Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani Launch ‘Excel Origins’ to Back Filmmakers Under 30 as ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ Turns 25

Twenty-five years after Dil Chahta Hai introduced Farhan Akhtar as a filmmaker and established Excel Entertainment's distinctive voice in Hindi cinema, Farhan and Ritesh Sidhwani are using the anniversary to look forward rather than simply celebrate the past.

The duo has launched Excel Origins, a new initiative designed to discover, develop and back Indian filmmakers under the age of 30.

Announced on August 10, 2026 exactly 25 years after Dil Chahta Hai was released — Excel Origins takes inspiration from Farhan and Ritesh's own beginnings. Both were 26 when they embarked on the film that became Excel's first release.

The initiative is intended to identify young storytellers with original ideas and give them an avenue to develop projects rather than simply asking them to fit into existing filmmaking formulas.

That makes Excel Origins more than an anniversary campaign. If implemented on the scale its announcement suggests, it could become a structured route for emerging filmmakers trying to make the same difficult transition Farhan and Ritesh made a quarter-century ago: from having an idea to actually getting a film made.

What Exactly Is Excel Origins?

Excel Origins is aimed at filmmakers below 30 and is being positioned around new voices, original stories and creative risk-taking.

In their announcement, Farhan and Ritesh reflected on being 26 when they were attempting to establish themselves.

They acknowledged that they did not have every answer at the time but believed strongly enough in their idea to pursue it.

The philosophy behind Excel Origins is essentially to extend that opportunity to another generation.

The initiative will seek young writers and directors with distinctive voices while also creating opportunities for emerging actors and other creative talent. It is expected to work across genres and storytelling formats rather than being restricted to one type of cinema.

Farhan later offered a more revealing explanation of what they are looking for.

Speaking to The Indian Express about Dil Chahta Hai and Excel Origins, he said the country has highly talented storytellers who often lack the right avenue to demonstrate what they can do.

More significantly, he said Excel wants to identify projects that are not simply echoes of something audiences have already seen.

That distinction may ultimately define the initiative.

Why the Under-30 Rule Matters

The age requirement isn't arbitrary.

Farhan and Ritesh were themselves 26 when they began their filmmaking journey together.

In their anniversary statement, the pair deliberately returned to that period — when they were young filmmakers without the experience or institutional position they possess today.

Their first major bet was Dil Chahta Hai.

Farhan wrote and directed the film, while Ritesh produced it under Excel Entertainment. Released on August 10, 2001, it starred Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna as three friends navigating relationships, adulthood and changing friendships.

Its contemporary dialogue, urban setting and treatment of friendship helped distinguish it from much of mainstream Hindi cinema at the time. The film subsequently won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Excel Origins therefore turns the founders' own age at the beginning of their careers into part of the programme's eligibility philosophy.

A Small Clarification About Excel Entertainment's ‘25 Years’

There is a chronological detail worth explaining.

Excel Entertainment's official website says Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani founded the company in 1999.

Dil Chahta Hai, however, arrived in 2001 and became the company's first released film.

The current silver-jubilee campaign is tied specifically to 25 years of Dil Chahta Hai and Excel's filmmaking journey, which explains why Excel is celebrating the milestone in August 2026 despite the corporate origins going back further.

This distinction matters because some coverage has described 2026 simply as 25 years since Excel was founded, while other reporting has consequently counted the company's age differently.

The anniversary itself is clearly being framed around the 2001 starting point represented by Dil Chahta Hai.

From Dil Chahta Hai to a Much Bigger Content Company

The Excel of 2026 operates on a dramatically different scale from the company behind Dil Chahta Hai.

Its filmography has expanded across genres through titles including Lakshya, the Don films, Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Talaash, Fukrey, Dil Dhadakne Do, Raees and Gully Boy.

Excel also became an early major participant in India's streaming expansion.

Its official company history identifies Inside Edge as India's first Amazon Original series. The show later received an International Emmy nomination.

Excel subsequently produced streaming titles including Mirzapur, Made in Heaven, Dahaad and Bambai Meri Jaan, while its Netflix collaborations have included Dabba Cartel and Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.

That evolution is relevant to Excel Origins because emerging filmmakers aren't entering the same industry Farhan and Ritesh entered in 2001.

Today's storytellers can work across theatrical films and streaming projects, while genre boundaries and distribution models have expanded substantially.

An initiative capable of working across formats therefore potentially gives its participants more routes to audiences than a conventional film-only talent programme.

Excel's 25th Year Has Also Brought International Recognition

The anniversary comes during an important year for the production company internationally.

Excel's official company history notes that the Manipuri feature Boong, produced with Chalkboard Entertainment and Suitable Pictures, won the BAFTA for Best Children's & Family Film in 2026.

Excel describes it as the first Indian film to win that particular BAFTA honour.

That achievement provides an interesting backdrop to Excel Origins.

A company that began with a Hindi coming-of-age film is now involved in projects spanning regional storytelling, theatrical cinema, global streaming platforms and international awards.

The question for Origins is whether that infrastructure can now be used to make entry easier for filmmakers who haven't yet established themselves.

Farhan Akhtar Says the Goal Is Not to Find Copies

Farhan's subsequent comments arguably reveal more about Excel Origins than the anniversary announcement itself.

In his interview with The Indian Express, he recalled how important it was for him and Ritesh to encounter people willing to believe in their first film when they were starting out.

Now that their careers have given them the ability to provide similar backing, he sees supporting young voices as a logical next step.

But the intention isn't merely to find technically capable young filmmakers.

Farhan specifically indicated that Excel is searching for work that does not resemble an imitation of what already exists.

For a programme explicitly built around people under 30, that could be the most important criterion.

It suggests the objective isn't to discover the next Farhan Akhtar.

It's to discover filmmakers who don't necessarily resemble the previous generation at all.

The Celebrity Hour Take

The timing of Excel Origins gives the announcement more meaning than a conventional talent-search initiative.

When Dil Chahta Hai arrived in 2001, Farhan Akhtar wasn't an established director defending a successful formula. He was a young filmmaker attempting something whose tone and characters felt noticeably different from much of the mainstream Hindi cinema around it.

Twenty-five years later, Excel itself is now part of the establishment.

That creates an interesting reversal.

The people who once needed established industry figures to trust an unconventional young filmmaker now have the resources to become those gate-openers themselves.

But Excel Origins will ultimately be judged by more than its announcement.

The real measure will be whether filmmakers discovered through the initiative receive meaningful development, production opportunities and creative space and whether audiences eventually see projects that genuinely would have struggled to emerge through conventional routes.

Farhan's insistence that he doesn't want echoes of existing work is therefore important.

If Excel Origins simply discovers younger filmmakers capable of reproducing successful genres and formulas, the programme may generate content but miss the philosophy behind its name.

If it backs stories that initially make executives slightly uncomfortable because they don't resemble what is already working, it would be much closer to the risk that Dil Chahta Hai represented 25 years ago.

That would make the anniversary less about celebrating Excel's origins and more about recreating the conditions that made those origins possible.

Sources & Verification

This report was independently researched using Excel Entertainment's official company material, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Origins announcement as reproduced by multiple publications, and Farhan's subsequent interview with The Indian Express explaining the purpose behind the initiative.

Excel's official website was used to cross-check the company's history, major productions, streaming expansion and the distinction between its 1999 formation and the 2001 release of Dil Chahta Hai.

No unannounced Excel Origins film, filmmaker or participant has been presented as confirmed.