India's richest filmmaker is worth Rs 33000 crore, richer than Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan; it's not Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, SS Rajamouli

Kalanithi Maran was born on July 24, 1964, in Chennai to the late politician Murasoli Maran and Mallika Maran. He completed his schooling at Don Bosco in Chennai and graduated from Loyola College, Chennai. Maran went on to pursue MBA at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, USA.

In 1990, Kalanithi launched a monthly Tamil magazine called Poomaalai before founding Sun TV in 1993. The entertainment channel has since grown into Sun Group, one of the largest media conglomerates in India. Maran serves as the chairman of the Chennai-based company.

As per the 2024 Hurun India Rich List, Kalanithi Maran's net worth is whopping Rs 33,400 crore, making him the 80th richest person in India. He produces films under his banner Sun Pictures. The production house has bankrolled some of the biggest blockbusters such as Enthiran, Beast, Petta, Sarkar, and Jailer with superstars Rajinikanth and Thalapathy Vijay.

Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group owns over 30 TV channels across India, along with two daily newspapers, five magazines, a film production house called Sun Pictures, an OTT platform named Sun NXT, a DTH satellite service called Sun Direct, and two cricket teams—Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the South Africa T20 League.

Kalanithi Maran's net worth significantly surpasses that of many Bollywood celebrities. As per the 2024 Hurun India Rich List, Shah Rukh Khan's net worth is Rs 7,300 crore, while Amitabh Bachchan and his family's combined net worth is Rs 1,600 crore. The wealthiest Bollywood filmmaker is Karan Johar, with a net worth of Rs 1,400 crore.