Rohit Khattar

Rohit Khattar : Brief Profile

Rohit has over 25 years of work experience in the hospitality and entertainment industry.

In Hospitality

He is Chairman and Managing Director of Old World Hospitality Private Limited (O.W.H.), a company he founded. Apart from running over 30 successful restaurants in India and 3 in London, O.W.H. also operates 2 convention and performing arts centres -'Habitat World’, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi and 'Epicentre', Gurgaon. Rohit began with the family owned, Hotel Broadway which is now home to the celebrated 'Chor Bizarre' restaurant. O.W.H. has just leased The Manor, New Delhi, which till recently was an Aman Resort. Its restaurant, Indian Accent, was just voted the No. 1 Modern Indian Restaurant.

O.W.H. serves 6000 people daily, hosts over 6000 conference and banquets and organises over 1600 entertainment events annually.

Rohit is also an independent director on the board of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. which operates 26 resorts in India and overseas under the name ‘Club Mahindra’.

In Entertainment

Rohit grew up Cinema Paradiso style, watching 4 films a day in the projection booth of his grandfather’s Cinema (Broadway) in Kashmir. Along with his hospitality degree in the U.S., he took several Cinema courses, not knowing, however quite how to convert his passion into a career.

Today his company (O.W.H.) operates Habitat World, India’s (and Asia’s) most comprehensive performing arts and live entertainment centre. It organizes over 4 events daily – Music, Dance, Theatre & Cinema. Epicentre, Gurgaon replicates the template south of Delhi with a daily event. The Habitat Film Club is the foremost of its kind showing hundreds of quality films annually, arranging regular interactions with filmmakers and holding film appreciation, scriptwriting and other related workshops.

Rohit is an independent director on the Board of Mumbai Mantra Media Ltd, the $7.1 Billion Mahindra Group’s foray into the media and entertainment industry. He is currently spearheading the restructuring activities and overseeing Mumbai Mantra from a board perspective. The first step is a multi faceted agreement signed with the Sundance Institute founded by Robert Redford. This shall include the Mumbai Mantra, Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab which shall become an annual event in India, and the Sundance Institute. Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award to be awarded annually at the Sundance Film Festival

Rohit is Executive Producer on Mumbai Mantra’s first Hollywood co-production - The Tempest directed by Julie Taymor and starring Helen Mirren. Mumbai Mantra's ‘Antaheen’ won 4 National Awards including Best Feature Film in 2009.

Rohit owns what is probably the largest private collection of Indian Cinema posters and photographs which was exhibited at the Venice International Film Festival to celebrate 75 years of Indian Cinema. He has also chronicled and researched the history of Indian Cinema – each landmark film (with visuals) from the very 1st to the most recent.