Mar 28: Shri Ajay Bijli, Managing Director of PVR INOX Limited, has been conferred the “Capital’s Pride” award, by Smt. Rekha Gupta, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to Indian cinema and for taking a Delhi-born exhibition vision to the world stage.
The “Capital’s Pride” distinction celebrates leaders who embody Delhi’s defining traits including bold ambition, global outlook, and cultural leadership. It recognises individuals whose work transcends enterprise to shape how India is experienced and perceived worldwide.
Shri Ajay Bijli’s cinematic journey reflects that very spirit.
In 1997, at a time when cinema exhibition in India was fragmented and in decline, he founded PVR Cinemas and ignited the country’s multiplex revolution. With a steadfast commitment to international standards of sound, projection, design, and hospitality, he redefined the movie-going experience for a new India.
What was once a theatre visit became a curated cultural experience.
Under his leadership, Indian exhibition evolved from legacy single screens to premium, technology-driven multiplex environments comparable to the finest global markets. The landmark merger of PVR and INOX in 2023 further consolidated this transformation, creating the world’s fifth-largest listed multiplex chain and positioning India as a formidable global exhibition power.
This scale enabled a more integrated national cinematic ecosystem where regional language cinema from across India could command premium platforms alongside mainstream Hindi films, strengthening India’s creative diversity.
Mr. Ajay Bijli, Managing Director- PVR INOX Limited on receiving the ‘Capital’s Pride’ Award said, “This honour belongs to the city that shaped me. Delhi has always had a unique spirit, which is open, ambitious, and unafraid to think big. Whatever we have built in cinema carries that same spirit. When we began the multiplex journey in 1997, the idea was simple: to give Indian audiences a world-class big screen experience and celebrate movies the way they deserve. Over the years, Indian cinema has grown in scale, confidence, and creativity. Today, we produce over 1,800 films in more than 20 languages, and audiences continue to show that the big screen remains their first choice for shared entertainment. I am deeply honoured to receive the ‘Capital’s Pride’ award in Delhi. It renews our commitment to building cinemas that are not just theatres, but destinations and places where stories come alive and where India’s voice grows stronger on the global stage.”
Shri Bijli’s leadership has firmly placed Indian exhibition on the international map. His keynote address at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, the first Indian in over a decade to receive that platform marked a defining shift: India was no longer observing global cinema trends; it was shaping them.
As a prominent voice at the PM Modi-led WAVES Summit, he continues to advocate for the creative economy as a pillar of India’s global identity, ensuring that Indian exhibition remains at the forefront of technological and narrative innovation. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), is a founding member of the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), and is a member of The Film and TV Producers Guild of India.
From Delhi’s neighbourhood cinema to the world’s most influential stage for motion pictures, Ajay Bijli’s journey mirrors the capital’s own evolution, which is confident, outward-looking, and culturally assertive.
In conferring the “Capital’s Pride” honour, Delhi celebrates a visionary who did more than build screens. He built scale. He built standards. And he built an experience that carries the confidence of the capital to audiences across the world.
