Earlier this week, Adar Poonawalla lead Serum Institute of India, a Pune based Indian multinational biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company, announced that it has purchased a 50% stake in popular Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.

Dharma, a Mumbai based film production banner is a household name among the Hindi film audience, and Serum Institute of India gained widespread recognition during the Coronavirus pandemic, when they partnered with the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for developing AZD1222 (Covishield) in partnership with the University of Oxford.

While the unusual merger of these two forces alone was enough to garner the general public's attention, Dharma Productions officially announced that Adar Poonawalla is investing Rs. 1000 Cr. for his 50% ownership stake in their production group (Dharma Productions focusses on film production and distribution while Dharma 2.0 produces ad commercials, and Dharmatic Entertainment produces film and television content for online distribution platforms). 

Hits or flops, almost all of Karan Johar's movies have left an indelible mark with the audience, and they were quick to generate a meme fest over the Dharma - Serum Institute Of India partnership. 

Poonawalla & Sons
Agneepathology

— Love of Cinema (@loveofcinemasf8) October 21, 2024

Pharma Dharma! https://t.co/4Cv2Q3FGWp

— Alok Sharma (@toonfactory) October 21, 2024

Kapoor and Parkinson's.

— Pun-dit (@Pun__dit) October 21, 2024

Badri ki Injectioniya

— Alok Sharma (@toonfactory) October 21, 2024

Looking forward to flu shots bundled with film tickets. https://t.co/Oxj54V4KVT

— Shashikant Kore (@kshashi) October 21, 2024

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Serum

~ It's all about vaccinating your parents.

— Sam ALT Man (@k0ol1) October 21, 2024

Or Brahmashield. And the third part: Brahmashield booster

— Abhay Vaviya (@abhi4real_) October 21, 2024

Kabhi Serum Kabhi Moviehttps://t.co/L3kAjvWKl9

— Chinmoy Mishra (@ChinmoyAIH) October 21, 2024

Covi khushi covi gham https://t.co/rY3eSM1bCK

— Laphingwala (@Humorosaurus) October 21, 2024

🤣🤣

— Bollywood Memers (@BollywoodMemers) October 21, 2024

Ye javani hai covishield

— Mota Ben🌻 (@mota_sakshi) October 21, 2024

From shoots to Shots ✌️

— Shuchi Sachdeva 🇮🇳 (@Shuchi99) October 22, 2024

Mere Covi shield ke paise se Student of the year 3 banayenge. https://t.co/lAeWXQTtWX

— Uddhav Parab (@UddhavParab263) October 21, 2024

Vaccine ke baad se Kuch Kuch Hota Hai…

— @ (@ChannuMurgod) October 21, 2024

Kabhi covishield kabhi covaxin

— karan (@karan_abi) October 21, 2024

astrazeneca hoo..dawaon main yaad rakhna..mere booster ka zabaan pe swaad rakhna

— tealcat (@tealcat756) October 22, 2024

Bollywood media reports that Karan Johar has been looking for a partner to invest in Dharma for quite some time now. This is because despite a revenue of Rs. 1040 Cr. in the fiscal year 2023, Dharma Productions made a net profit of only Rs. 11 Cr. owing to the rising production and other costs. Serum Institute of India's Adar Poonawalla finally sealed the deal, after Johar held meetings with Saregama’s Sanjiv Goenka, and Reliance Industry's Ambanis.

Currently Karan Johar retains 40.7% stake of Dharma Productions, along with full creative control and his mother, Hiroo Johar, retains 9.24% stake at Dharma. Karan Johar's longtime close friend Apoorva Mehta will continue as the CEO of Dharma Productions.