, Cairo, and Beirut.

Shakti Samanta was President of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association for 5 years, Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification for 7 years and was Chairman of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata for 2 years.

MR. ASHIM SAMANTA:

Biography:

Ashim Samanta (Born on 7th July 1954 in Mumbai) received his bachelor’s degree in commerce from Bombay University in 1976. He started his career in the Film industry in India in 1976 working as an assistant director to Mr. Brij Sadanah on “Bombay 405 Miles” & “Professor Pyarelal” and later joined Mr. Shakti Samanta as his assistant and in production.
He was a director on the board of HDFC BANK LTD from 2004 until 2012 and was a director on the board of Fame Cinema Ltd for 4 years. He also founded Samanta Organics Pvt Ltd a manufacturing facility of fine chemicals and bulk drugs in 1990.
He is the treasurer of Film Producers Guild and treasurer of Film Industry Welfare Trust.

Films Directed:

  • Ankhon Mein Tum Ho (1997)
  • Ahankaar (1995)
  • Aakhri Baazi (1989)
  • Palay Khan (1986)
  • Main Awara Hoon (1983)
  • Aamne Samne (1980)
  • Mastan (Bengali)(1989)
  • Achena Atithi (Bengali) (1997)
  • Don Muthuswami (Hindi) (2008)

Television serials Directed:

  • Dil Vil Pyar Vyar – Comic sitcom for Sony Entertainment Television (Weekly)
  • Won Best Director for comedy serial Lions award
  • Durga Daily – Emotional Soap for ETV Bengali
  • KaalChakra – Supernatural drama for Star Plus (Weekly one hour) O Won Best Title track award.
  • Aantariksh – Science fiction drama for Star Plus (Half Hour Daily)
  • Won Award for best computer graphics (SPECIAL EFFECTS)

Localization:

Started localization of Hollywood films into Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali in 1993 for Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Marvel Movies, Disney, Lucas Films, DreamWorks, United Artists, and from 2025 started localization for OTT channels like Netflix, Amazon, Sony Liv, YouTube and others.

Some of the prominent films being Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Jurassic World, James Bond films, Mission Impossible (1-5), Mummy (1-3), Schindler’s List, King Kong, All Marvel films like Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast & Furious series etc.

Miscellaneous:

Associate Producer for:

  • “Deep River – Fukai kawa” – Japanese Film Production Company.
  • Song for MTV Japanese
  • Advertisement film – MASTER CARD (Japan)

about Us

Aradhana Films was started in 1993 with localisation of Jurassic Park and today we are vendors to Universal Pictures, Disney - Marvel, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount Pictures and others.

Info

Aradhana Films, 194 Arvind Chambers, Western Express Highway, Andheri East, Mumbai 400069.

Phone: 022 4973 0524

Email: samantamovies@gmail.com